Moving on...

Well it only took a scant six weeks, 30 school days to be precise, before I was called to the principals office....

Tuesday October 6, 2009 was my date with destiny, or rather the school principal, Mark's teacher, the school psychologist and the special education teacher. Mark is struggling. It's sad. He is really behind his peers in his fine motor skills, and it is starting to affect him in class. He also has some processing issues, where he can't follow more that one direction at a time. They have been running a battery of tests on Mark for about three weeks now to get to the root of his issues, and navigate the best course of action. The conclusion: he qualifies for special education. We had two choices, leave him in kindergarten at his current school and have him pulled out for special resources, or transfer him to a special education kindergarten at a different school. We opted for the transfer. The special education kindergarten is a much smaller class. He will be working with an occupational therapist, and the kids in his class will have similar issues. Right now he realizes he can't do what the other kids in his class can do, and it bothers him.

So before the week is out he and I are going to go visit his new class room and meet his new teacher. I had to break the news to him on Wednesday night. The school called me to coordinate a meeting and Mark overheard the conversation and knew something was up. I told him that he was going to go to a new kindergarten where they would help him write. We talked about his new teacher, and how much his current teacher will miss him and that he can go back to her classroom next year. He was really excited when I told him he got to ride the school bus and that the school bus would be coming to our house to pick him up and then dropping him off right in front of our house.

As the conversation continued he became sad. I think it began to sink in that a big change was coming, and that he would be leaving a teacher he loves, and new friends he has made. I told him it was OK to be sad, and he would make new friends and that his new kindergarten would be structured a lot like his current class. He wanted to know if his new kindergarten class would have activity centers. I assured him that it would. Tears welled up in his big blue eyes, and I could tell the idea of change was overwhelming to him. As Mark began to cry, Katie in sympathy started crying. I told Mark that Katie was sad to see Mark crying. He responded "Katie is troubled and depressed that I have to go to a new kindergarten."

Did I mention on the verbal part of the testing they gave him he was off the chart? Here's to early intervention, and getting Mark the help he needs so that someday his charm, intelligence and physical development will all compliment each other.