More on Learning Issues

Our meeting with the school was today.

They said kiddo definitely doesn't have a learning issue in the sense of capacity. On the contrary, they feel like she's above average in intelligence and very smart. They do think, however, that she's lazy. They are pretty certain she's had an easy time with learning because she's smart and never had to develop good habits and now it's catching up and affecting grades.

I still say alot is the PTSD and some is the ADHD and Anxiety.  They definitely hit the nail on the head on the other part.  This can't be treated as pure laziness though, because that's only a piece of the puzzle.

Her PTSD is horrible and if triggered, she literally will not be present and not hear assignments, nor do any schoolwork.

One of the teachers that was present at the meeting has had her in 2 classes, 2 different years.  She added her perspective from growth.

She said the progress she appears to have made emotionally is amazing, however, she did get what we said about PTSD. She said that made last year make alot more sense. She contributed alot to the meeting and suggested to the other teachers that they make sure she's not the center of attention. The bulk of the first 11 years of her life, center of attention meant she was being abused, so having all eyes on her makes her uncomfortable and triggers her.  She also said it was obvious we'd worked hard with her and made huge progress and we were to be commended for how we've dealt with her, that it's obvious to her that she's attached to us and knows we're in it forever and no longer fearful.

I was so glad that one of the teachers saw the PTSD and got the others buy in to help in that area.

Granted, it's late in the year and we'll have to start all over again next year since she'll be in a different school, but I was impressed with their willingness to take on some responsibility despite her not having an IEP or 504.

They also referred her for an assessment for help from community services to help in the classroom with organization and staying focused. Hubs is all for it. I'm against it.  I think it'll trigger her from the attention. The guidance counselors assured us that students don't even notice the people in there and that the students that have this help aren't singled out in class, but checked in with to see if they have their ducks in a row.  We have a meeting for that Wednesday, so that leaves 2 days to talk hubs out of this.

Problem is guidance counselor asked kiddo if she thought that would help. She said yes.  I know her well enough to know from the look in her eyes that she said yes because he wanted to hear that and he's an authority figure.

I had a good talk with kiddo tonight and told her pretty much the same things outlined here and I think she really appreciated being stood up for and being told she's smarter than average.  Tonight she actually worked on practice exercises in Math WITH me.

She usually pushes us away with homework, but she embraced my being there.