The Principal's Office

The child fidgeted listlessly in a chair oversized for her small frame as she looked up at me. Recognizing me as a parent who volunteers in her class once a week, she smiled and perked slightly though she quickly began rubbing her stomach to show she was not really feeling better. We chatted as I waited to speak with the principal and she waited for her mom to come pick her up. After discussing her tummy ache and how Anika had been sick and missed school a couple of weeks ago, I asked the girl how Anika was today. Good she told me, then tilting her head to side she raised her hand and amended her assessment by gesturing so-so. Eyes growing larger she explained to me how a boy in class was not making Good Choices and Anika choose to follow those choices too. Our conversation was cut short as the principal returned with a very slightly ashamed looking boy who sat next to me.

Now it was my turn.

I came in to discuss some concerns I have about my daughter's work and her class-size, I had meant to explain. Instead, what I said was, I'm wondering about the procedures for choosing a teacher for next year and the possiblity of changing her class now.

Diplomatically he asked, what's going on?

So we discussed modifying her worksheets with bigger lines, havingsome things pre-cut for her, making sure her adaptive scissors are available to her, making sure that her chair with the back support and foot support travel with her when she works at another table and getting more assistance during work-time.

The special education teacher was called in. I had spoken with her the day before. She agreed that these things should be going on. We talked about pulling her out of the class more to work on her writing and computer time. It's just not happening in the classroom.

I showed them a journal page we worked on at home explaining it was really good for Anika but it took us about 20 minutes to write the sentence. I had to take away her pen between writing, coach her on sounding out words to spell and have her write the word with her finger first. It's was really a lot of effort on both our parts.

This was what I showed:


Then I told them how I scanned it, cleaned up in (what else) photoshop and printed it out so she could really see what a good job she did writing.

This is the clean up version:



In case you can't read it. It says, "He saw a tiger." She wanted to say, "He saw a tiger at the zoo and ran away." Isn't that awesome! Those little dots are the kid getting smaller as he runs away. I love it.

I explained how Anika was really proud of it and wanted to toss the original.

But bottom-line was what she does in her school journals are just scribbles. I mean really a page of scribbles like ....well nothing. On the first parent-teacher day when all the kids had their journals out to show their parents I almost cried because her's were like a baby's scribbles and the other kids had drawings. Drawing with words. Drawings with sentences. Well now she has a drawing with a sentence. But how do we get her to work at school? How do we get the right supports in place?

Next week is her IEP meeting with her evaluations since she's got to have one every 3 years to prove she still qualifies for services. I hope it will be productive. Her special ed teacher has some good ideas.

Now I need to meet with her teacher who is probably going to be irritated that I didn't talk to her first. I should have. I did try when I was volunteering in her classroom. Her classroom has 27 kids in it and I find it very overwhelming. I've emailed her.

Once again I feel like a kid sitting in the office waiting to talk to the principal.