Came here with good news, but must comment on that bit.  Wowzers.  You read about s*** like that in boarding schools in the 17th century, but in THIS day and age?  Beyond ridiculous!  Lets make that teacher stand at the front of a roomful of HER peers and let them all say what they don't like about her!  Arsehole. 

   As for Friday the 13th, um, parts of my province caught fire?  So, um, ya, that was kind of bad luckish.   Many of you prolly didn't know about it, since NS rarely registers a blip on the news anywhere outside of, yanno, NS, but ya, acres of woodlands up in smoke...thankfully only 2 homes destroyed (tho I'm sure the 2 homeowners aren't thankful) and no deaths or serious injuries.  It took professional and volunteer firefighters and water bombers on loan from Quebec and NL 3 days to get it under control, and we in my little burg were all but cut off from Metro as the three main arteries were closed, leaving only the very very very backwoods route, which takes an hour and a half, for us to get to and from work. 

 

OK! so, good news!  I spoke with the boy's teacher today, she tells me he is doing MUCH better with his reading, tho he is still well below grade level.  We talked about the specifics of how he has improved, about how his writing is really GOOD except for the conventions, like spelling and punctuation.  As in, the things he writes are really well written, pleasurable to read, and I quote "quite sophisticated for his age group" once  you decode his spelling and punctuation-no mean feat.  She spoke in particular about an assignment to write a letter to a fictional person about life at school.  She said his letter was amazing, not " Our school is new.  It is big.  There are lots of students.  I like my school."  But " Welcome to Our School! As you come through the front doors, you will find the office on the left, the library on the right, and the gym straight ahead.  The doorway to the right of the gym leads to the cafeteria..."  She is certain there is some kind of learning disability there, and there is, again, quoting "ABSOLUTLY nothing wrong with his intellect!!" She said they managed to get all of 7 students formally assessed this past school year, but that he is near the top of the list for assessment, and should be assessed early in the new year.  Crossing my fingers.  As I've said before, I'm not looking to just slap a label on him, but to find out what strategies we can use to help him along.  She sent home a list of books that are written for struggling readers, but with high interest content, since she agrees with me that if we find something he WANTS to read, he'll struggle through it, but so much of what he CAN read is aimed at much younger children.  This kid is having Tolkein read to him, and remembers the names of all the dwarves and how their related, he's not interested in "Frog and Toad are Friends!"  Now that I know what to look for, I can start taking stuff out of the library that will interest him, so our reading time together isn't such a battle.  I feel very encouraged!

 

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In the social order, I accept the bottom rung, until the wine is pouring and the Lord commands a song!

I agree with you Sharn...there is absolutely no excuse for the teachers behavior. Stories like this make my blood boil- as a teacher it is highly offensive that someone in the profession, and a kindergarden teacher at that, would think this appropriate! I understand, as a teacher and parent of an AS child the frustrations and difficulties, but I would assume the school district has a professional code of conduct. I hope the parents do sue.

What in the world?  This poor little boy.  This teacher has no business in the profession.  I'm appalled.

I hope you don't mind me butting in here - but that story is absolutely horrifying! 

 

I lurk in this thread often, for an insight into coping with children who live with disabilities, but don't really feel qualified to post.   I run a Youth Club, with 60 members aged 8 - 18,  and 10 of those have disabilities including autism/aspergers, global development delay, Tourettes, ADHD, and various issues such as ODD and some as yet not definitely diagnosed.  2 children have cystic fibrosis, and 3 are diabetic.  Yes, some have more than one of these disabilities.

 

We often hear the younger children especially complaining about the behaviour of some of those less-able children, but we've found that with education, explanation and a lot of gentle nagging, ALL of the children are gradually becoming more accepting of those with disabilities, and some in particular now go out of their way to offer support, encouragement, and even distraction when behaviour looks like it might become a problem - "don't let them make you angry, Alf, come and play table tennis with me......."

 

There is absolutely NO excuse for a supposed professional to behave that way.    All of my Youth Club staff are volunteers, mostly mothers or siblings of club members.   All of them have more compassion and sense than to do such a stupid and hurtful thing.

 

I sincerely hope a complaint is made and followed through in this case.

 

And finally, thanks to all the contributors of this thread - I've taken more than a few insights and useful hints back to the Club!

 

Teddy
 

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Teddy's Homepage
Great Big Sea UK
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Thank you Teddy. I'm glad this thread could be of help to you. I agree whole heartedly that it is ignorance that causes anyone to be 'scared' of a person's special needs or anything else.With understanding and education comes empathy and compassion. The best thing that ever happened when Adrian was in elementary school was when he finally had an EA and she held a seminar with his peers and explained about AS and why Adrian feels things and acts certain ways. One example she used was to get a volunteer and put bubble wrap around her neck and ask if she'd like that as a scarf. Of course she said no and that it felt horrible. The EA said, "That's how socks feel to Adrian". It was amazing the compassion he got after that. These kids, most who had gone to school with him for 8 years FINALLY understood him. Some didn't care, because they'd 'put up with him' for so long, but most did.

Sharn I want to address your news...that is wonderful! The work is paying off! It's a good feeling.

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Some people shine like a star in the first moment. Others keep their light hidden until they are ready to show us.

In case some of you didn't read my SB...my FIL had a cat scan yesterday and he is cancer free!

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Some people shine like a star in the first moment. Others keep their light hidden until they are ready to show us.

YAHOO!  What wonderful news!!!  

I have been absent for a bit, life and all that stuff happening here! In case you didn't catch my SB. I am here to gloat...

I am the proud Mom of 2 highschool graduates today Laura and Alex have succeeded in passing all the necesary courses and walked the walk to the podium to accept thier diplomas. It was a Great day yesterday. It was an amazing feeling watching Alex recieve his diploma, from the very teacher who helped to pull him through all of this. the one person that picked him up in grade nine, when we finished explaining how Alex was not in highschool to get a grade10 certificate of achievement, but rather a grade 12 diploma, and ran with it draging him all the way to the top. Yes we arranged it, but it was so meaningfull for them as well as for us. Then at the reception the teachers that came to us Alex and us with congratulations, was amazing. Not to say Laura's grad was any less a great moment, she did it all herself, she is a self starter very in control of what she is doing how and why she is doing it and accepts the credit or consequences of her choices, and moves on. I am equally proud of my children, they all give me great things as well as the crappy stuff you just have to deal with, some just need a little more polishing to really shine!   

 Two down one to go!   It' summer school for Chris, seems he didn't think it necesary to write things down for his math teacher to mark, "it was so easy I just did it in my head and wrote down the answer", sometimes that boy is too smart for his own good. Ihope you all have a wonderful summer. I know my computer access time will be very limited for the summer, see you in the fall!

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~The mind is like a parachute, It always works best when it's open~Edna Buchanan~

~Northern Spy~The Apple of my Pie~

~Audrey~

Audrey, what a great day for all involved. I'm so glad it turned out that way! I hope life for the two of them continues to skip merrily toward their goals.

Now for the third...I can sympathize. I've had two kids do the same thing. One missed her high school grad because of it. C'est la vie. SHe picked up her diploma in the main office after summer school. DOn't you just love kids?

Anne

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And when the winds of change begin to blow,
I'll whisper, "You're my lighthouse" in case you didn't know.

Sons of Maxwell

visit my website!:
Anne's Philly Phan Site at http://www.gbsfanatic.com

Congratulations Audrey! I know it's been a long road. As you know, I had hoped Adrian would graduate this year, but it's not to be...for 1.5 credits. Arg. Oh well, I think he needs an extra year in highschool anyway. Most of his friends will be back as well, so he's not alone. And now that my FIL is cancer free, and hopefully will continue to be, Adrian doesn't have that looming over him. He's relieved and can concentrate on school and not worrying about grandpa.

So, tomorrow my mother gets married for the fourth time. She has driven me crazy for the last 6 months, acting like a first time bride, with all her expectations and all. She's had me doing all kinds of work for her, like invites and programs, and dictated what Chelsea is to wear and not to wear as a junior bridesmaid. Reherasal is tonight and I'm expected to come to the party after, even tho I have to get Chelsea into the shower, wash and dry her hair (no small task) and get her to bed early. Oy. I'm sorry to say this, but I'll be glad when it's over. I will be having some much deserved drinks tomorrow night...brought by us, and drank in my sister's van, since it's a cash bar! After tomorrow, I can relax and look forward to July 12th at the GBS show in Toronto! Staying over too, woo hoo!

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Some people shine like a star in the first moment. Others keep their light hidden until they are ready to show us.

Great to see so such good news around here. Cancer-free results, kids graduating, Trace finally about to get the nightmarish preparations over and able to relax. (See you soon)

No exciting good news around here other than Kaesye surviving kindergarten (or, rather, me surviving kindergarten without ugly confrontations with her teacher). Not happy with her report card comments, though. Wish there was a place for me to comment on the teacher's comments. First day of Grade 1, she has to bring her report with her and I'm tempted to attach comments anyway but chances are that will just make her new teacher figure she's trouble right off the bat, mother's delusional, thinks her child's a perfect angel.

She got 4 'meets expectations' and 2 'occasionally meets expectations'.  "Kaesye has difficulty expressing herself clearly". Ya think? Could it be because it's a french class and the children enter at levels varying from perfect french to no french at all? Kaesye understands french perfectly (even teacher admitted this) but walked in unable to speak in sentences. She's improved a lot, on her own sometimes she insists on speaking to me only in french.

My big problem was the 'has difficulty entering in relations with people, adults as much as children' (rough translation). There was NEVER a single word mentioned about Kaesye having problems with teachers or volunteers during school or in the after-school program so I have NO idea when they are talking about in relation to adults. As for the children, I tried to explain this to the woman in February.  Kaesye gets along with everyone, will share with anyone, even give her stuff away because all she wants is friends, but this comment goes back to her hiding markers and incidents like that. Perhaps she didn't want to share the markers with little Jean because he spent recess hitting her and trying to trip her in the yard. Perhaps she didn't want to work on a drawing with little Jeanne because she spent all morning whispering about how she hates her and and isn't going to play with her ever again. Kaesye lacks the personality, physical, emotional, & verbal tools to fight back to these kids who are mean to her. She refuses to co-operate with them in class because they can't do anything to her with the teacher watching. It's her only revenge.

I am starting to wonder if she doesn't suffer from Opposional Defiance Disorder, as someone suggested. Going to have to look into it in more detail. There's definately something going on there, even if it's just mild. She can't control her impulses, when asked why she's continuing to do something she's already in trouble for doing, she tells us that she can't stop it, her brain's making her do it.

On the good side, she and fair-weather friend haven't really fought in 2 weeks. Spoke to FWF's Mom, she was aparently very quiet and moody last week of school. Didn't say a word about Kaesye (usually comes home reporting everything Kaesye did that day, Kaesye came home saying that FWF "was nice to me today" a lot). The only thing I can figure is it's because a few weeks ago we started telling her things like if she goes outside and FWF says "you can't play with us" to ignore her and play with her sister and one of the older kids. If she gets really annoying say "whatever" and turn away from her. I'm guessing FWF didn't know what to do with Kaesye since she was no longer responding the way expected (crying).

Kaesye's also been spending more time with the older sister (she's 8) and her grade 2 friends to the point that the Mom was getting upset at the older one stealing the younger one's friends. (OOPS, kind of our fault since we keep telling Kaesye to just play with older sister instead). What can you do? She prefers older kids because they're nice to her or younger ones because they don't judge her. The girls her age all pick on her.

Luckily, all 3 got along for the sleepover so that I was able to enjoy GBS in Montreal this week with James and Lyndz and there was no trouble. FWF's Nana brought her down and told me what a nice, helpful child she is the next morning.

If I get this stressed over Kindergarten, how am I going to make it to HS graduation? I need you guys to be around another 12 years or so.

Sorry for rambling on, didn't realize how long winded I was getting.

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee

Hiya Fran-

I have no idea what the special ed. laws are in Canada, but in the US any parent can have their child evaluated for a suspected disability at any time- check with your building principal and/or school psych if the school has one. Have you brought up the concerns with your daughter's pediatrician? He/she may be able to guide you what route to take. I'm a special ed. parent and mom, so I'm on both sides of the table- I know the frustrations and fear that go with being a parent of a differently abled child (and who isn't different?) I had to meet with the special ed. director of my son's school district for him to be allowed accomodations on the annual test. But I also know that anger and hostility aren't productive either, and kids do pick up on it. Good luck!

My son has been on a waiting list for assessment since October of 2006.  Still waiting.  He's near the top of the list.  Should be assessed early next year.  So, October of 2008.  sigh.  Ah well, at least he'll be assessed!  Chances are, Fran, that since you live in an urban center, you shouldn't have to wait that long, chances are the school board has a psychologist who is willing to drive out to your school.  That, they tell me, is the reason it's taking so long.  Shite de la Bull. 

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In the social order, I accept the bottom rung, until the wine is pouring and the Lord commands a song!

I'm still walking the fence on the assessment thing. If there is something "wrong" or "different" about her I think it's just mild. I don't think it's anything that will affect her in schooling in the long run (in the short run yes, because she has to decide she's 'ready' before she accomplishes anything and this may cause problems with teachers).

It's mostly me, I don't handle her very well, I have no patience for things like that. I worry that an assessment saying 'your daughter has this wrong with her' which will then give her extra help/tools will cause her to rely on them and not actually move forward on her own. That's the personality she has. I saw it with all the different swimming teachers she's had. She ended up moving backward with the teachers that were constantly helping/babying her. The ones that stood there and stared at her while she floundered around were actually more help because when she realized no one was going to come to the rescue, she could suddenly swim laps around the pool.

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"I see you in the front row, bouncing up and down, you're ripped and ready for a night downtown." ~ Margarita
What's wrong with a little flirtation?

Monster Tee