A report card to be thankful for...

[Guest guest]

Just wanted to provide a quick update on my 6 yo globally dyspraxic

son, who is in his first year of mainstream kindergarten. We delayed

kindergarten for one year, and spent most of last year focusing on

intensive OT and speech (all private), coupled with his placement in

a mainstream pre-K, which is at the same school he now attends.

Last night we met with his teacher and received his first report

card. The first thing I asked was, " What does " O " mean? " , because his

report card was filled with so many of them. " Outstanding, " she said.

There were some " needs improvement " scores, but two of them were for

things that I know he can do, but probably just wasn't focusing

enough on (sequencing numbers, matching numbers to sets of items),

and we'll work on building his confidence so he tests better in those

areas next time. There is no question that " focus " in general remains

a big issue for him. The other " needs improvement " scores were for 2

issues that are obviously impacted by his dyspraxia: " writes some

words independently " (not including name, which he received

a " satisfactory " on), and " gallops/skips " . He received

an " outstanding " in computers, though, which was graded independently

by his computers teacher, and also in the majority of the sections

under reading and mathematics. His social skills were also ranked

across the board as " outstanding. " The teacher comments on the

report card praise him for doing a " great job, " and for " showing

amazing effort and progress. "

There were some difficult parts to the conference, like when his

teacher was trying to explain what she said the other day when a

child asked, " Why does walk that way? " - what she said was

perfect, but my husband and I were both surprised that anyone would

detect anything unusual abut his gait - it's a bit awkward at times,

especially when he's marching in line, but nothing that I've ever

lost sleep over. It was also hard to observe the work of other kids,

displayed prominently throughout the classroom, which included

detailed pictures and beautiful writing - even writing in sentences!

is light years away from accomplishing anything close to that.

However, he's getting better and better at writing numbers and

letters. This from a boy that couldn't even put the pieces of a

letter F in place using Handwriting Without Tears wood pieces a year

ago. It has been reassuring to find, in the end, that his skills in

other areas like reading & math are deemed just as important in the

end, though, at that his work in those areas actually rises to the

level of outstanding.

We recently met with Dr. Brad Berman, whom we'll rely on for the

future since flying to New York from California just isn't possible

on a regular basis. He agreed with the dx of dyspraxia, and provided

some wise words about what's been hardest for me in all this -

dealing with my fears of how other kids will treat him, and how his

self-esteem may ultimately be impacted. " Kids are very perceptive, "

he said, and I'm paraphrasing a bit here: " They know who has the best

lunch, who runs the fastest, who is tallest, who is shortest, who

dresses the best. And they know that is different. But

different isn't necessarily bad. " Judging from his teacher's

feedback that he is consistently happy, even tempered,

and " peaceful, " as she put it, I think Dr. Berman is right, and that

I need to work on being " peaceful " in my own right. Meanwhile, we ran

a bunch of the tests for carnitine, etc., and were pleased and amazed

that our regular ped agreed to order them through our HMO. We'll post

results when they come in.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

[Guest guest]

Thanks , I appreciated your post a great deal.

>

> Just wanted to provide a quick update on my 6 yo globally

dyspraxic

> son, who is in his first year of mainstream kindergarten. We

delayed

> kindergarten for one year, and spent most of last year focusing on

> intensive OT and speech (all private), coupled with his placement

in

> a mainstream pre-K, which is at the same school he now attends.

>

> Last night we met with his teacher and received his first report

> card. The first thing I asked was, " What does " O " mean? " , because

his

> report card was filled with so many of them. " Outstanding, " she

said.

> There were some " needs improvement " scores, but two of them were

for

> things that I know he can do, but probably just wasn't focusing

> enough on (sequencing numbers, matching numbers to sets of items),

> and we'll work on building his confidence so he tests better in

those

> areas next time. There is no question that " focus " in general

remains

> a big issue for him. The other " needs improvement " scores were for

2

> issues that are obviously impacted by his dyspraxia: " writes some

> words independently " (not including name, which he received

> a " satisfactory " on), and " gallops/skips " . He received

> an " outstanding " in computers, though, which was graded

independently

> by his computers teacher, and also in the majority of the sections

> under reading and mathematics. His social skills were also ranked

> across the board as " outstanding. " The teacher comments on the

> report card praise him for doing a " great job, " and for " showing

> amazing effort and progress. "

>

> There were some difficult parts to the conference, like when his

> teacher was trying to explain what she said the other day when a

> child asked, " Why does walk that way? " - what she said was

> perfect, but my husband and I were both surprised that anyone

would

> detect anything unusual abut his gait - it's a bit awkward at

times,

> especially when he's marching in line, but nothing that I've ever

> lost sleep over. It was also hard to observe the work of other

kids,

> displayed prominently throughout the classroom, which included

> detailed pictures and beautiful writing - even writing in

sentences!

> is light years away from accomplishing anything close to

that.

> However, he's getting better and better at writing numbers and

> letters. This from a boy that couldn't even put the pieces of a

> letter F in place using Handwriting Without Tears wood pieces a

year

> ago. It has been reassuring to find, in the end, that his skills

in

> other areas like reading & math are deemed just as important in

the

> end, though, at that his work in those areas actually rises to the

> level of outstanding.

>

> We recently met with Dr. Brad Berman, whom we'll rely on for the

> future since flying to New York from California just isn't

possible

> on a regular basis. He agreed with the dx of dyspraxia, and

provided

> some wise words about what's been hardest for me in all this -

> dealing with my fears of how other kids will treat him, and how

his

> self-esteem may ultimately be impacted. " Kids are very

perceptive, "

> he said, and I'm paraphrasing a bit here: " They know who has the

best

> lunch, who runs the fastest, who is tallest, who is shortest, who

> dresses the best. And they know that is different. But

> different isn't necessarily bad. " Judging from his teacher's

> feedback that he is consistently happy, even tempered,

> and " peaceful, " as she put it, I think Dr. Berman is right, and

that

> I need to work on being " peaceful " in my own right. Meanwhile, we

ran

> a bunch of the tests for carnitine, etc., and were pleased and

amazed

> that our regular ped agreed to order them through our HMO. We'll

post

> results when they come in.

>

> Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

>

>

>