Secret Project REVEALED + Report Cards

 

One of the things I’ve been busy with is this, I can now tell you about it, YAY! I am a 2012 Log Your Memory Design Team member! That means I have some layouts published in this year’s memory logbook! Click on the picture above to find out more! I have two layouts published in the book. I wrote blog posts for Log Your Memory the weeks that my layouts are featured, so I’ll link you up those days. This is a really cool project, you should all check it out! There are two books, one with just the weekly challenge ideas, and one that works like a planner. So you can get them combined or separately. The challenges are different from what you might be used to as well, they really make you think. Any questions, please feel free to ask. I’m all about this project!

Genny and Atha both got their progress reports the last few days. Everybody’s doing great, of course. Next week I’ll have their parent teacher conferences, so I’ll have more info then. We all know already that Gen’s transitioning to the regular PreK classroom after the holidays. OH and I got a book in the mail today. On the day that I blogged about Gen transitioning, I got a really nice comment from Dr. Lucy Jane Miller, who wrote a book called Sensational Kids about Sensory Processing Disorder. I am looking forward to reading this, since her sensory processing issues are among the most troubling. Hopefully I get a window of time to sit down with it.

Anyway. Atha. Some of you may remember how her PreK teacher told me that Atha was the most gifted child she had ever taught. But the principal minimized it, refused to test her. Then, last year her kindergarten teacher kind of put her in her own little program. Atha had independent reading modules she’d do, and she also used to assist in leading lessons from time to time. I think they did some preliminary testing for the gifted program, but Atha has her own agenda, she would much rather spend time creating than testing, and I guess she just was more interested in telling stories than in following instructions. I do think that Atha is gifted. I tested off the charts in some areas, Quinn is definitely gifted, although his desire to do exactly as much as required but no more caused him to artfully work around being identified or tested for his whole elementary school career. I have a theory that Genny is gifted, which is why she is so good at doing some things. I think that if her corpus callosum was intact, we’d be having the same discussions with her teachers that we had with Atha’s preschool teachers.

Now, sometimes I feel like people think I’m being, you know, full of myself when I talk about my gifted kids. But I don’t see it this way. I just see it as an attribute. Like somebody is good at sports, or is tall, or has thick hair. Or likes macaroni and cheese. I see it that way. My dad’s side of the family were all smart (but loony) and my mom is no slouch. I just think that I carry a gene or something. Hopefully I don’t carry that loony gene. Although, chances are…

SO anyway, I’m going to ask about that at the meeting next week. Blah. I’m not really looking forward to the meetings, but you gotta do etc etc.

Speaking of “dumb things I gotta do today,” the girls are bumping and bouncing around upstairs, and they should be in bed. I’d better go attend to bidness.

Cautiously Optimistic?

Gen’s birthday is November 28th, so it is in November that we have the distinct pleasure of her IEP meeting. That sounds a lot more snarky than it really is; Gen’s IEP meeting has never been a big problem. For those of you not in the know, an IEP, or Individualized Education Plan, is the official document for your special needs child’s academic year. It states all of the goals for the year, and designates how many hours are going to be devoted to meeting those goals, and how it’s all gonna play out. It’s a legal document. Certain people must be present. Also, the parent can dispute it, and can request that it be modified at any time. We’ve never had a problem with Gen’s, mostly because she usually does pretty well, and almost always has the same general goals. Toilet training. Class participation. Fine motor skills. Gen has a lot of strengths, especially academically. She has a great memory for details, and loves to be read to, and most often likes to participate in crafty stuff. She usually doesn’t get angry with her classmates, and does a fairly good job of following her teacher’s instructions. Like many kids, she reserves her worst behavior for dear old Mom and dad, plus her siblings. Which is probably for the best, otherwise going out would be worse than it is already. Anyway, normally the annual meeting is just kind of a check the box affair.  But I got an email from her teacher today suggesting that we move her to the typically developing Preschool after Winter break. She’s been spending some time in the typical classroom next door, and is doing great. She will have special ed advisers for help with speech therapy and toilet training (which she’s actually doing great with lately, the switch finally seems to have flipped on that one!) and she will continue to have an IEP so that if she regresses she can transition back to special ed.

I’m happy, I really am! I’m excited! You want your kid to do their best, and you want them to have every possible opportunity. Let’s face it, there are more opportunities afforded to people who are educated within the typical classroom than in the special ed classroom, for the most part. This is not a comment on special ed. I have huge buckets of respect for most special ed teachers, and for the program Gen’s been in, and I give it a big thumbs up. But what I mean is that really truly most parents would prefer their children to be able to be in the regular classroom. Myself included.

However, I’m so torn. I’m nervous for her. I hope she’s ready. She’s been with her current teachers and most of the same students for at least two, some of them three, years now. Two of the little girls she likes most have Down’s Syndrome, and will likely not be moving into the typical classroom soon. This year, the special ed program at our local elementary school closed, and Gen’s bussed to a different school. Just so happens, that the typical classroom she has been visiting is also the classroom of Addie, who you may remember from yesterday’s post. When Gen transitions, she’ll be coming back to our local school. So she’ll have an unfamiliar teacher and a whole new crew of unfamiliar students. She’ll probably still be in a pull-up. There is every reason to believe that she will continue to grimace when she’s stressed out. She will probably still suck her thumb when she’s tired, or needs comfort. She will still have problems eating food that is touching other food, and she won’t like it when some cabinet doors are open but others are closed. She will continue to scream and hit when she gets confused, and I can’t see that she will stop being confused.

So am I happy she’s transitioning? Of course I am. And I think it’s a good thing she’s doing so now, in preschool, when kids are still learning the ropes of school, and are mostly non judgmental. When they still have potty accidents, and nobody is expected to be able to write his or her name. But I am a mom, and I’m protective, and I don’t want her to be made fun of, or ostracized, or otherwise bullied. I want her to be able to explore the wold in the way that feels safe for her. And I think she can probably do it. But, what if she can’t? Will she suffer if she “fails?” Because I wouldn’t see it as failure, but will she? Probably not. She’ll probably do just fine.

Which is why you could say I am cautiously optimistic.

Any comments anybody might have regarding this kind of transition would be super duper welcome. Thanks!