Category Archives: Gifted
A Taste of 6th Grade
John took Lily to 6th grade orientation today. Sounds like it went well. She seemed excited and confident when she was telling me about it tonight. When I left this morning, she ran out to the car and told me that she was scared to go to orientation. I told her that was normal and reminded her that her dad was probably nervous about it too. He doesn’t like new situations either. She wanted to review where everything was at school, so we drew a map and talked it through.
John said she remembered where everything was and showed him all her classrooms. She’ll be in the two Gifted and Talented classrooms for most of the day, which we’re hoping eliminates some of the classroom-switching chaos. As a twice exceptional kid, Lily doesn’t do well with transitions and change, especially when she’s overwhelmed in a loud, crowded situation.
Lily practiced opening her locker and saw a lot of her classmates she knows from elementary school. Dad said the orientation was crowded and sweaty and loud, but that Lily handled it really well–didn’t get overwhelmed. Help from the new meds? Can’t tell yet. But she did seem less tired tonight.
Dreading the start of middle school
The countdown is on. The day I’ve been dreading all summer is just around the corner… Lily starts middle school in a week and a half. I’ve heard that there are other parents who actually look forward to sending their kids back to school. I can’t imagine that, because for me, the school year is a lot of hard work and with Lily starting middle school, it’s going to be even more stressful.
This morning, I set up a special visit to her new school. I know Lily needs extra time to learn her way around. We walked around to all her classrooms and she was okay for awhile, but eventually she got overwhelmed and started to get upset. She wanted to know exactly how things were going to happen, where they were going to happen, when they were going to happen… starting with getting off the bus–step by step. I tried to do that and she seemed to calm down.
We still have 6th-grade orientation and back-to-school night before the first day of school, so I’m hoping that helps. I mean, this is a twice exceptional kid who has months of adjustment every school year and this is at the same elementary school she’s been attending since Kindergarten. A new school, plus all the added Executive Function demands of middle school… could be a rough transition.
That’s actually an understatement. I’ve been trying to plan for her middle school transition for more than a year. I shopped around for public schools, got Lily several evaluations, found her a psychiatrist, a psychologist, taught myself to advocate for her at school using www.wrightslaw.com and the book Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, shopped around for private schools, wrote demanding letters, attended many meetings, helped write a Behavior Support Plan and helped write a comprehensive IEP. Thousands of hours and dollars later, I feel like we have good support in place for her, but the real test comes in a couple of weeks….
The Brainhugger Does Battle
I shouldn’t say battle. Today’s meeting at school wasn’t a battle. It was actually a very cooperative effort, with professional educators who care about my daughter. But I prepared for the meeting as if I was preparing for battle. I studied every website I could find, called friends for pep talks, outlined my talking points and baked muffins. Yeah… stayed up late, baking muffins, so they would think I’m more normal mom and less crazy-out-of-her-gourd mom.
My daughter’s elementary school has done everything they can to help her. She’s a 5th grader, 2E or Twice Exceptional… in the Gifted and Talented program, but struggling with ADHD, Sensory Processing Issues, written expression and possibly learning disabilities we’ve yet to discover.
Speaking of discovering, I’m taking her for more testing tomorrow morning… with a Learning Disabilities Specialist we’ve hired outside the school. I sat in on last week’s testing session and was blown away by my daughter’s mind. Some of the stuff on the test, I couldn’t do. The Learning Specialist gave her numbers and had her repeat them backwards. I had to stop at 3 numbers. My daughter could do 6. She said she saw the numbers in her head and then read them backwards. The Learning Specialist said, “Did you know about this?” I said, “Well, yes… that’s how she studies her spelling.” She said my daughter’s visual memory will be a powerful tool.
I need a code name for my daughter, so I don’t have to keep writing, ‘my daughter’. I’ll ask her what she wants to call herself.
So back to the meeting at school, I’m too tired to explain tonight. 11 people in a room, intimidating and exhausting.
Brainhugger 