Conferences with Deidra and Emma's Teachers

I had a conference with Deidra's teacher and she's doing well. Discussed some concerns about her reading grade and how to get her grades up (she's always been an A and B student in all of her classes, except for last year she did make one C in the middle of the year) and the very first marking period this year, she made a C in reading. Everything else was As and Bs. She absolutely hates to read...it's a struggle to get her to do her 20 minutes of reading a night. And this year, she has to write a summary about the book and what she read that night. The school pushes reading so much for them to pass their TAKS test, that the teacher said a lot of students get that way...add in the fact that she struggles in it and it makes it worse. Other than that, the teacher said that she's doing very well, she's a sweet girl and is very helpful and she's a people pleaser. She's already gotten 5 golden tickets for teachers noticing her good behavior this year. I'm proud of her!

Met with Emma's teacher yesterday. She accomplished everything that she was supposed to know for the first 6 weeks except for M, H, and V (I don't understand that one since she has a M in her name and she knows that) and she couldnt' distinguish between the US flag and the Texas state flag. Anyway, I had been trying to get her some occupational therapy in school since the first of the year and was told first that she could by the teacher, then the principal had called and said that they couldn't allow outside therapists into the school, and when I inquired as to getting her help in school I was told that was a Special Ed issue and so when I called them, they said they weren't willing to do anything unless she started showing difficulty. I explained that she's been in OT for 2 years if not longer and she's currently 18 months behind where she should be and I really do think that OT is part of what helped her get to where she needed to be to complete Pre-K. Still was told that they couldn't do anything unless she started showing difficulty. I had mentioned that to the place where we go to behavior therapy as they also have a person that works with the school on certain issues and I was told that the school has to provide services if there is a need and she gave me a form letter to send to the school. That very same day, the principal said that she'd meet with me to discuss Emma's needs. So, we all met at the conference yesterday..the teacher, the counselor, the principal, and myself. The teacher feels that she's keeping up with her peers and that the medicine change has made a difference between night and day and that Emma's right where she should be. I really don't agree, but any of the examples I tried to give, they shot me right down. I guess from now on, instead of just working with her on a homework assignment and having us check it off that we did the activity with her, I'm going to start sending them back to school with a note attached of my observations or what it took to get that homework out of her. I also gave them a copy of our OT's last evaluation that she did a couple of months ago with all the areas that Emma had difficulty in and showing how far behind she is. I also had brought something that showed Emma's diagnosis of ADHD on it and that is finally what got them to put her on monitored 504 status. I told the principal that I'm not trying to be pushy, but I know how she learns and how long it takes her to learn some things, she needs a LOT of repetition for long periods of time to learn things. Part of the reason Josiah knows all that he knows is from listening to me quiz Emma on things and after hearing it a couple of times, he just picked it up. Anyway, they agreed to monitor her and they said if she starts showing any signs of difficulty then they would see about getting her tested and get her some services or make some accomodations. I told the teacher that with all the sight words that they were expected to know by the end of this 6 weeks, I know that's going to be hard for her, but I told her that we would work on it with her everyday and try to get her there.