Parent-Teacher Conferences

We'll start with Samuel since I met with his teacher on Tuesday morning. She showed me more examples of his work. As at the first meeting with her, his work runs the gamut from a page with faint scribbles to a page with near-perfect writing. Again, I'm not worried about his cognitive abilities because he obviously gets it. So we are still focusing on occupational therapy, sensory issues and now adding speech therapy for stuttering.

Samuel started stuttering around the beginning of this year (calendar year, not school year) and I ignored it. Solomon and Miriam both stuttered for a couple of months at the same age but it passed and they've had no problems since. But Samuel's stuttering has continued and it's getting worse, not better. For the last part of my conference with Samuel's teacher, the speech pathologist joined us and outlined what she'll be doing with Samuel twice a week. She said he doesn't show signs of having a physiological problem and since there isn't a family history of stuttering, she's encouraged that he'll move past this eventually.

Samuel went to speech for the first time yesterday. He loved it and he was so proud of himself. When I picked him up yesterday evening, he showed off his sticker and said, "I went to speech today and I did awesome!" I'm sad that Samuel is struggling with things like this, but I am so grateful that there are qualified people to help him. These plans are really encouraging.

I met with Solomon's teacher on Wednesday evening. I expected to hear good things about him since he was selected for the High Flyer Award last month; I was not disappointed. Solomon is advanced in math. He's a logical thinker and his teacher said he's one of the few in her class that can explain why he does math problems the way he does.

Solomon is still behind in reading and spelling but he's improving, thanks to ELA services every day for 20 minutes. Because he is behind in reading, there is an individualized plan for him to focus on the areas where he needs the most help. The goal is to get him to grade level by February when he takes the Colorado standardized test. Also, since he is below grade level, his teacher has had it approved for him to take the tests for shorter time periods and to give him more time overall to complete sections of the test. She has noticed that he gets anxious during tests when he can't get things finished on time so this should remove that stress.

Solomon's teacher said he is well-liked by his peers and she really enjoys having him in her class. I can't tell you how happy I was to hear this because I've been certain before that Solomon's teachers haven't always enjoyed having him in their classes. No one has been ungracious about it, but he has definitely been The Challenge more often than not.

I met with Miriam's teacher on Thursday night. She said that Miriam is doing very well. She was slightly below grade level in math at the beginning of the year and is now at grade level. She was at grade level in reading and reading comprehension when school started and now she's off the reading grading scale. This is so awesome and it's even better because Miriam actually loves to read.

The teacher showed me a couple of narratives that Miriam wrote. They are so great. She wrote and illustrated one about us finding a dead snake in the parking lot while we walked to the park. She's so funny and gross.

I love these kids.