Unexpected positive news at our parent/teacher conference!

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I just had to share with you all the amazing conference I just attended.

We just met with my son’s teachers and the school psychologist. We expected to have a nitty gritty discussion about his attention issues and how they were holding up his remediation. Well…

Its not like he isn’t still spacey. But they feel that the cues they’ve worked out with him are working. And they seem to recognize that sometimes he’s just thinking slowly, and is attending. (Of course in a small LD school they can accomodate him, and what happens later when he mainstreams is another story….)

The reading teacher said he is making “great” progress and isn’t going to recommend summer tutoring! The math teacher doesn’t notice the attention problem in her class and recognizes that math is a strength. The psychologist has him for lunch with 5 other boys every friday and says he’s connected with the kids and is doing great. Even his home room teacher says he’s part of the group and doing well socially.

it was the best conference I’ve had for this child since kindergarten.

We plan to meet with all the professionals we had lined up to discuss his attention, but based on this feedback we certainly don’t feel that we have to make a medication decision right now. Whew!

Submitted by bgb on Fri, 02/27/2004 - 2:59 PM

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Karen,

I am so glad this went well for you.

I remember a parent/teacher conference we had in second grade (our son is now in 7th). It was so wonderful I cried, literaly. For the first time I heard how hard he works, how smart he is, what a winning smile he has…it was the first (and unfortunitely the last to date) one we went to where the positives where mentioned rather than the long list of negatives.

: )

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 02/27/2004 - 5:44 PM

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Doesn’t it feel wonderful to go to school and hear positive stuff — what a feeling it is to know you are finally on the right track!

We are feeling the same, partly due to the perfect mix of a teacher, but my goal of ‘independent when able’ has definitely been achieved this year — I am celebrating those C’s like crazy, and there are even a couple of ‘High B’ tests on the fridge!

Way to go Karen — I hope your son can enjoy his summer, and so can you, without remediation — we are not quite in that boat as we MUST learn to touch type this summer, but we are confident we can do so at home with teenaged caregiver…Anyway, good on you!

Submitted by KarenN on Fri, 02/27/2004 - 6:11 PM

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It really strikes me that the difference is that he’s at a special school. Not only are they responsible for his remediation, but they also “get” the other issues that come along. I don’t feel like I have to explain or apologize for his quirks.

At one point one of the teachers said something like ” and we are the adults who are here to help him…” and I really felt like we had someone on our side for a change. I hope he feels the difference too….

Submitted by KarenN on Sun, 02/29/2004 - 2:01 PM

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I know … we are so lucky. Lucky that the school exists and that we were able to get him in this year. Its pretty much closed out for 5th and 6th grade. noone is leaving and they are taking very few additional students.

There was an article in the ny times 2 years ago about his school and the director of admissions said the answer really isn’t more LD schools, the answer is that kids should be taught to read in mainstream schools using the proper methods.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 02/29/2004 - 2:43 PM

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Great parent-teacher conf. news; the public school systems in Mass. seldom refer kids to private LD schools…the cost to the tax payers of upwards of $20,000/year is too hilgh. The movement in Mass. has been away from nonpublic settings for students with mild-mod. disabilities.

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