Is every child capable of straight A's?

This is a question I have been asking myself this year. I asked a good friend of mine, a former teacher, this question the other day. She said that in 3rd grade, unequivocally, YES! She thinks all "typical" children are capable. Some may have to work considerably harder to get the A's, though.

So, why, then, is Will not able to do that? And why does it matter? Actually I don't think it does. Maybe I am caught up in the grade and I shouldn't be. Ultimately, mastery is what we want. We want Will to master what he is learning so that he can build on it. If he does not master 3rd grade skills it is going to be really hard to learn the 4th grade skills.

So, my question now becomes, how do I know if he has mastered these skills? A child that is getting straight A's is showing that he/she has mastered what they need to know. But, what about a child getting B's and C's? Does that mean he has not mastered the skills?

Not necessarily.

That is why I am at the point where I really want to push the testing. I am thinking I am going to contact Dr. M, who Chris and I met with about the bedwetting last year. We both liked him a lot and I think he does psychoeducational testing. I remember he had given us some sort of questionnaire to fill out and I did fill it out, but I never sent it back to him. If I recall correctly, when I filled it out it kind of raised some red flags for me, about Will.

So, I am going to get in touch with him next week and see what he has to say. See what he charges. All this stuff seems to be so very expensive. I found one psychologist online that does this testing and she charges $160/hour for testing (which is 4-6 hours), $160/hour for reviewing the test adn $160/hour for our follow-up meeting and planning session. Ugh. Easily $1000 right there. I may find Dr. M is the same thing and then I've got to figure some things out!