Grade 8 Student: “I’m going to have a really off day today. I won’t be able to concentrate so I won’t get any work done. I will probably be super crazy, too! I have a diagnosis of ADHD and didn’t take my meds this morning.”
Me: “Hmmm, so do I have to send you to the principal’s office right now then… before you even do anything just in case?”
Grade 8 Student: (laughs) “No.”
Me: “What kinds of crazy things are you going to do on this off day?”
Have you ever made goals for New Year’s or another time of the year and failed to achieve them? How about the goals you have achieved? What was the difference between the two? I know for myself, the goals I have achieved were simply more meaningful to me. They were ones I wanted to achieve not because someone else thought I should achieve them, but because I personally wanted to for ME!
This doesn’t mean that I have achieved every goal I have had a strong desire to, but it does mean I was definitely more driven to at least making baby steps towards it. Therefore, improvement has been seen even for the meaningful goals I set that I did not fully achieve.
I want to transfer this thought to our children.
Years ago, when my now adult son was in grade 1, I got the dreaded call from his school that I would need to go in and discuss my son’s behavior. For a reason I will never know, he took a pile of glue and attempted to glue his bum to his chair. The chair and his pants were full of glue. My conversation with him and his teacher at the time went something like this:
Have you ever been bullied or been a bully yourself? Chances are, if you have siblings, you have experienced both sides of this at some point. However, what about when this transfers into school or elsewhere? I know I was quite an angry child and acted out frequently… often not thinking twice about hurting others. I look back now and I’m definitely not proud of having been frequently mean to others. I was a child on both ends of this spectrum… I was picked on at times for sure. I also was a bully many times over.
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Does your child experience distortions or become disoriented while reading? This often isn’t just a question that you can ask and get a clear response. This is because, even when distortions or disorientation are experienced, your child won’t necessarily realize that this doesn’t happen for everyone. It may also be so normal for your child that it isn’t noted by him/her at all.
It is normal for everyone to become disoriented and experience distortions at times. With this stated, it is important to find out if this is a factor in a child’s reading struggles.
It’s Family Day weekend where I live… meaning that we have a three-day weekend intended to promote and provide bonding time with our families.
In honor of Family Day, I thought I would share some of my family’s favorite games that have math involved (without my kids realizing these games have math involved) 😉
Writing… some find it easy, others find it incredibly difficult. Writing apps can be useful to either group.
Those who find writing easy are usually able to keep thoughts flowing inside and express them onto paper without much difficulty.
Oxford dictionary defines dyslexia as “a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.”
There are a few things that catch my attention in this definition… the first being that it is not defined as a single disorder but rather it is defined as disorders. I take this to mean that not everyone would display the same symptoms and that it could be the result of a number of things happening.
I recently read a post from a social media group that I follow asking what parents find especially frustrating about school for their dyslexic child. I was disheartened to read that so many parents feel that the schools and/or teachers are not doing enough to help their child. Many felt that the teacher doesn’t accommodate or care to learn more to help their child.
I was hit with many emotions while reading this! Among them were:
Have you ever been in conversation with another parent and that parent just goes on and on and on about how wonderful their child is in school as you sit there nodding your head and smiling, afraid to comment much? Or perhaps you read post after post from a friend of yours about their child making the honor role or that they are celebrating yet another A+. Meanwhile, your own child’s marks are average or below average. Does this mean there is something to be concerned about? Does every child have to be gifted in school to be valued in society?
