The new school year is in full swing and our household has returned to normal. Well, normal for us.
I am happy to tell you all, that Curran has started Grade Two. Sean and I had a Psycho Educational Assessment performed on Curran at the end of June, he has trouble with reading, spelling, and mathematics. We were very pleased with the outcome. Curran has an extremely below average level of Working Memory, meaning he has a difficult time retaining information and retrieving previously retained information. Luckily, working memory is something that is easy to improve through specified games and activities. The Assessment also gave us a list of things the classroom needed to do to help at school.
The first day of school, was a bit of a Gong Show, the current teacher was not brought up to speed with Curran's needs. In fact, she looked shocked when I mentioned arranging a parent-teacher meeting. Yes, I realize that "Back to School" is a bit chaotic, but this was not a new development. I had also left several messages the previous week, that were not returned. Luckily, she seemed to take it in stride and we had a meeting set up later that week.
I am pleased to tell you, that the school is completely on board with the recommendations from the Assessment. The resource room teacher and the classroom teacher, have already modified some of Curran's curriculum; there is an ELA (teachers aid) in his classroom three days a week, specifically to help him part of each day; he will have one on one help from the resource room teacher four days a week; he may even benefit from some funding towards a trial with electronic text readers. I couldn't be more pleased, quite the contrast from just a few months ago.
Alexandra is now in Grade Four. She has become so grown up over the summer, definitely not my "little" girl anymore. She is responsible, kind, considerate and caring. Of course, none of those characteristics relate directly to her brother; they still fight like cats and dogs. Although, we did not have to rush to minor emergency this summer to patch up the consequences of their sibling love.
Alex has been suffering from undiagnosed joint pain since last November. After numerous x-rays, blood work, trips to see the pediatric rheumatologist and even a bone scan; we are no farther on a diagnosis. She has been quite the little trooper through it all, she has not let is affect her moral too much. I know she is tired of having me push her to do physio therapy, dragging her to doctor after doctor, fighting with her to take medicine, but I know she appreciates it too. That 5 minute cuddle at the end of a rough day, says a lot.
Jade is in Grade Ten, TEN!!! Just think, when Sean and I first started dating she was 4 and now she is 15. Yup, I am getting old. We are being subjected to the trials of the life of a teenager. Boys, snarky girls, after school jobs, homework, boys and more boys. Have I mentioned boys? Luckily our boy crazy girl, does well in school and is busy with dance, babysitting, and her part-time job. For the most part, she stays out of trouble, but watch out on the highways, she gets her learners license soon.
Our afternoons and evenings are once again filled with homework, dance, basketball, and other kids related activities. It doesn't leave me much time for the business opportunity that I have just taken on, but I am sure Sean and I will make it work. We will fit some family bonding time in somewhere as well.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
Homework
Curran is having problems in school, it actually started before he began going to school.
I realized very early on that learning in an academic setting was going to be difficult. He had no interest in learning colours, letters, writing his name and if he did show interest, he didn't retain the information for very long.
Kindergarten was a major frustration for me, the teacher was less than helpful. To be brutally honest, she was and is still utterly useless as a teacher in my view point. Having had her "teach", I use that word mildly, both my children, I am very sympathetic to the other parents who have had similar experiences with her. This teacher requested extra work at home but had no suggestions on what approach we should be taking, luckily we were already working at home with flashcards and activities and such. She shoved as side my request for resource room help for Curran, stating "He's just a boy. Boys are slower." From the assignments that came home from school, it appeared that she had not even looked at them. Most of them were not completed, let alone corrected. She didn't even realize Curran was left-handed until six-months into school.
Grade One has been a year of many ups and downs. The first week of school, I contacted the teacher to make her aware of his "problems", she was very receptive to my concerns and within the first month he was seeing the resource room teacher on a regular basis. Curran overcame many of the hurdles that he was struggling with in Kindergarten very quickly. We were starting to see progress and then at Christmas time he hit a brick wall, he started to regress in certain areas and stopped progressing altogether in others. By the end of February he was seeing the resource room teacher, four days a week, a half hour at a time and working with Sean and I at home every day for an hour every evening.
The school did some testing and discovered that Curran is only functioning at a 3/4 Kindergarten year level in most subjects. He cannot read most words, he cannot write most words, he needs instructions repeated numerous times, he has low oratory and retainable memory. What the tests didn't show, was that he retains everything except that which requires reading and writing. He can do math, in his head. If you give him objects to add, he can do it no problem; however, show him the written equation and he is lost. He has adapted to process most things orally. When I received the results of these tests, I asked whether or not he should be further tested for learning disabilities. They figured that it was unnecessary at that time, but that he should repeat grade one. He should progress just fine, just at a slower pace.
It has been two months since my last "meeting" with the school. In that time, he has not progressed any further; in fact he has regressed in certain areas. I asked my sister-in-law, who happens to be an elementary school teacher, to go over Curran's test results and give me her opinion. She told me, get him further tested, something is not right. I contacted the Learning Disability Association in Saskatoon, and have him booked in to have a Psycho Educational Assessment. They will test his cognitive skills, his reading, math, hand-eye co-ordination; they will check if he has ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia; you name it they will test for it and determine what his "challenges" are and even set up a program to help him overcome them. They will also help me to determine, whether or not Curran repeating Grade One will be a benefit or not. Already, we have established that he likely has ADD.
I have a meeting with the school next week, to let them know what we are doing. I am not willing to let my child struggle any longer.
I realized very early on that learning in an academic setting was going to be difficult. He had no interest in learning colours, letters, writing his name and if he did show interest, he didn't retain the information for very long.
Kindergarten was a major frustration for me, the teacher was less than helpful. To be brutally honest, she was and is still utterly useless as a teacher in my view point. Having had her "teach", I use that word mildly, both my children, I am very sympathetic to the other parents who have had similar experiences with her. This teacher requested extra work at home but had no suggestions on what approach we should be taking, luckily we were already working at home with flashcards and activities and such. She shoved as side my request for resource room help for Curran, stating "He's just a boy. Boys are slower." From the assignments that came home from school, it appeared that she had not even looked at them. Most of them were not completed, let alone corrected. She didn't even realize Curran was left-handed until six-months into school.
Grade One has been a year of many ups and downs. The first week of school, I contacted the teacher to make her aware of his "problems", she was very receptive to my concerns and within the first month he was seeing the resource room teacher on a regular basis. Curran overcame many of the hurdles that he was struggling with in Kindergarten very quickly. We were starting to see progress and then at Christmas time he hit a brick wall, he started to regress in certain areas and stopped progressing altogether in others. By the end of February he was seeing the resource room teacher, four days a week, a half hour at a time and working with Sean and I at home every day for an hour every evening.
The school did some testing and discovered that Curran is only functioning at a 3/4 Kindergarten year level in most subjects. He cannot read most words, he cannot write most words, he needs instructions repeated numerous times, he has low oratory and retainable memory. What the tests didn't show, was that he retains everything except that which requires reading and writing. He can do math, in his head. If you give him objects to add, he can do it no problem; however, show him the written equation and he is lost. He has adapted to process most things orally. When I received the results of these tests, I asked whether or not he should be further tested for learning disabilities. They figured that it was unnecessary at that time, but that he should repeat grade one. He should progress just fine, just at a slower pace.
It has been two months since my last "meeting" with the school. In that time, he has not progressed any further; in fact he has regressed in certain areas. I asked my sister-in-law, who happens to be an elementary school teacher, to go over Curran's test results and give me her opinion. She told me, get him further tested, something is not right. I contacted the Learning Disability Association in Saskatoon, and have him booked in to have a Psycho Educational Assessment. They will test his cognitive skills, his reading, math, hand-eye co-ordination; they will check if he has ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia; you name it they will test for it and determine what his "challenges" are and even set up a program to help him overcome them. They will also help me to determine, whether or not Curran repeating Grade One will be a benefit or not. Already, we have established that he likely has ADD.
I have a meeting with the school next week, to let them know what we are doing. I am not willing to let my child struggle any longer.
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