This is the first parent teacher meeting (with any of my kids) that I really felt like went great. They had positive things to say about my son. Yes they noticed he is different..LOL. But they just really listened to me. I had handouts for them, and just information on what we had done medically. Since we dont' really have a dx it is hard, but when teacher see that they mostly assume you haven't asked. Well I have asked, so it really helped us to be on the same page. It is nice to get out in the open that I know he looks and acts like adhd, but the professionals are saying that is not the cause, they are symtoms of other stuff. His teachers really seem great. I did find out for sure that he was placed in an inclusion class (which was not told to me, I heard through the grapevine). It isn't a huge deal, but I don't love not being in the know! So instead of being pulled out for and hour and half a day, they are pulling him 1 hour and then a teacher is coming in for the other half. So far so good. He really is doing well this year. He comes home very happy and says school is great, not the usual, I don't like school, school is hard. The other thing that I was a little worried about is this....the school only offers him 30 minutes once a month for OT. Well when 75% of his behavior issues are from motor planning he needs ot! So we have gone to an outside source (and I am privatly paying), and he is getting OT an hour a week. However this is during school time. They just couldn't do later appts. So I set him up with appts that overlap lunch and recess. So he won't miss too much school. But I have to do what is best for him. Anyway, I thought I would get a lot of hassle about it. But they understood. They only questioned why the school wasn't doing it. I said they just didn't think he needed it. I hope to get it ard'ed in eventually, but for now we are going to see how this helps. I explained that to them, told them what we were doing in OT (handwritting without tears) and why, and I told them it was a 3 month trial and if we don't see improvement we will stop.

On another note...school seems soo long! I can't believe they are back and that I will be doing this for so long! I really miss the days of thinking, cool school is in, no stress. Andrew just makes me stress at school and it is easier for him to be home with me! I hope this changes sooner rather than later!

By Cat on Thursday, August 17, 2006 - 04:56 pm:

Sounds great, Kaye! It's always nice when they at least seem like they're willing to work with you. I always wonder, though, if they really are, ya know? I can't believe they put him in an inclusion classroom without telling you! That'd make me livid. Maybe the school will take the hint with an outside OT coming in every week. I'm glad Andrew is liking school this year. We still haven't encountered that. Maybe someday Robin will like school.

I was just thinking earlier today, school's only been going for not even two weeks and I'm ready for a break. I like having my kids at home with me. Randy's been home the last two days sick and I'm enjoying having him around! Not that it's fun for him being sick, but he's not that bad off. Yesterday it was a sore throat and today his stomach hurt. He said he felt like he needed to throw up, but he never did. We'll see how he feels tomorrow.

Oh, I totally know what you're saying about school being more stressful than having the kids home. It's been like that for years for us.

I hope things continue to go well for Andrew.

By Kaye on Thursday, August 17, 2006 - 05:59 pm:

The OT isn't coming into the school. I am picking him up, driving him 15 minutes, an hour of therapy and then back to school. For the notes, for missed time, I printed off his schedule and said...just use this as a standing note..LOL.

With one of my kids school is so easy and so nice, he really misses it and I miss having him at school. But not true with the other two.

I was livid to find out about the inclusion class. I didn't blow a gasket out of the house though I decided to give it a chance, so far so good. However I really don't know the breakdown and the numbers of how many kids are "included". We have our parent night tomorrow night, so I might found out more then.