Being average is wonderful...

Average is wonderful! He is an so far above average when you consider the work he has done to attain those grades.

And you too, are certainly an above average mom.

Congratulations!

Way to Go, Beth!

I know that in order to hear on grade level or average has a ring, that no one who has never been in our situation would understand. I know that for every good thing that has happen you have struggled emotionally to make your son’s life the best it can be. You should be commended for all your hard work. It’s makes all those moments of self doubt and exhaustion well worth it.

Congratulations.

Wow, celebration time! Sound like time for a much loved family outing.

A succes story. Buth you should consider writing one for First Person section of this side. Parents need to hear that their children can be remediated.

Helen

Congratulations! I can only imagine how good average feels, much better than an A in sped class.

Congratulations! We’re starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but am still longing to hear those words! Thanks for sharing your story.

Congratulations Beth to you and your son for such a great story. I am confident you both worked very hard and will continue to do so in the future.

Marion, it is funny my son who “graduated” special ed said the same thing! He is very pleased with his 2.6 GPA which is so average!

Beth,
I am so happy for you and your son. You are an amazing mom and he must be so proud of himself. He certainly should be.
Margo

Congratulatons to both you and your son. It is so good to hear stories of kids who have had success with remediation.

You are a great Mom. May your son have more successes in life.

…you guys understand what this means. I shared the same with a couple friends here and, although they were pleased for me and him , there was a bit of “I told you he’d be OK.” I don’t think, unless you’ve been there, you can understand what Karen Foli referred to as the “purple waters”.

Beth

Beth,
I am so pleased for you and your son—and really frustrated at the I told you he’d be okay comments of your friends. Well I didn’t think it was okay when my son scored below 25%ile in reading on standardized tests in grade four (and he was always a good decoder and clearly above average intelligence). This just isn’t something that works out by itself—these kids need lots of help and encouragement to bring out their gifts and this is a lot of work. Not a lot of partygoing here. His grade six reading was up to 58%ile and we’ll see what the last round of testing has brought in a couple of weeks.

I constantly get the line just leave him alone and he’ll be fine. But if mothers don’t take charge of their children’s welfare, who will? Certainly not the schools. If our child had a physical illness would we just check them into a doctor and do nothing more based on faith that time and the system would effect a cure? I think not.

Her is a link to a story in this week’s Washington Post about a mother who set aside doctors’ dismissive attitudes toward her daughter’s headaches and saved her from blindness and worse. It’s called “Listening to Zebras,” from the doctor’s dictum that when you hear hoofbeats first think of horses, not zebras. It’s a mother’s job to think about the zebras and yo’ve done it magnificently.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5819-2003Jun2.html

Yes, I still get this.

It is amazing, because the school thought I was in denial about his deficits because I thought they focused too heavily on them without recognizing his strengths. Friends and family thought I was looking for problems that didn’t exist because he was verbally bright.

Now, friends and family have that, “I told you so” attitude and with a large school system with an ever changing cast of characters (and yes they are characters) no one is around long enough to see the improvement.

So, if a child gets remediated in a forest and no one (except mom and dad) are around to see it, was he really remediated??????

I guess that is why we truely need these boards………..WITNESSES.

My son is a zebra. He has worked with the developer of Neuronet therapy for over two years. She has told me that she is a much better therapist because of him–that he has taught her a lot and she is approaching certain types of kids differently because of him. Zebras need mothers, tutors, and therapists and others who do not think they are working with a horse. Those who think they are working with a horse will find a zebra frustrating–they will blame the zebra and come up with labels like “learned helplessness” to explain why they can not teach a zebra.

Beth

Congratulations! It is so nice to share successes because we do know what you have been through. If you haven’t read Sally Shaywitz book, “Overcoming Dyslexia” she has a wonderful chapter about all of us called “Protecting and Nourishing Your Child’s Soul”. She says “All dyslexic who have become successful by any account share in common the unfailing love and support of their parents or occasionally, a teacher or spouse.”

Beth, congratulations.

Your son’s remediation is definitively an inspiration for others…

Ewa

Gosh Beth that’s awesome!!!!!!!

Being average is totally great!!!!! I know because my son is one of three at the “bottom” of his class (although he’s the only one in his group that isn’t in Resource so all my extra work with him has done something). To get to average is a huge accomplishment and I know you’ve put tremendous time, money and effort helping your son achieve that. You are SUCH an inspiration! :-)

Third grade was such a tough year for us. I was really down about the lack of real progress, despite all our work, and we got diagnosis of additional problems which didn’t help my spirits either. I think IM really helped push down some barriers and then we just kept on trudging. It just takes so much work with our kids.

Beth

Lisa,

I am glad to hear your son feels that way. My son is going into more inclusion next yr. 6th grade. He is so used to getting A’s & B’s in sped I know he will be hard on himself to get lower grades.

It’s a tough thing we always tell him as long as he does his best we are proud of him. His self esteem is so good this year I hope he doesn’t beat himself up if his grades are lower.

I’m so happy for you and ds. I remember when you first started back in 1st grade. What a tremendous accomplishment. Just proves what can be done thru remediation.

Thanks for sharing your story. I lurk here often but seldom post. I am almost afraid to explore ny daughters new dx as specific ld oral expression b/c I fear I will not be able to parent as well as all of you here seem to!

I do know she brought home class test scores of 38, 98 and 89 and we celebrated. That is a 75 average! Average was a cause for a party.

Hopefully by fifth grade next year I will be able to report average!

Thanks for being an inspiration everyone!

GFGMOM (liz)

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Yes, it does. You and several others have been my inspiration and I appreciate all your advice as well as encouragement and hand holding. I learned a whole new vocabulary and way of thinking about deficits—I remember when I did not understand what you meant by vestibular!!! I thank the day I found this board. I simply would never have got this far without it and all the wonderful people here. Hopefully, our successes will inspire others—and the circle continues.

I think all of our children can be helped but some take a lot more time and persistance than others. My son did not respond like some others did to remediation. I remember, for example, Shari posting that FFW rid her daughter of CAPD. Well, my son’s receptive language dramatically improved but integration is his primary deficit and FFW did not help it. Neuronet and IM have. And we really did PACE too early, with minimal benefits. I might do it with him next summer again—when he is 11.

I am still waiting for the day he wants to read on his own though!!! Lately, he has been reading Harry Potter (every other page) and has been arguing for more reading time, if he will read more. This is a very big change for him.

Beth

You really only need to take it one step at a time. Rome was not built in a day. Get information so you can see what options there are. You can then make choices that seem like the best ones. I think doing it requires mostly the commitment to do so—I often squeeze in 10 minutes of therapy in the morning before school, for example. And right after dinner, we finish.

Beth

n/m