Oct. 15, 2008 - School Evaluation
I went down to the special education department today to pick up the evaluation that was done on Jonathan. I was called a number of weeks ago to say it had been mailed out. Since it hadn't arrived, I decided it was time to check it out. It had just gone into the outgoing mail box - hmmm.
Since I have been working with Jonathan and tried to figure out where I saw his areas of struggle, I was really curious to see what was on this report. I have been working on phonics and spelling rules, handwritting, sentence structure (where capitals belong, punctuation), other language skills and first grade math (we are 1/2 way through the math now). Science and Bible were more for enjoyment for him. I wasn't concerned about his reading and he reads the science book with me. We alternate paragraphs, which gives him practice in paying attention to where a paragraph starts and ends. The only real thing he is missing of value at school is the writing program. But, he is still working with me on just writing a sentence and getting it right.
This evaluation was quite interesting. He sure is spread all over the board in his ability. What a mix. This was one portion about what was noticed at his last school. "his behavior was inconsistent and marked by high degree of distractibility and difficulty with peer interactions. He has strong reading skills but struggles in math. J. appeared to be able to work more independently in the mornings." Then, "Impaired social interactions continue to be an issue, particularly in larger group settings in which J. is unable to ignore distractions and tends to follow the lead of peers that also struggle with appropriate social behavior." Yep - just the direction I fear my son going. We are hoping to guide and direct him with more appropriate thinking than that of his peers. We want to have more influence in his life to help form his views. He is incredibly vulnerable right now.
Educationally, was interesting too. "J. is a strong reader. His overall comprehension skills appear to be near the fifth grade level. His oral fluency is somewhat lower but still above grade level." He is just beginning third grade! They wanted to hold him back in kindergarten because he wasn't learning to read. I brought him to this Christian school to be tutored by a man here and then I worked with him over that summer. He CAN learn!!! "It is in the area of writing and math that he has the most difficulty with. His math computaional and reasoning skills are at approximately the end of first grade as is his overall writing skills."
One of the biggest challenges for him is that he wants to rush everything. He won't pay attention to me, because he is trying to figure it out ahead of me so we can be done with it. We end up taking longer this way. He also gets distracted by EVERY sound. And, it is just the two of us at home. So, any mild noise outside and he has to know what it is and is worrying about it. I spend a good amount of MY energy, trying to get him to relax and slow down and do it right the first time. He is a bundle of nervous energy. Nothing seems to help. Meds don't - unless it is enough to make him fall asleep as I am teaching him. Letting him burn the energy off doesn't - he comes in either mad because he now has to work (not getting his way) or all riled up from all the adrenaline flowing in his system (and unable to slow his body down). Poor kid, just can't self-regulate. If I try to rock and soothe him, he fights because that closeness scares him. He feels like he has to get away from me. I feel for him. Imagine what a classroom is like for him. He had a piano recital tonight. Every noise, made him turn to see what was happening. It made it hard for him to play - he did pretty well in spite of this.
