And then there was DS7�s year�
This past year started well. He was more positive about school and his teacher (who is a good teacher) provided well-differentiated reading assignments and lots of open-ended work. He has been more positive about the reading material this year. He�s been given approximately 4th and 5th grade level material most of the time and then asked to analyze it at a level that is more typical of a 2nd grader. This has worked really well, because, although his reading skills and comprehension are easily middle-school level, his handwriting is awful, and expecting him to write the kind of paper you would expect from 4th grader would just make him so frustrated that I don�t think he would learn anything.
The math has been a real sore point with DS7. The differentiated math program doesn�t start until 3rd grade at this school, so although the teacher allowed him to demonstrate his multiplication and division skills (instead of the requested +-) on the daily math sheet, he still had to do all of the regular math lessons with the rest of the class. He complains about it regularly, and has gotten to the point where he isn�t really willing to do anything he doesn�t have to anymore. We are now entering the �bare minimum to get by� phase of his education.
We had DS7 tested by the school this year for the gifted program (They don�t accept any outside assessments, so we have to use their process). Unfortunately, as DS7 told me after they started testing, �I don�t like it when they try test me. Sometimes I just decide not to do it.� This was apparent because he managed to answer all of the questions on one of the screening exams wrong. He later admitted that he did it on purpose. DS7 did cooperate on later exams, and they�ve placed him in an enrichment program based on the results, but he's also been in trouble for not staying on task, even in enrichment. The gifted program seems to expect that all gifted children are well behaved and extremely self-motivated, so DS7�s lack of cooperation is probably going to get him kicked out of the program for next year. We�re still not sure what the school will be willing to do next year.
Jill
