How very nice

Lisa,how old is your oldest son? I have the same thing going on with my son, the teachers have even commented on how well he’s doing. Now that’s different. My son is 14, 8th grade, just wonder if it was the age or what.

nt

My son is 14 and in 9th grade. It seems like once he 14 he turned into someone different. I mean the change was like night and day. Interesting. Congrats to you and your son.

Two different audiologists with whom I work with my son have told me there is significant brain maturity that takes place at about age 13. I guess the corsium collusium (sp), the bridge that connects the two hemispheres of the brain.

So addition to great parenting, there may be some developmental things going on!!!

Beth

Interesting post:-) Glad things are going well:-) I sometimes thing it’s knowing someone’s “got your back” as my 13 year old would say,that helps.

We are two weeks into the school year and at first my 9th grader came home crabby and cranky but by Wednesday there was a definite change. Hoping to prevent the awful 9th grade year we had with my older son we sent my son to two camps this summer. One camp was Super Camps which worked on the whole person trying to give them the skills and mindset to be successful in school.. The second camp was a two-week immersion camp in Spanish which was an attempt to make Spanish more successful then it was in 8th grade. Wednesday he said that the camps had been alright though he wouldn’t want to do Super Camps again. He was also happy about an A on the first math quiz and felt he did very well on the first Biology test. Yesterday he told me that he was getting a lot participation points in Biology and Spanish. Comments last year were that he needed participate more. He also said that he felt so smart in Spanish and that he learned more in the two week Spanish Camp then he learned last year.

The other thing we did was set up a user friendly technology environment since his visual-motor problems impact the quality of his work. We bought him a light weight laptop to replace the PDA he has used for the last three years. It has Office XP which allows him to set the language to Spanish and the word processor allows him to do his Spanish homework with the Spanish accents and upside down question marks. He also bought a small scanner that uses USB connection to his laptop. He has the software package FormPilot installed and he scans in worksheets into the FormPilot which opens up textboxes where you need them to enter answers and also maintains the format of the worksheets.

So I am hopeful that my son’s year will be successful. I thing it is Rich Lavoie who said that Success is the best motivator in learning.

Helen

I agree success is the best motivator. I think success might be part of my son’s complete turn around, among other things. This summer I hired a tutor, after the first session, she called and said I’m going to work with your son on reading and writing, but the main thing I’m going to do is work on his self esteem, because he has none. I knew that was true, he thought he was stupid, thanks to some wonderful teachers. I told her we are constantly bragging on him at home. But like she said, it has to come from someone else, he thinks it’s your job to say good things about him. Anyway, by the end of summer, he was a different kid. He has always been very timid and shy. One day this summer, his best friends mother said, he is really coming out of his shyness, he talked to me today, I mean really talked, not just answered my questions, and he even ate in front of us. These are people he has spent almost as much time with in the last 4 years as he has his family, and never opened up. I really think the change came after someone took the time to praise him, make him feel less stupid.
Anyway, I had a meeting at school yesterday, it was a continuation of the IEP, he has the same teachers this year as last year. All three of them commented on his new attitude. I was quick to tell them, he had found some success this summer and felt lots better about himself and I was hoping it continued. Hint, Hint.
Even though for the first time ever in his school career that someone paid him a compliment, I was still a little angry with the attitude of his regular education teachers. They still just don’t grasp the idea that he has a learning difference. They still made little snide comments on how if he just tried a little harder, and how certain things I ask for just weren’t fair to the other non-disabled children. Things are going so good and I didn’t want to rock the boat, so I tried to just let the comments slide, but the more I think about them, the more upset I get. I just wish I knew some way to make teachers realize just what it feels like to have a learning disability. Don’t they teach that in college classes? Oh well, I guess you can’t really teach someone to have compassion. I”ve always said every teacher should have to live with an LD child, but then I wonder, would they ever really realize what that child was facing or just make their life more miserable.
I’ve rambled long enough, and I’m just so thankful things seem better and I just keep telling myself….only 5 more years to go.
Thanks again to all my friends on the BB, I would have never made it without all your help. It’s so nice to find someone to talk to, that knows what I’m going through. Thanks gang!!! :-)

Kathy,

I read your post earlier this summer and was sickened by the attitude of the Special Ed teacher who thought your on should get kick in the rear if I remember correctly. Schools/teachers should have an oath like the medical profession does to “Do No Harm.” You might write it into your son’s IEP that the staff who are your son’s teachers be required as an inservice watch the video “Fat City” which trys to simulates for a group of participants and the audience what it looks and feels like to have a learning disability.

Helen