Another ray of hope, albeit a rather confused one because I couldn't get all the details straight from DS5 today...

Before DS5 got on the bus today, he was lamenting the fact that school was so easy. He said he wanted harder math. I encouraged him to self-advocate and even talked about why that was best. I said, "If *I* tell her to make your math harder, she might think I'm pushing you."

"You mean she might think you're forcing me to do math?"

"Yes. Is that what's happening?"

"No. I like to do math. It's coming from me."

Then we talked about what he could say to his teacher and when and where to say it. I don't want him to interrupt a group lesson or anything! And we talked about not making the other kids feel bad because he'd like a greater challenge. It was a pretty good 2-minute talk!

When he got home from school, he said it was a good day. He got to do some harder arithmetic. He said that he did talk to his teacher. That same day, perhaps in response to his request(?), the class--apparently the whole class and not just him, so no differentiation--were asked some addition and subtraction, though he didn't give me much in the way of details about this, and the teacher asked what 9x9 was. I got more details about this part because he was kind of excited about it. According to DS5, he was the only one who knew the answer. Another boy took what sounds like a wild guess (14 was his answer) and was wrong. Then DS5 was called on and he knew. It sounded like they were the only two who raised their hands.

If this had been more of a 1-on-1 thing, I'd be taking it as GREAT news. But since she asked the whole class, I'm not sure what it means. Was it in response to DS5's request or just a coincidence? Was she trying to see how unusual DS5 is? Was it just a random question she thought no one would be able to answer and he surprised her? Was it something else entirely and because I'm getting half the story from DS5, I'm totally missing the point?

I'm betting on the latter for now... wink

At least it seems like he's okay with self-advocacy and that she may well be responsive to it. That would be a good thing! smile

Kriston