First week of 5th grade is done!

One week down... lots to go! Will had a great first week of school. He really likes 5th grade and being at the Intermediate school. The adjustment has been easy and as far as I can tell there is no anxiety going on at all.

He loves his two main teachers and also likes his Specials teachers. They are all "nice" and "funny", which are the two most important qualities to a 10 year old!

Will has us getting up at 5:50, which is dang early. His bus does not come until 6:55, but he wants enough time to pack his own lunch, pack up his book bag, eat breakfast and do some exercises. Yes, he and I are doing sit ups and push ups and a few minutes on the elliptical. He wants to do it and I figure it is a good habit to get in to. Though, 5:50 is still dang early!

His first day on the bus was marked by a threatening 8th grade who warned Will and his buddy that from Row 5 on back only 7th and 8th graders are welcome. The warning came with a fist in the hand. Will thought it was funny, though he said he moved at the next bus stop. Why he went to the back of the busy I have no idea. I told him to sit towards the front. He just followed his friend, he said. Now he sits in one of the first 5 rows!

Chris and I meet with the psychologist on Wed. to find out what was discovered during Will's testing. I can't wait to hear what she has to say. I emailed Miss P and Mrs. K last week letting them know he went through testing and that we would be getting the results this week. They emailed me back (the same day) and told me that they would definitely like to sit down and meet with us after we get the results. How refreshing!!!

Testing over

So last week Will went in for two days of testing. 1 1/2 hours each day. He seemed to enjoy it, which is a plus. I am so anxious to see how it went. After the first day, Chris told me that she had another questionnaire for me to fill out. She said she would just have me do it the next day while I waited for Will. I was very curious what it was going to be about as I had already filled out gobs of paperwork and questionnaires already.

As it turns out it was an ADD Scale. Interesting... I got to work filling it out after Will went upstairs with Chris. It was eye-opening, really. I had to mark a 1, 2, 3 or 4 depending on how often, during the last 6 months, I had seen the behavior in Will. WOW! The majority were a 3 or a 4. Meaning, I see it several times a week. If we don't get a dx of ADD I will be shocked. So many of them fit him to a T!

We go back on Sept. 1st to meet with Chris and hear what she found out. Will will not be with us at that meeting. We will take him for a short meeting with her where he will hear the same things we do, but in kid terms. I can't wait for Sept. 1st!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and he is anxious about it. Very nervous, but we have been to the school twice and he has met his teachers. He will be fine, he just needs to get through the first day or two!

Ben's first day is tomorrow also. We met his teacher, well not really met them, Will had them for 3rd grade. In fact, they are the teachers where all this fun stuff with Will showed it's pretty face. Ms. R. and Mrs. K. Ben is a completely different child and I hope they allow him to shine and don't expect him to have the same difficulties Will did.

Pictures to come tomorrow!!!

One down, two to go

So, we had our meeting last week with Chris. The whole family, minus Ben, met with her for an hour and a half. Will really liked her. More importantly, so did Dad! I think she is going to be great for Will. She did an incredible job of explaining to him exactly what her job is. This is what she said, in my words:

"We all have toolboxes. Your mom has a toolbox. Your dad has a toolbox. I have a toolbox. You have a toolbox. The tools that are in our toolbox are the things we use to learn. Everyone has different tools, too. It takes a lot of time to figure out what tools you have and what tools you need. For many people, they don't figure that out until they get through high school or even college.  My job is to help you figure out what tools you need. I am going to be your shortcut so that you don't have to wait until you get through high school."

Wonderful! Just what we all wanted to hear. I have more to share, but that is it for now. He meets with her twice this week for the testing. He doesn't know it is testing, but we do! Can't wait!

We picked up Will's teacher assignment today. He has Miss P and Mrs. K. We got to meet them both today, too. He looooved them!  Which is great. He is very nervous about starting school, but I think seeing his teachers today helped a lot!

Oh boy! Here we go...

So, April 20th I sounded so full of excitement and hope and promise for figuring all this stuff out with Will. It was not to be.

He was given the CELF-4 (can't recall at the moment what that stands for!). He scored a 22 on it and the criterion for a child his age is 18. Great. He did great. Well, to be truthful, he did not do great, but he beat the criterion and therefore did not qualify for anything else from the Speech and Language department at his school.

BACK TO SQUARE ONE, AGAIN!

What makes matters worse is Mrs. C, his teacher, never even followed up with us about it. Nope. And she had ample opportunity to. The last day of school she gave me a hug and told me that if I wanted her to speak to his teachers in 5th grade she would be more than happy to. Great.

So, school ended. Will received a Personal Achievement Award for getting all A's and B's all school year. Great.

I was thrilled and proud of him for receiving that award. But, it just covers up all of his struggles. Once again I feel that he is just falling through the cracks.

So, summer came and now summer is soon going. It is August. I finally, FINALLY, contacted The Affinity Center, which does psychoeducational testing and therapy and treatment. We meet with a psychologist on Monday. Chris, Will and I. I spoke to her on the phone for almost an hour last week and I am excited to meet her and have her meet Will and get this ball rolling.

However, I think our first obstacle to deal with is going to be his anxiety. He is very worried about going to 5th grade. A new school. New teachers, new schedule. New everything. His mantra lately is that he hates school and is very stressed about it. His words. Great.

So, it may be that Will goes in for a session or two with Chris (Dr. Mayhall) before school starts and before we do any testing. We need some strategies to help him deal with the anxiety of the new school.

Then, we will hopefully move into testing. I have been doing lots of reading this summer. Some great books, that I will reference a little bit later. I have also just in the last couple of days been research Executive Function Deficits and believe I have hit the jackpot. Much of what I read describes Will and his issues.

So, I hope to bring that up at our meeting on Monday. I want her to look into that as a possiblity.

Any hoo. Just wanted to update and I plan to do a lot more updating as we get into the nitty gritty of figuring all of this out, once and for all!