I'm not ready for Christmas. We have already had one Christmas celebration with my husband's side of the family, and I guess it felt too good to have that behind us. Because I have done very little to get ready for ACTUAL Christmas this weekend.
It always works out though. Somehow, it always comes together and it is always a nice, enjoyable family day.
And somehow, we always over do it ... and we always overspend too ....
'Tis the Season!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Vision Problems ...
I learned something new that I did not know even existed in the world. Honestly, I thank God everyday for my son's homeroom teacher at his small Lutheran School. If it weren't for her being ALL OVER his behind everyday, expecting nothing but THE best out of him, he would never have been diagnosed with ADD; and therefore, he would never have attended nine months of Occupational Therapy for his related fine motor problems ... and ... this takes the cake ... we would never have found out that he has a vision disability!
You see, we were plugging away through the school year and feeling like things were so much better with ds's new medicine for his ADD. His fine motor skills did improve through Occupational Therapy over the last nine months, although not greatly. I am glad he was able to make the improvements he did, but his handwriting is only slightly better. This is not a big deal in today's computerized world though.
However, at the school conferences in November, ds's homeroom teacher insisted that there was still a problem. Keep in mind that my son's grades were all very good. Every single grade was between 80 and 90 percent. But he has this pattern with going along well and then completely bombing miscellaneous assignments along the way here and there, always keeping him out of the 90's for his overall trimester grades.
So, we went back to the pediatrician and we sought some additional medicine. He continues to take 72 mg. of Concerta, but we have now added Intuniv to his Concerta each day. His attention at school has improved a little more, so that is good.
But then, as we were concluding Occupational Therapy earlier this month, ds's OT mentioned that he had accomplished all of his goals, but that he still had some problems with visual depth perception. What the heck is that??
Well, because the homeroom teacher insisted that there were still learning problems, we went to one of the three Developmental Optometrists in our City and found out what this problem was. (Only a Developmental Optometrist can diagnose vision problems that contribute to learning disabilities apparently. Who knew? I mean, I was taking him to the best eye doctor wasn't I? He had been going to an Opthalmologist for goodness sakes!)
But no. Opthalmologists don't diagnose eye motor issues. They test for visual accuity and provide care for eye diseases and perform eye surgeries. The Developmental Optometrist does all of the above (accept surgeries) and more.
So, we found out that my son, whose eyes look just fine and normal to the everyday observer, do not track well together. Because of this, he cannot distinguish images in 3-D and he is in the 18th percentile for his speed in tracking his eyes from left to right and from right to left. So, 82 percent of kids his age can move their eyes across type faster than he can .. and perceive the information they are viewing. Since this is a perceptual problem, my son can see the type, he just can't perceive it. I know. Strange, huh?
But, when it comes to tracking his eyes vertically (like reading up and down columns,) he is in the 1st percentile! No wonder he has problems with math. For the most part, math is done vertically!
The best news about all of this is that this problem can be corrected. There is something called Vision Therapy that he can attend weekly. Again, this is something I had no clue even existed. So, in January, we will begin ninth months of Vision Therapy. Hopefully, this has ds done and completely ready for high school in the Fall.
You see, we were plugging away through the school year and feeling like things were so much better with ds's new medicine for his ADD. His fine motor skills did improve through Occupational Therapy over the last nine months, although not greatly. I am glad he was able to make the improvements he did, but his handwriting is only slightly better. This is not a big deal in today's computerized world though.
However, at the school conferences in November, ds's homeroom teacher insisted that there was still a problem. Keep in mind that my son's grades were all very good. Every single grade was between 80 and 90 percent. But he has this pattern with going along well and then completely bombing miscellaneous assignments along the way here and there, always keeping him out of the 90's for his overall trimester grades.
So, we went back to the pediatrician and we sought some additional medicine. He continues to take 72 mg. of Concerta, but we have now added Intuniv to his Concerta each day. His attention at school has improved a little more, so that is good.
But then, as we were concluding Occupational Therapy earlier this month, ds's OT mentioned that he had accomplished all of his goals, but that he still had some problems with visual depth perception. What the heck is that??
Well, because the homeroom teacher insisted that there were still learning problems, we went to one of the three Developmental Optometrists in our City and found out what this problem was. (Only a Developmental Optometrist can diagnose vision problems that contribute to learning disabilities apparently. Who knew? I mean, I was taking him to the best eye doctor wasn't I? He had been going to an Opthalmologist for goodness sakes!)
But no. Opthalmologists don't diagnose eye motor issues. They test for visual accuity and provide care for eye diseases and perform eye surgeries. The Developmental Optometrist does all of the above (accept surgeries) and more.
So, we found out that my son, whose eyes look just fine and normal to the everyday observer, do not track well together. Because of this, he cannot distinguish images in 3-D and he is in the 18th percentile for his speed in tracking his eyes from left to right and from right to left. So, 82 percent of kids his age can move their eyes across type faster than he can .. and perceive the information they are viewing. Since this is a perceptual problem, my son can see the type, he just can't perceive it. I know. Strange, huh?
But, when it comes to tracking his eyes vertically (like reading up and down columns,) he is in the 1st percentile! No wonder he has problems with math. For the most part, math is done vertically!
The best news about all of this is that this problem can be corrected. There is something called Vision Therapy that he can attend weekly. Again, this is something I had no clue even existed. So, in January, we will begin ninth months of Vision Therapy. Hopefully, this has ds done and completely ready for high school in the Fall.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
My Amazing Son ... and School Vouchers
One of the greatest joys in my life is my relationship with my teenager. He is 14 years old and one of the biggest lights of my life. He and I have been through a lot together in life already. For eight years, he was my one and only child. He has definitely reaped the benefits (and the downsides) of being an only child for eight years of his life :)
He is an amazing big brother ... so patient and kind to his little sisters who rip through our house like tornados on a daily basis. He is a great role model to them and they adore him. He is also very insightful for his age and very interesting to talk to. He tends to be a quiet kid out in the world at large, but there is MUCH he does not miss. He has a definite gift for understanding and empathizing with people. And his sense of humor is just ... honestly ... delightful :)
My dear son has always been a student in the middle though. We had some tough years in his early grades because he just could not keep up with the school work load. With my dedication and his efforts though, he has never failed a subject in school. But, with each grade level, school became harder and harder ... and I became more and more tired, and less and less capable of re-teaching (homeschooling) him at the end of the lengthy school days.
One of the biggest blessings of our lives has been the private school he began attending last year for 7th grade. It is a religious school and, honestly, you can feel God's presence in that building every single minute of the day. Some days I feel grumbly or whatever, and I go into that building and I am ALWAYS just perfectly awed by the teachers, the students and the loving, Christian environment. I know this is a place that God led our family to and wanted my kids to spend some time in.
In the nearly 1.5 years my son has been in this school, he has been anything but LEFT BEHIND. I am a believer, based on my unique school experiences with my son, that it is the children in the middle who are the ones being left behind in our schools today.
The kids who behave poorly for whatever reason have the teachers' attention the entire day, while the kids in the middle plug away and do their best in the same classroom with these kids. And the higher performing kids get to be in special programs, unique environments ... gifted, honors groups, etc. These types of programs have behavior standards and the kids in them are not being left behind for sure either. They are getting a leg up. Just the amount of time that the teachers in these programs don't have to allot to the misbehaving bunch gives these kids an advantage.
So, I have to pay for my childrens' education. I pay twice. Once as a tax payer and once to actually get them educated. It sucks. Our State did recently begin a voucher program though and I am very thankful that any child in our State can now have true school choice. Public school is not for everyone. Children are being left behind there (here in Indiana) every day. The class sizes are getting bigger and bigger while the standards for education everywhere are getting higher and higher. What gets my goat is that parents who already needed to, or chose to put their kids in private school to get them educated, don't qualify for the voucher program. That is just wrong.
If my child was bullied out of public school, our family deserves a voucher no matter how much money we make (and we are not a high income family) .... but I will not allow myself to resort to bitterness. I want to go there, but I won't. I will focus on the kids in our State who will no longer have to be stuffed into an educational system that may not be the best fit for them. I pray that kids who have been bullied can come to our State's private schools and feel safe, find their strengths, gain confidence and learn about God along the way. But I think I am going to tell my story to our Governor in some way. Maybe a letter. The voucher law is a good one, but it is incomplete. This is an issue I am passionate about.
He is an amazing big brother ... so patient and kind to his little sisters who rip through our house like tornados on a daily basis. He is a great role model to them and they adore him. He is also very insightful for his age and very interesting to talk to. He tends to be a quiet kid out in the world at large, but there is MUCH he does not miss. He has a definite gift for understanding and empathizing with people. And his sense of humor is just ... honestly ... delightful :)
My dear son has always been a student in the middle though. We had some tough years in his early grades because he just could not keep up with the school work load. With my dedication and his efforts though, he has never failed a subject in school. But, with each grade level, school became harder and harder ... and I became more and more tired, and less and less capable of re-teaching (homeschooling) him at the end of the lengthy school days.
One of the biggest blessings of our lives has been the private school he began attending last year for 7th grade. It is a religious school and, honestly, you can feel God's presence in that building every single minute of the day. Some days I feel grumbly or whatever, and I go into that building and I am ALWAYS just perfectly awed by the teachers, the students and the loving, Christian environment. I know this is a place that God led our family to and wanted my kids to spend some time in.
In the nearly 1.5 years my son has been in this school, he has been anything but LEFT BEHIND. I am a believer, based on my unique school experiences with my son, that it is the children in the middle who are the ones being left behind in our schools today.
The kids who behave poorly for whatever reason have the teachers' attention the entire day, while the kids in the middle plug away and do their best in the same classroom with these kids. And the higher performing kids get to be in special programs, unique environments ... gifted, honors groups, etc. These types of programs have behavior standards and the kids in them are not being left behind for sure either. They are getting a leg up. Just the amount of time that the teachers in these programs don't have to allot to the misbehaving bunch gives these kids an advantage.
So, I have to pay for my childrens' education. I pay twice. Once as a tax payer and once to actually get them educated. It sucks. Our State did recently begin a voucher program though and I am very thankful that any child in our State can now have true school choice. Public school is not for everyone. Children are being left behind there (here in Indiana) every day. The class sizes are getting bigger and bigger while the standards for education everywhere are getting higher and higher. What gets my goat is that parents who already needed to, or chose to put their kids in private school to get them educated, don't qualify for the voucher program. That is just wrong.
If my child was bullied out of public school, our family deserves a voucher no matter how much money we make (and we are not a high income family) .... but I will not allow myself to resort to bitterness. I want to go there, but I won't. I will focus on the kids in our State who will no longer have to be stuffed into an educational system that may not be the best fit for them. I pray that kids who have been bullied can come to our State's private schools and feel safe, find their strengths, gain confidence and learn about God along the way. But I think I am going to tell my story to our Governor in some way. Maybe a letter. The voucher law is a good one, but it is incomplete. This is an issue I am passionate about.
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