Friday meeting
We met with the Elementary Teaching Specialist, Miss Teacher (who I am even more in love with than before!) and Mr. Principal. This was my first working encounter with Mrs. ETS and Mr. P. T and I sat down with them for about an hour and we got a lot of information but are still left with questions.
I explained that I have seen issues for years and I wish I'd pushed the system harder to get him evaluated. I also said that while I don't blame any individual teacher, that I feel this should have done before. As a background I spoke briefly about his K, 1 & 2 teachers and what had been said about his writing before. Mrs. Kindergarten teacher said the same thing we are still hearing: that his head is full of ideas but he can't get them down on paper.
Both Miss T and Mrs ETS started by testing his reading comprehension and we have learned that his reading and comprehension are where they should be. Beyond that he can create abstract thoughts based on what he read. So his IQ is fine, they thought. They said they could tell that he comes from a background where he reads and there are books in the home. T piped in with "my wife LOVES books". I beamed. :-)
The issue is specific to recall of vowels. There are also some questions about his ability to concentrate. They said they will continue to collect information throughout the school year. It was clear they had already spent quite a bit of time with him already.
That said, they couldn't tell us whether his challenges were the result of a medical issue and when we asked if we should see a physician about his concentration and memory they didn't want to commit to an answer. They did suggest things like behavior charts (we've tried them before with his thumb sucking to little avail) for helping him stay on track and organized in the morning. We'll try it, but I'm not thinking it is going to help much. In terms of concentration - we'll start with the pediatrician at his regular visit in November and go from there.
So here we are - more questions, some answers.
But I left with a lasting feeling of hope and gratitude. Hope that N is not going to fall too far behind and he has a teacher who cares.
It's a start!
I explained that I have seen issues for years and I wish I'd pushed the system harder to get him evaluated. I also said that while I don't blame any individual teacher, that I feel this should have done before. As a background I spoke briefly about his K, 1 & 2 teachers and what had been said about his writing before. Mrs. Kindergarten teacher said the same thing we are still hearing: that his head is full of ideas but he can't get them down on paper.
Both Miss T and Mrs ETS started by testing his reading comprehension and we have learned that his reading and comprehension are where they should be. Beyond that he can create abstract thoughts based on what he read. So his IQ is fine, they thought. They said they could tell that he comes from a background where he reads and there are books in the home. T piped in with "my wife LOVES books". I beamed. :-)
The issue is specific to recall of vowels. There are also some questions about his ability to concentrate. They said they will continue to collect information throughout the school year. It was clear they had already spent quite a bit of time with him already.
That said, they couldn't tell us whether his challenges were the result of a medical issue and when we asked if we should see a physician about his concentration and memory they didn't want to commit to an answer. They did suggest things like behavior charts (we've tried them before with his thumb sucking to little avail) for helping him stay on track and organized in the morning. We'll try it, but I'm not thinking it is going to help much. In terms of concentration - we'll start with the pediatrician at his regular visit in November and go from there.
So here we are - more questions, some answers.
But I left with a lasting feeling of hope and gratitude. Hope that N is not going to fall too far behind and he has a teacher who cares.
It's a start!
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