Can I post a serious question? What happens if a 7 year old with pretty severe ADHD registers for the math session? Age appropriate but cannot focus, bouncing off the walls. Totally disruptive. How does that shake out any differently then DS4 IF he doesn't cooperate?
As for DS4 being treated badly by the other kids...isn't that the point of the facilitator? To stave off bullying? (because, really, isn't that what it is?) As for making the other kids feel inferior...I mean, it's unfortunate, but what am I supposed to do? I can't help that my son isn't in the center of the bell curve...and I'm not going to go through life constantly ducking my head and apologizing for it.
I'm not sure exactly sure why people are getting so up in arms about this...I am always a bit surprised when that happens on this forum. You would think that parents who have experienced constantly trying to advocate for their DCs and hitting roadblocks while trying to find a balance between age and socio/emotional levels, wouldn't be quite so quick to advocate for exclusion. Yes, stefgray's case is different, agreed, but I appreciated the sympathy and the optimism, nonetheless. Can't we commiserate without judgement?
...I hesitated submitting this post at all but I just don't like seeing anyone jumped on for trying to be kind. I truly do understand all the points of view (and appreciate them!) that have been put forth, even the ones agreeing with the facilitator's decision to deny my son entrance into this class. The fact that I don't particularly agree might simply be because we are talking about my child. But I think the point I (and several others) were trying to make is simply that it's hard when our children are put in this situation: whether it's sports, or school or a silly free library class. No two situations are the same, and maybe some ARE more important than others, but the sting is real, regardless.
And, for the record, if they had 'Math is Fun' classes that exposed preschoolers to upper level math, we would be there in a heartbeat...but let's be realistic here, who is really going to hold that class? (Maybe me?? Maybe I will be able to lure all the mathy little kids out of hiding!) But therein lies the issue. What do I do? Put him in classes that don't interest him cognitively, but are age-appropriate? Or risk 'potential' social clashes but at least the content is appropriate and engaging?
Last edited by Marnie; 05/19/14 06:08 PM.
