positives/negatives

Actually,my son got a much needed positive last night. But before the positive/all negatives must come.
My youngest.
We were studying for the spelling final coming up. A very frustrating experience(this was on his list) to say the least. First off he has significant
( on list) auditory processing difficulties. Auditory difficulties with a LOT of remediation.
I am actually starting to be concerned about it. Seems like to me, there is somewhat of a back slide going on. It is hard to determine. There is a lot of factors in place. 13 years of age is one! ups and downs,attitude problems pushing the envelope. The other is a big weight change since med dose adjustment( yes,he is also ADHD) He seems to have a lot more difficulty explaining his feeling lately,but bigger then this was spelling last night. One thing I generally never do is when studying with him,we usually do it in a visual way,rather then auditory,but how do you do this with spelling words?As I write this I came to the answer( should of made a test up,okay live and learn) back to the post. I was saying the word on the list and he was misinterpreting the sounds I was trying my best to verbalize,and he was getting really frustrated and upset,then angry at me,then irritating,then I was getting irritated with him,dinner was burning,then the dog got into the garbage,all over whether or not jealousy had a G in it.
Finally there he sat,big growl on his face,tears welling up,and looking miserable. “look,no one is calling you names here,no one is doing anything bad to you,I am just trying to help you learn the words.” Still no words. “I know your frustrated”.” mom,the food is burning” his response. “okay,take a break!”I run back to the stove. As I was thinking about my kid over the stove,one thought occured. The prior evening my oldest son and I were going over his words. my visual spatially deficit kid was spelling away without any problems. He was getting Very good!,Awesome! All over the place,I am sure his younger brother could have heard all this reinforcement,possibly,is he jealous? Does he feel inferior? He was getting very good,and awesome too,but a lot of,okay listen carefully,okay spell it again,also.

Well ,like a call from heaven,the phone rings… “Mrs. Socks?”,the mom from one of the only two girls in my youngest boys class asks from the other end.”yes?” “would it be okay if I picked your youngest up from school tommorow and take him to the library with my girl,to study for the finals?”“she says,he is the smartest kid in class and she really needs help in science and history”. I will take them to pizza hut and then bring him home,if he will help my girl. “well,hold on let me ask him”, “Hmm( had to clear the knot out of my throat) son,girl wants you to help her study for her finals,mrs. girls mom says,girl says your the smartest kid in the class.they will take you to pizza hut for dinner after the library tommorow”“pizza hut?,well okay!” he says with smile. Dinner comes and goes,and back to spelling. HUGE difference. Still trouble noticed with sound distinction,but he looks at me and says,grrr,this is so frustrating. The one word he couldn’t think of before the phone call,came to his mind after it. Hmmmm Enter phone ringing. “hello?” (the girl)”it’s for you” I tell my youngest.”hey can you ask me my spelling words? ” I hear him ask. As he walks down the hall I hear”S-I-G-N-I-F-I-C-A-N-C-E”.

Forget the my kid is smarter then your kid bumper sticker’s,try taking them to pizza hut:-)