Video: Temperate Forest Biomes

In a fit of Mac-inspired confidence, I recorded / edited this video of David explaining his model of a temperate forest biome. This week's science unit is all about habitats...

Fit for Class

I don't have much in the way of Wonderful New Stuff. 

Lauren decided to drop her current gymnastics class in favor of a new coach. Not that she dislikes the one she has right now, it's just that he's stuck teaching the really LITTLE kids (3 and 4) and she thinks he acts much too silly and that she's too sophisticated for that. So if that was going to be her decision I made her go up and make the request. At the last minute she had to make an awful decision as to whether or not to switch, because if she moved classes, she’d leave her friends. I let her make the decision; if it was up to me, I’d let her stay put, I have no issues with the current Coach. But she wants to be “bigger,” so there you go. She made the choice to move into the other class, despite the friends issue, so that was a pretty big thing of her to do. 

David thinks he wants to try out gymnastics. In the meantime, Lauren is busy showing off by doing straddle sits and bending to one side so that she's got her hands wrapped around the bottom of her foot and her nose is touching her knee. Doug responds by telling her she has no bones. Being newly-full of Scientific fact, she puffs up and glares at him and says, "Then how come I can stand up?"

Cute extraneous tale: While being seated at a restaurant, the hostess asks if we'd like a table or a booth. David answers first. "A booth would be nice!" Hostess looks at him.

"You'd like a booth?"

"Yes, if you have one available." 

This puts the wait staff in stitches. 

And David earned himself a Cub Scout Weather Belt Loop and Pin. We would have gotten it at the Pack Meeting, but we missed the meeting. I don't consider this one my fault.  I showed up at the right bat-time and the right bat-channel, but there was an empty parking lot and all the doors were locked. ??? I looked up the info online (via the iPhone, whilst sitting in the car) and it said I was totally on track, no problem, there SHOULD be a meeting here. So since I couldn't see any sense in persisting with an empty building, I decided to leave, call one of the Den Leaders to ask about the Phantom Pack Meeting, and go home. Den Leader calls me at some point last night (the call phone won’t tell me TIMES, just DAYS that people call me) and says, “There WAS a Pack Meeting tonight, but I think you got confused,” which ultimately made no sense. Turns out that everyone has started parking in a lower parking lot behind the building (which I didn't know existed) and only unlocked the doors on the back side of the school. Nice. Thanks for letting me know. 

We had a brief interest this morning in bird calls, but that got cut short. The kids went outside for a bit and then David came in and said, "I hear lots of birds out there. One is going 'AW! AW! AW!' and that's probably a crow, and one is going 'EEPEEPEEP,' but I don't know what that is." I suggested the bird call identifier we have, but David had no clue what I meant. He pondered for a bit and then asked if he could take his bird water whistle outside, and I said sure. After a bit I went and found the bird call identifier; it wouldn't work, but I replaced the batteries and all seemed well. I handed it over to the kids and they loved messing with it...for about 30 minutes. That's when it went berserk and started playing as if it was a cassette player eating a tape. I have yet to figure out what its problem is. 

I've also been invited to join the neighborhood "Block Boot Camp" for those of us who are looking to lose weight. The idea of exercising in public, and expressly for the purpose of losing weight, right there in the neighborhood is about as appealing as a bikini wax. Why don't I just dress in a Neoprene suit and lie on the front lawn practicing whale songs? While I appreciate their gesture of inclusion (believe me, I don't get many of those!), I retain too many memories of mandatory gym class to make this idea anything but horrifying. 

When they want to go mountain biking down the muddy trails or kayaking down one of the rivers, they should definitely give me a call. I'd be all over that. (Perhaps that's what I need to be organizing for their benefit, eh?)

LD Test Results

Finally got an update on what they're thinking about our kiddo: 

He’s a bright little guy; he score above-average on verbal reasoning (understanding and reasoning using concepts framed in words. It aims at evaluating ability to think constructively, rather than at simple fluency or vocabulary recognition), and average on visual reasoning (Those who use visual reasoning, notably architect and engineers, conceive and manipulate objects in "the mind's eye" before putting them on paper). His language is very well developed.

He has noticeable weaknesses in fine motor skills and with writing....to the point where they can diagnose an actual learning disability: Disorder of Written Expression (also known as Dysgraphia) and Developmental Coordination Disorder (also known as Being Slightly Clumsy). The secondary diagnosis is more of a backup for the first than a diagnosis of substantive value; it essentially bolsters the dysgraphia idea so that a school bureaucracy won't give you a lot of crap about it. 

This affects his writing quite a bit...to the point where it’s far more difficult for him than most. They suggest keeping him with either print or cursive, but not both. “If he’s really stuck on print, don’t force him to learn a whole new system of writing.” He had to write down four sentences for the neuropsych and ended up in tears of pain and frustration (and, I'm sure, some degree of embarrassment).

When it comes to essays and book reports and such, he may struggle with expression, particularly the organization of his thoughts, editing his thoughts. They suggest mind mapping as a possible way to collect ideas. (Meh.)

When he DOES write, he needs to have a letter strip with him at all times, and a number strip. (Yeah, I already figured that out.) Because of his visual / mechanical trouble with writing, it may help a great deal to use a verbal description for letter formation. (Rather than repetition with the hopes that his muscles will learn the movements, it’s more effective to make up some kind of verbal explanation, like “Up, Down, Across” for an A. Mind you, Handwriting Without Tears attempts to do that, but it didn't help that much.)

Some kind of occupational therapy may be in order, especially for learning how to type; worth it to ask, anyway, so sez the expert.

Educationally:

Time limits will present a problem, and should be avoided.
For things like the S.A.T., his scores are clear enough to warrant an IEP (Individualized Education Plan); in that case, he could get some extended time to take the test.
In the meantime, we should work with him on the types of questions and essays that will be asked on the test. (I have been warned, however (from other parents), that signing on the dotted line for an IEP takes away a whole host of educational freedoms you previously had, and puts your child under the jurisdiction of The Experts.)

Writing in general will need to be cut down; go ahead and have him do the writing exercises, but cut down on the time and the amount he has to do manually.

Most of the accommodations they could make in a school setting would assure that he would stay in the regular classroom; for some things he might be able to use a “resource room,” sort of like a quiet room with a teacher in it so he can complete what he needs to without the accompanying distraction.

Some kids can get note-takers in class for them, they should be allowed to record lectures, they can get an outline head of time before class begins, and should be given copies of anything that gets put up on the board (includes math problems).

There was a 30-point differential between where his cognitive skills are and where his writing ability sits. Most school districts require a 15 or 20 point differential, so he more than meets those qualifications.

As far as speech goes, they think that a speech therapist may be a good idea; it would help to fix that before he got put into a regular classroom, from the aspect of the "socialization" of a class.

While they wouldn’t say he has anxiety, exactly, they say he does show a strong sensitivity that will stick with him through his life. 

While they don't recommend it across the board for everyone, she says that private school is probably the only real option outside of homeschool for him; someplace that allows kids to really work independently and outside the box, with a great deal of choice and freedom and not a lot of sitting perfectly still and copying crap off a blackboard. (Sounds sorta like the Montessori school we can't afford, huh?)

Interestingly they don't think he shows much of a problem with reading, or even spelling, as long as he doesn't have to spell on paper. Learning to touch-type would be of immense value. 

So. There you have it. Oh, and that he's a joy to work with. Ta-da!

Testing. Is this thing on?

David had the rest of his testing today with the neuropsych. We'll get to know on Saturday what the results tell us. 

All she said so far was that he did a great job, he really put a lot of effort into it, and "...Handwriting. That was...yeah, the test results should be very telling." I bet. 

Lauren stayed with the neighbors while we were doing all this testing. Same neighbor will be watching the kids on Saturday when we get our results, so...imagine! We can actually talk to the doc without mitigating kid fights! Wow! 

I am completely exhausted and will update later...for now, I am going to bed, and bidding everyone to go look at the website. It's half updated, lots of new photos:

http://www.wagnerweb.org