And now for a completely different child...

There are few things that strike fear into the heart of a parent than a note home from a teacher. Especially one that politely requests a conference to address the behavior of your child.

I get used to notes about Joey. In fact, if I don't have one, I worry. What did he do that day? Was there a sub? Was he OK? WHERE THE HECK IS MY JOEY NOTE???

But Andy? Um, wrong child. But, you see, I think we are heading into the world of I Told You So. I've had Andy in ChildFind three times. His speech still lags. He's ADHD. Without that special ed support, we risk him getting a teacher with no clue how to keep his little derriere in his seat and his eyes on his desk long enough to get his work done. Because, see, there are secrets for doing it. On the other hand, we may just be reaching that point when the ADHD is just going to get in the way, and start having that negative impact on his academics and education that I've been told is going to happen, that I warned everyone (including this teacher) might happen, and usually does happen. We just thought it would happen sooner. Perhaps his other teachers had more experience in heading it off.

The day appears to be here.

We've been having a slow spiral into I Don't Want To Go To School and I Don't Want To Do Homework. I have put off the latter by reverting to positive reinforcement: do your homework, and you get to watch the show you wanted on TV, or get popcorn, or get a prize. Hey, it works. And besides, this lady is sending home huge amounts of homework. Now at least I know we'll only be at it about 45 minutes.

The former? Well, I need to get in there and see what is going awry. If he's in a noisy, distracting classroom, then he's likely to be uncomfortable and distracted. This will lead to behavior and focus issues. Which will lead to visits to the office. We don't want to go there.

We'll see how this teacher is going to handle the challenge.