I have often heard that sometime during middle school you notice a big change in your childs attitude and they become more mature. I always thought this to be a fairy tale until recently. My LD 8th grader use to hate school and never wanted to discuss it. Here recently he has been telling me about his day, has put forth more effort and has even started reading on his own. His reading tutor has also noted a significant change in him and discussed it with me as have some of his teachers. What really has floored me though is his interest in high school. Last night he had me walk him through the high school web-site so he could see which classes he wanted to take next year. I expected him to look for all the “easy” classes. His choices more then shocked me. He wanted to take Italian but and was disappointed it was not a choice, so decided he would do French. There is a bunch of writing classes available and he wanted to do these too, he also wants to take astronomy and drafting. His LD is in reading and writing so I quess that is why I was shocked by his choices. How do I explain to him he might not be qualified to take these? I did explain to him these choices, if he got them would require him to work very hard and his response was I will enjoy them so it won’t be hard work. Now I am pleased with the change but wondering what to do.
Re: Change in attitude
We all have strengths and weaknesses and most students your son’s age, LD or not, can understand that. His eagerness to take these classes might offset the hard work they will be. It might be a good idea to discuss his interests with a high school guidance counselor even at this early date so you have some input from the school on these classes and their likely requirements and expectations.
You can always tell him he has four years of high school ahead and plenty of time to take these courses if his first year proves not the right time to do it.
A change in attitude does occur as they mature. They start doing more things for THEMSELVES and their own self-fulfillment. They are able to motivate themselves internally. I would let him try to do what he wants, provide the scaffolding he needs to be successful and keep things upbeat and positive. He may just surprise you, I know my son sure did with math. He is a sophmore and is in advanced classes in algebraII and trig. His middle school teachers didn’t think he could handle it. He proved them wrong.