Well it's not looking good for my son again this year in school. We just had our first meeting with his 2nd grade teacher and as blessed as I am that he has her for a teacher, her hands are tied. She won't be able to give him one on one attention anymore because her student teacher's last day was yesterday. The teacher does not have an aid, nor is allowed one--as per the school. We were told that my son will have to be retained back this year--already we are hearing this--it saddens me so much because we see that our son is bright--but for the life of him he can't comprehend what is written or spoken to him. We know he has multiple language disorders and he's been seeing a therapist in school since K, and he's been seeing a speech pathologist since Summer, but no real progress has been made. He is currently at mid level 1st grade reading and 0 level at 2nd grade reading and comprehension. Math--we wont even go there. We have been to so many dr's and we still do not have any concerete answers. Every test he has shows another condition. The lastest was his EEG--done at the local hospital therefore the on staff neurologist dictated the report. His findings based on the test was--Primary Generalized Epilepsy--basically meaning the whole brain is effected. To date no one in his life has witnessed any types of seizures, that includes petit mal(absence) seizures. Waiting until November to see this Neuro has weighed heavy on my mind. I feel like a freak because since getting the EEG report I find myself constantly watching him for any signs or symptoms of a seizure. The poor little guy has so much going on in side his body, and yet physically to see him--he's a typical big boy who just wants to play, make people proud and have fun. I am proud that he is polite and respectful to people, even though he can be ugly and angry towards us--his family.
At school without a dx he has no chance because as of right now he does not qualify for an IEP or Special Education(more one on one classes). He has AIS pull out support for Math, Reading, Speech, OT, PT 2-3 x a day. I'm frustrated, sad, and feel helpless that I can't help him. Even though I know I am doing everything in my power to get him help--I still feel helpless. All the literature says to find his strengths and concentrate on them. It's hard to do that when his strengths are in remembering dinosaur facts. He can tell you things about T-Rex that I never knew--but he can't read a paragraph from a book or do a simple math equation without extreme difficulty. He can't write a sentence or ride a bike without extreme difficulties or getting fatigued. Everything he tries to do is a challenge for him. Then when he does something with his legos or just draw on a piece of paper that he is extremely proud of we have to put on a very happy face and say "great job" when you know it's a train wreck or it's non identifiable. We just play along and allow him to enjoy his master piece.
Then my heart breaks all over again--feeling like the worse person in the world--are we doing our kids any good by pretending? We have also tried to see his errors and help him correct them--then we end up being the bad ones--he gets extremely enraged and goes off on us. So to keep the peace and harmony--we just pretend that his master piece is the best thing in the world.
Does having a LD child get any easier? So far since he started school we have found it extremely heart wrenching, emotionally draining, physically tiring, and non stop thaughts trying to find answers. When is all we wanted was for him to go to school, learn and meet new people. Wel I guess 2 out of 3 ain't bad!!!!!