Wellness Day
I'm happy to report that Wellness Day was a big success! I spent the entire day with the boy child (sneaking out of a couple of indoor presentations to touch base with the girl child) and he did really well. He even had his jacket off for much of the day! Which is good because the temperatures got into the 80s.
There was only one outdoor activity that he wanted to sit out -- one where the kids had to sit on the ground with giant elastic bands stretched between their feet, slingshot-style, to shoot little balls across a field. The boy child doesn't like to sit in grass, and I can't blame him because that particular grass was full of stickers and burrs. I think that was the activity that Mr. C was telling me about, the one where the boy sat on a milk crate during practice. But there weren't any milk crates at the actual thing yesterday, unfortunately. Next year I'll have to remember to bring a big towel or a tarp or something for stuff like this.
The boy child even participated in the water games, which was HUGE for him. In one game, the kids lined up between two big tubs -- one empty, one full of water -- holding coffee cans that they had to use to transfer the water from one tub to the other. The boy really enjoyed that one and got fairly wet from the chest down. The next game was a race where the kids had to carry plastic cups full of water on their heads, and the boy did that one without complaint (and was pretty good at it, too!). Another game was again a race, but the kids had to carry soaking wet sponges and they couldn't use their hands. The boy even put his wet sponge on top of his head for that one! Wow! For a kid who hates getting his face wet in the bathtub or pool, that was pretty amazing.
All in all he really did remarkably well. He had a few flinches and a few nervous vocalizations of the "uuuuuuhhhh" variety when he thought he saw bugs, and there were a few times when I heard him spontaneously yell out "oh, that's just a butterfly!" or some such, but no major freakouts, no tears, no screaming or running. Awesome!
We had our parent-teacher conferences Thursday afternoon and those went really well, too. The girl child has really taken off with her reading this year and is doing very well. The boy has also done very well academically this year (only two Bs on his report cards this year, both in Spelling, otherwise all As). The boy child's teacher mentioned that academically and intellectually, he very likely qualifies for our district's Talented And Gifted (TAG) program, particularly in the areas of math and science. We spoke about the fact that, at least in the first half of this academic year, he probably wasn't behaviorally ready for the program, though. But she really thinks that he would be ready the next time enrollment opens up (next fall, I think). So that's something we'll have to think about.
I find it kind of funny that if he does qualify for the program, the boy child would be in both Special Ed and the TAG program, because when I was growing up the two were kind of mutually exclusive. But so much more is known these days about learning disabilities and neurological quirks, it has really opened up the field of Special Education. I'm frankly thrilled that we'll have access to so many services beginning next year. I only wish we could have gotten the diagnosis, and thus had access to those services, sooner.
There was only one outdoor activity that he wanted to sit out -- one where the kids had to sit on the ground with giant elastic bands stretched between their feet, slingshot-style, to shoot little balls across a field. The boy child doesn't like to sit in grass, and I can't blame him because that particular grass was full of stickers and burrs. I think that was the activity that Mr. C was telling me about, the one where the boy sat on a milk crate during practice. But there weren't any milk crates at the actual thing yesterday, unfortunately. Next year I'll have to remember to bring a big towel or a tarp or something for stuff like this.
The boy child even participated in the water games, which was HUGE for him. In one game, the kids lined up between two big tubs -- one empty, one full of water -- holding coffee cans that they had to use to transfer the water from one tub to the other. The boy really enjoyed that one and got fairly wet from the chest down. The next game was a race where the kids had to carry plastic cups full of water on their heads, and the boy did that one without complaint (and was pretty good at it, too!). Another game was again a race, but the kids had to carry soaking wet sponges and they couldn't use their hands. The boy even put his wet sponge on top of his head for that one! Wow! For a kid who hates getting his face wet in the bathtub or pool, that was pretty amazing.
All in all he really did remarkably well. He had a few flinches and a few nervous vocalizations of the "uuuuuuhhhh" variety when he thought he saw bugs, and there were a few times when I heard him spontaneously yell out "oh, that's just a butterfly!" or some such, but no major freakouts, no tears, no screaming or running. Awesome!
We had our parent-teacher conferences Thursday afternoon and those went really well, too. The girl child has really taken off with her reading this year and is doing very well. The boy has also done very well academically this year (only two Bs on his report cards this year, both in Spelling, otherwise all As). The boy child's teacher mentioned that academically and intellectually, he very likely qualifies for our district's Talented And Gifted (TAG) program, particularly in the areas of math and science. We spoke about the fact that, at least in the first half of this academic year, he probably wasn't behaviorally ready for the program, though. But she really thinks that he would be ready the next time enrollment opens up (next fall, I think). So that's something we'll have to think about.
I find it kind of funny that if he does qualify for the program, the boy child would be in both Special Ed and the TAG program, because when I was growing up the two were kind of mutually exclusive. But so much more is known these days about learning disabilities and neurological quirks, it has really opened up the field of Special Education. I'm frankly thrilled that we'll have access to so many services beginning next year. I only wish we could have gotten the diagnosis, and thus had access to those services, sooner.
posted by Miss Anthrope at 11:45 AM
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