Originally Posted by bluemagic
I totally understand. Just wanted to add to my previous posts that for my son things HAVE gotten a lot better for my son. Sixth grade was terrible and you almost wouldn't recognize him now. He is 16 and a sophomore in H.S. and he just got back from a week long spring break trip with his band. That isn't to say he is perfect but as he has matured he has learned to handle his emotions better. I don't have a lot of advice except to hang in there and get the evaluation so you know best how to help him.

That is so encouraging, thank you! My son's favorite class--and the only class where there've been no "issues" is BAND. smile

I think the thing I hate the most about all of this is how frustrated it's made me with my child, even knowing that so much of what's going on is beyond his control at this point. He has been entirely clueless about everything. When I talk to him about how his teachers perceive him, he looks so confused, and hurt.

It's awful when the adults seem to view the child as a "jerk" instead of having some empathy for his predicament, which I've done my best to communicate. I feel like I've been beat up this year.

We were so fortunate in his elementary school. Wonderful teachers, he bonded with all of them (except one). He is actually a very relational person and needs to connect with his teachers to feel safe. One of his math teacher's complaints this year has been that he "approaches her to have non-math related conversations." I mean--what do I even say to THAT? When I taught, those sorts of conversations were the best part of teaching. I feel like they ought to give some sort of empathy assessment to teachers and have a cut-off score, before they are allowed to damage our children.