Logan has brought home excellent reports from school the past two days. I am so happy and proud. This kid is an amazing little creature! His teacher has reported that Logan volunteered to stay in from recess to finish his work and yesterday he finished his math test on time with all the rest of the kids. My heart is happy :)
Hannah had ballet yesterday but Papa Stirrett had to take her since Chris and I were on an ambulance call. I don't like missing her class... although I don't do anything but sit in the hall anyway. We are not permitted to watch class since it's too distracting for the dancers.
Aidan is busy... so busy. This morning he climbed onto the kitchen table and dumped a cup of milk over while I was combing Hannah's hair for school. Chris had just left on an ambulance call and we were running late (as usual) and I was hollering at Logan to get his snack packed in his backpack. Next thing I know Aidan took his diaper off because it was wet. He was running around half naked and getting into everything while I was trying to get the kids off to school on time. Now he's eating some toast and watching his favorite show- Barney. The kids were a few minutes late and I left the house in my pajamas and no bra... I dropped the kids off at the door without getting out of the car... I HATE doing that but there was NO WAY I was going into school like that.
It's not even 9am and I am exhausted.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
When will we get it?
Yesterday (Monday) I picked up the kids from school. Logan brought home his homework folder and inside of it I found the 54 math problems from last week with a note "These were turned in not done"... Uh DUH! The prinicpal told me not to make Logan do them. When are we going to understand that with Logan's learning disability he cannot be responsible for this type of workload? When are we going to get it?
I am getting more and more frustrated by the day. Since our school is small we only have one teacher for each grade... so switching teachers isn't an option. Plus I don't think he has a bad teacher... I think that she just doesn't get that he's struggling and it's not his fault. It's a disability, he's not being lazy or distracted on purpose, he can't help himself.
I think we need to have another meeting where we become more educated about ADD.
I am getting more and more frustrated by the day. Since our school is small we only have one teacher for each grade... so switching teachers isn't an option. Plus I don't think he has a bad teacher... I think that she just doesn't get that he's struggling and it's not his fault. It's a disability, he's not being lazy or distracted on purpose, he can't help himself.
I think we need to have another meeting where we become more educated about ADD.
Weekend fun
Soccer tournament on Saturday, we lost two and got to go home. The first team we lost to (4-1) was from Harbor Beach. The second game was against some friends of mine (1-0)... my kids were bummed but not heartbroken. I just do the best job at coaching that I can, and I ask the kids to do their best and have fun. At six and seven what more can I do?
The rest of the weekend was uneventful... just the way I like it!
The rest of the weekend was uneventful... just the way I like it!
Friday, September 26, 2008
TGIF
Logan hasn't had homework the past couple nights, I think everyone can finally agree that he's doing the best he can.
Hannah had ballet class yesterday and adores it. She dances all over the house and does all these fancy positions.
This weekend we have the AYSO soccer tournament. Last night's coach's meeting was...interesting. My kids are okay but not super great... we lost 13-0 the other night. Ouch!
I have deemed tonight "free-for-all freezer night"... we are going to try and eat up all the odds and ends of dinners that are in there (pot pies, tv dinners, chicken nuggets, ect)... then I can go grocery shopping and fill it up again.
Such a mundane life... :)
Hannah had ballet class yesterday and adores it. She dances all over the house and does all these fancy positions.
This weekend we have the AYSO soccer tournament. Last night's coach's meeting was...interesting. My kids are okay but not super great... we lost 13-0 the other night. Ouch!
I have deemed tonight "free-for-all freezer night"... we are going to try and eat up all the odds and ends of dinners that are in there (pot pies, tv dinners, chicken nuggets, ect)... then I can go grocery shopping and fill it up again.
Such a mundane life... :)
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Second grade begins for Logan
Ever since kindergarten Logan has had attention issues. Last year his first grade teacher thought Logan was having petit-mal seziures but the tests came back normal. So then we gave the go-ahead for the school to test for AD/HD... and again he was classified as normal.Well he's been in school less than 2 weeks and the problams have already begun. Notes from his teacher and homework almost every night... his homework is work that he didn't complete in class... one night we spent over 45 minutes working on his homework... it's a nightmare. He has to constantly be reminded to stay focused.His second grade teacher has already suggested ADD... which my brother has and I remember things were always tough when we were kids.
The beginning of a diagnosis
Had a meeting at Logan's school. The principal, student services director, school social worker, Logan's teacher, and an independant teacher met with me and Chris (my husband). Basically they talked about Logan's strong points and weak areas, and what testing we need to do to get a diagnosis. Chris and I are really leaning towards ADD so the social worker had us fill out 2 evaluations/ questionaires and turn them back in on Friday. The social worker and school psychologist had done in an class eval. and on Monday or Tuesday we will have the results back. I guess we go from thereI really do feel that he has an attention problem. Logan has always been the day dreamer kid, you can say his name over and over and he just doesn't hear you... you can tell that his mind is somewhere else. He isn't a hyper kid or anything like that, he does fidget and has problems sitting still... he is smart as a whip and if something interests him then it gets his full attention... something boring... forget it- he spaces out.Answering questions on the survey was intesting, Chris and I really discussed each question before answering them but really most we answered yes to.
9.22.08
The social worker called today, she scored his tests and said he has shown to be pretty significant ADD with little/no hyperactivity. He was also borderline anxiety and she felt that if we help him gain better control over the ADD then he would not feel so anxious. She is referring us to a child specialist who deals with these types of disorders, it's about 1 1/2 hours away. This doctor works closely with the schools and parents to determine the best treatment plan. Patty, the social worker, feels that medication might be something to try since the normal classroom things have been tried with little or no success. The classroom parapro sits next to Logan all day to keep him on track, his desk is off to the side to help with the classroom distractions, and he uses a cardboard divider when he feels too distracted. Even with all of this he's barely able to complete assisgnments. The other day he did 9 math problems in 4 hours! He just couldn't get it together.I want him to feel successful instead of frustrated. I want him to feel better about his abilities. I want him to feel confident. I guess trying medication isn't going to hurt. If it doesn't help then he doesn't have to continue to take it, you know?
9.22.08
The social worker called today, she scored his tests and said he has shown to be pretty significant ADD with little/no hyperactivity. He was also borderline anxiety and she felt that if we help him gain better control over the ADD then he would not feel so anxious. She is referring us to a child specialist who deals with these types of disorders, it's about 1 1/2 hours away. This doctor works closely with the schools and parents to determine the best treatment plan. Patty, the social worker, feels that medication might be something to try since the normal classroom things have been tried with little or no success. The classroom parapro sits next to Logan all day to keep him on track, his desk is off to the side to help with the classroom distractions, and he uses a cardboard divider when he feels too distracted. Even with all of this he's barely able to complete assisgnments. The other day he did 9 math problems in 4 hours! He just couldn't get it together.I want him to feel successful instead of frustrated. I want him to feel better about his abilities. I want him to feel confident. I guess trying medication isn't going to hurt. If it doesn't help then he doesn't have to continue to take it, you know?
Logan's first day on the CHIEF program
Background: Scored "clinically significant" in the following areas- Thought Problem and Attention Problems from both our assessment and Logan's teacher's assessment.
Got his progess report sent home with the following grades- Language A-, Penmanship C-, Spelling C-, Social Studies A, Math A, and Reading A-. He has been struggling at home with his math work.
At the meeting we had last week we sat down and discussed putting Logan in the CHIEF program (Children Having Improved Education and Fun) It was basically supposed to motivate Logan to do better with daily check-ins and points earned for desired behaviors. Great. Today he brings his CHIEF daily sheet home:He scored 26 points out of a total 36 points. His teacher scored him 0-Poor in all three of Logan's math areas. Then she has a note at the bottom of his sheet that reads "Had to work with Chris (the parapro) for math" So what I saw was that Logan was struggling with math and needed extra help, and because of this need for extra help he was marked down on his CHIEF sheet.
So then I open his homework folder to find FOUR math sheets for his homework. He needed extra help, the teacher reported that the parapro was working with Logan and he got 4 problems done out of 4 worksheets??!! What was the parapro doing? So now I have a total of 54 math problems to do for homework. This with an ADD kid who's been in school ALL DAY and has zero time to play or do kid things if we have to do all this homework.
I called the principal and basically said that I was very mad that Logan has all this homework after his CHIEF report came home negative and the parapro didn't help all that much. The principal totally agreed and told me not to make Logan do the homework. She said to go let him play outside. She said that it's absurd to punish this kid for his ADD issues and pile on homework in an area he is struggling in. She said she'd call in Logan's teacher and explain to her that at this point Logan cannot be held responsible for this type of workload because he has a learning disability. Jackie said that Logan will only be required to do the work that he can do... and nothing more. She said in a few months after the ADD gets treated then we could go back and modify the amount of work that is required of him.I felt much much better that I was being heard and understood. It just made me so made that Logan was trying his best and just wasn't getting any recognition for it. No wonder the kids scored borderline in the area of "Withdrawn/Depressed"
Got his progess report sent home with the following grades- Language A-, Penmanship C-, Spelling C-, Social Studies A, Math A, and Reading A-. He has been struggling at home with his math work.
At the meeting we had last week we sat down and discussed putting Logan in the CHIEF program (Children Having Improved Education and Fun) It was basically supposed to motivate Logan to do better with daily check-ins and points earned for desired behaviors. Great. Today he brings his CHIEF daily sheet home:He scored 26 points out of a total 36 points. His teacher scored him 0-Poor in all three of Logan's math areas. Then she has a note at the bottom of his sheet that reads "Had to work with Chris (the parapro) for math" So what I saw was that Logan was struggling with math and needed extra help, and because of this need for extra help he was marked down on his CHIEF sheet.
So then I open his homework folder to find FOUR math sheets for his homework. He needed extra help, the teacher reported that the parapro was working with Logan and he got 4 problems done out of 4 worksheets??!! What was the parapro doing? So now I have a total of 54 math problems to do for homework. This with an ADD kid who's been in school ALL DAY and has zero time to play or do kid things if we have to do all this homework.
I called the principal and basically said that I was very mad that Logan has all this homework after his CHIEF report came home negative and the parapro didn't help all that much. The principal totally agreed and told me not to make Logan do the homework. She said to go let him play outside. She said that it's absurd to punish this kid for his ADD issues and pile on homework in an area he is struggling in. She said she'd call in Logan's teacher and explain to her that at this point Logan cannot be held responsible for this type of workload because he has a learning disability. Jackie said that Logan will only be required to do the work that he can do... and nothing more. She said in a few months after the ADD gets treated then we could go back and modify the amount of work that is required of him.I felt much much better that I was being heard and understood. It just made me so made that Logan was trying his best and just wasn't getting any recognition for it. No wonder the kids scored borderline in the area of "Withdrawn/Depressed"
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