Friday, October 08, 2010

He's good at math.

I had my sixth meeting with school folks today. This one was completely different. For one, the principal called me and asked for the meeting. For two, I didn't go in with a powerpoint or notes about my kid's strengths and weaknesses, drawn up specifically for the meeting. I just took The Notebook.*

Apparently, they figured out that when I said Joey is "good at math", what I meant was, "he's frickin' BRILLIANT at math."

So the principal wandered into Joey's class, mostly to see how he was doing. Often if Joey is having a hard time, and Mr. R walks in, Joey can pull it together and at least get to his desk (kind of like having the CEO come in to your office, even if the politics around there are awful... you do your best to pull it together so you don't get fired). So he sometimes just pops in and checks.

It was math time in the inclusion room, and the class was busily working on a math test. Well, everybody except Joey, who was at his computer. Mr. R immediately asked why Joey wasn't also working on his math test, and Ms. C handed him Joey's test: he completed it in about two minutes, and got a 100% on it.

Yeah, Joey is good at math.

Whatever else I might say or think about Mr. R, he definitely has this going for him: he knew this was Not Right, and that having Joey bored in a classroom would aggravate the problems we're already having. Hence, the meeting today.

The plan is to see where he is in math skills, and get him in a proper math section, even if he has to be in a fourth or fifth grade section. If he goes to a fourth or fifth grade section, he will absolutely have to have his own aide to take him and help him navigate all the non-math stuff that one deals with in a classroom while learning math. As I said to Joey's kindergarden teacher, Ms. S, long ago: It's not the academics that are the problem. It's Everything Else.

It was a really interesting meeting. We were seriously trying to get a general idea of what might happen if he blew away the fifth grade test and needed sixth or seventh grade math instruction. They saw it as a very real possibility. They were serious.

So was I.


*The Notebook contains all the papers, IEPs, letters, emails, etc. for a given school year. We're already into a 3-inch binder for this year.

6 comments:

Stimey said...

Rock on, Joey! I'm so happy to hear this, especially because it shows that they are paying attention.

Kim Wombles said...

Yay Joey! And kudos to the school for recognizing this! I hope it works out well, and that all the other stuff falls into line.

Viverrine said...

Wow. Compared to the crazy hell I went through over that kind of stuff when I was a kid, that does sound like reason to have a little hope for humanity.

farmwifetwo said...

They're thinking and trying... always good. Would be nice if it would happen the first week or 2... but... they're thinking...

Niksmom said...

I love it when someone finally sees the light and the brilliance within our children and is willing to foster it. That they recognize in doing so it will make a huge difference in EVERYTHING.

My heart is happy for this new development and I'm keeping fingers, toes, etc. crossed!

Rock on, Joey. Rock on, little dude!

Anonymous said...

How wonderful! The principal is right, boredom is not going to help any kind of behavior issue. It's so nice that he can see that and can effect change.