update

[Guest guest]

I just wanted to update everyone how Abby is doing.

I had a teachers conference yesterday with her regular teacher as

well as the inclass support teacher, that is with her daily. However,

since we have half day kindergarten, the support teacher is only w/

Abby for about 45 minutes.

I was pleasently surprised in Abby's overall progress so far. Believe

it or not, the teacher she has this school year is the same teacher

she had over the summer for the ESY program. She said, when she had

Abby then, Abby was " extremely quiet " , she had a hard time writing

letters, making shapes, etc. The teachers had reservations on Abbys

ability to succeed in Kindergarten.

They (the teachers) did an informal testing on all the children in

September to see what they knew. And then they tested them again in

Novemeber. Here are Abbys results.

Upper case letter recognition Sept= 24/26 Nov. 25/26

Lower case letter recognition Sept. 10/26 Nov. 18/26

Sound of each letters Sept. 3/26 Nov. 12/26

All shapes, and colors, known in sept and nov.

Further she has 12 " sight words " memorized/known. They are laminated

cards with simple words printed on them, and connected to a key ring

that we practice. (is, on, the, at, a, etc)Aside from these 12 words,

she also has most of her color words, family names, including Mom and

Dad. And of course the word STOP. Because we have the stop sign

outside by our house, that we just have to read/spell every day.

I asked how Abby was doing receptively. It seems the private SLP

feels Abby also has receptive/expressive language disorder. Im having

a tough time believing that one. The teachers both feel Abby does not

have any issues regarding any receptive issues. They've both

said, " Abby knows the routine, she knows what is expected of her, she

does what she is told, from putting her coat away, to writing

letters. There never seems to be any confusion, or questioning, when

given instuctions. HOWEVER, they also said, Abby is full of spunk.

She has a fire in her that they've never seen before. She is very

independent, doesn't like to be hovered over, and most of the time

refuses help. The inclass support teacher had to explain to Abby its

her job to help, she isn't doing the work for Abby, just talking, and

pointing " - or whatever the task is at the time. Now Abby isn't so

quick to refuse help.

Overall, she has made leaps and bounds since the summer. And I've

been told she has many friends. And it shows with all the party

invitations, and phone calls for play dates too. They said will still

keep a close eye on " our Abby " as they so sweetly called her.

Dawn in NJ