Frustration

It hasn't been a great year for Mikey so far. New teacher, classroom, schedule, routine.. after 3 years of basically the same. And things are definitely more academic this year and moving faster than before. He'll be taking his first FCAT... blah.

He's been acting out alot. Disrespectful, refusing to do work we know full well he is capable of. Hiding work. Arguing with other students. Disruptive... the list goes on and on.

His anxiety levels have gone up also it seems. We spent 30 minutes Sunday dealing with a meltdown over ants on the sidewalk that would get killed by kids at school walking around. He's constantly checking his hands for dirt or hair, his table setting, his computer area. He agonizes over scrapes that take too long to heal, teeth that take too long to come in, and we cant watch the news even.

And we are STILL.. since preschool, dealing with reading comprehension. The FCAT pre tests they send home don't bode well. He can spot a grammatical error or spelling error a mile way, but he can't tell you what the story was about. Take homework last night. He whizzed through some multiplication that was visual (3 sets of 3 coins each.. 3 x 3 = ?? for example). Then we got to this.

Jim sat in the driver's seat of his cruiser. Parked on the roadside he watched and waited. Lately, there had been several wrecks here. Some drivers did not obey the speed limit. With his badge on and his radar ready, he was all set.

What is Jim's job?

He could.not.answer. I reread it at least 5 times, added additional clues of my own ("Mikey, would a doctor do that? A teacher? Who watches for people speeding? Who wears a badge? Who writes tickets for speeding?") and I just got "Jim? A guy who holds a stop sign? Someone who doesn't like speeders?" "Ok Mikey what is the name of that JOB? If it's not a teacher or a doctor, what job do you think wears a badge, writes tickets, looks for speeding cars?"

Over and over and over and over.... and over some more. I finally gave up :( What wasn't connecting? What could I have said or done to get him to understand what I wanted him to tell me? And if *I* couldn't get it out of him, what happens come test time?

Yeah, I am frustrated...

On the other hand we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to hold my new niece and spend some time with the family. Mikey did great. He was very over stimulated but he was HAPPY. We don't get that much in large social gatherings, so I was pleased. At least SOME things are getting better.