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HELP!

My DS5 started kindergarten and after a strong start, I am concerned that the teacher is going down a road to label him. DS had a very good start to the year, however he has started making a lot of noise (talking VERY loudly), and the teacher says that when she asks him to go across the room, he does, but it takes a long time and he goes all over the room. He is reading above grade level. He is doing well with speech, expression and vocabulary and the teacher made comments that this area is �amazing.� He seems to be doing very well with math and numbers, but math has not come up at all in any discussion. She mentioned that he was at a high reading level, but no commentary on math or numbers. Instead, the majority of the session was him not following 2 and 3 step instructions easily/consistently, and needing to move a lot (she sends him out to do laps).

My concern/more background:

She said that she is going to have a learning specialist do an observation and really downplayed this as just taking a look to see if there is anything that she should be doing differently. My guess is that this is the beginning of an ADD diagnosis or some other labeling to push him out of the school (this is a private school).

I have had him in OT and they have been working on writing. After thinking that this was always going to be challenging for him, he has suddenly started writing (printing) a lot, and it now seems normal. It also did not come up in any discussion, and that is another sign that this is now starting to be �normal.�

For speech, he was behind in preschool, and I have had him in speech therapy. Now he is doing super well, and seems to be above grade level in speech and expression. After he met his goals in speech therapy and was at grade level, the ST staff said I could keep him on for �enrichment� and additional development. This is now a strength area, and I am keeping him in ST.

At speech therapy, they have him follow 5 step instructions (pencil and paper � circle this, cross that out), and he is meeting that goal. Therefore, while I know that the teacher is speaking about her observation on the 2-3 step instructions at school, I believe that he has the capability, and that it is a motivation issue or a focus issue, or a not-getting-distracted issue. Now, with that, one may say �yes, that is what ADD is,� but I have had such a positive experience with getting interventions for the speech and writing and him now being normal in writing and advanced in speech, I would like the opportunity to work on some of the other things that are being observed without a label. I am also super concerned that this is the beginning of her trying to get him out of the school. We live in an area where the public schools are not good, and parents complain that the teachers in the public schools are so busy with the kids who are not at grade level, there is not much bandwidth available for kids at grade level, let alone ahead in some areas. The private schools have tons of demand, long waiting lists, and simply moving to another private school is probably not an option. I am super super worried and am hoping that you can share your wisdom and advice.

Aloha

Welcome!

First, let's take a deep breath, and look objectively at your reasons for suspecting that there is a plan to remove your child from this school. Has anything been said to indicate that they view him as a disciplinary problem? Does the school have support staff to do skill-building in areas like self-regulation of attention and behavior?

It is entirely possible that the school genuinely views this as a problem-solving attempt, not as documentation for excluding a student. I've worked in public schools, and consulted to privates, and the vast majority of these observations actually are to see if there are strategies that can be offered to the classroom teacher. (Certainly, all of mine have been.)

Second, if we can separate the presenting behaviors from the question of ulterior motives of the school, it does appear that there are behaviors worth investigating. I understand the reluctance to label, especially very young (and I share it, despite working in a label-heavy profession), but the label is much less important than access to appropriate interventions is. In special education (aka IEPs, which are usually relevant only in public schools) and health insurance coverage, the label of ADD/ADHD affects access. Elsewhere, it doesn't really.

One of the differences though, that I should mention, is that it sounds like he may have started speech therapy through EI (early intervention) or an IFSP, which is under different rules. If he received those services through the public schools' preschool services (after age 3), on an IEP, then he already has a label of sorts. If he is being serviced through the private school he attends, then that would suggest that the school has some investment in serving students with needs, and may have the resources to support the classroom teacher with additional strategies.

In any case, there is rarely anything additional at risk, and often something to be gained, from having a third party observe the interactions between your child and his instructional environment.

Third, you have mentioned his strengths in oral language and reading, and possibly in mathematics, but not whether the teacher is modifying instruction to present challenge appropriate to his zone of proximal development. Instructional mismatch is a key contributor to off-task behavior and inattention in a classroom environment. It may be that a thoughtful and respectful question to raise with the observer when the observation has been completed would be how his behavior varies or remains the same depending on the task or circumstances, including the level of challenge of the academics.

AEH,

Thank you so much for the response! It is great to hear from someone who does the testing. You bring up some excellent points that give me a lot to think about! Now I have to figure out how to pose the question on if there is variability based on task, circumstances, or level of challenge.

Thanks again!

Aloha