Update on Syd

Wow, I have not posted anything to my blog in quite some time. I really haven't felt like it, obviously, but today it was my turn to be on overload, so I decided a blog post might do me some good.

Summer was hectic and crazy busy and, as usual, went by way too fast. We dealt with new issues this year called Thunderstorms. Sydney freaks when she hears thunder and has to put on her ear muffs to help calm herself, which doesn't always work. She did, however, gain a lot of confidence in riding in the boat, so with the bad comes the good.

First grade started out well with only a few tears coming from Syd, and less tears for Mom as well. Syd's done well these first few weeks with no complaints and is even going to the boys and girls club every day after school. I thought we would see a lot more meltdowns in the evenings because of this, but that has not been the case. These are all good things!

Then came the e-mail this morning from Sydney's teacher. The e-mail stated, in a nutshell, that Sydney did not do very good on some assessment tests, and it qualified her for Title I.

I had to read the e-mail again, because I thought I must have read it wrong. I was not prepared to see this--her kindergarten teacher told me last year that Sydney was among the top students in her class, so it took me by surprise. I had to read the e-mail a second time and hold back the tears since I was working in our conference room on a project with other staff.

The teacher told me to call her this afternoon so we could discuss. She said she had spoken to Sydney's kindergarten teacher who did not think that Sydney needed the help. She said that Sydney was not a good test taker and that's probably all it was.

All morning, I struggled to concentrate. My mind went from concern that Syd's sensory issues and sensory seeking might be mis-construed as her having ADD or ADHD, to me thinking about the fact that I had noticed how Syd digressed over the summer. I pushed that thought aside, as every child digresses over the summer. That's typical. But for some reason I don't recall Morgan digressing that much...Syd could no longer read sight words like she could last year. She has started to write her letters backwards and mix up the letters in words that she does know. I was so distracted that I ran a red light at lunchtime.

I called the teacher @ the time she specified, and she was very positive about everything. On one of the assessments, Sydney scored a 22, and the miniumum score she needed was a 40. So, I decided this could be a good thing. I told her teacher that Sydney wants to learn to read so badly. Ever since she saw the movie "Matilda", that's all she wants to do is read, but she gets frustrated easily. So, our hope is that Sydney will like going to this group and that it will give her a leg up on learning to read. That is how we are going to approach this with Sydney.

We then discussed in more detail some of Syd's sensory issues and what she does at her OT sessions. I described to her teacher how Syd's least favorite part of OT is when Miss Melissa makes her do activities such as coloring or writing to help her work on her fine motor skills. Her teacher had no idea that Syd did not enjoy those kinds of things, but did notice that Syd struggles with scissors. Yep--that's part of it too....

I guess to sum it up, I have always noticed how far my little girl has come over the last year, and I try to push the negative stuff to the back of my mind when I do notice them...not that I'm in denial--just maybe being a 'Pollyanna' because that's what I do. It's MY coping mechanism. Syd has her ear muffs for thunderstorms and boat rides, and I have that broom in my head that sweeps things away when I am not ready to deal. Today those 'things' came rushing back to the forefront, and I had no choice but to deal. The good news is that it's not bad news, just something I had not prepared myself for. Sydney has great people at the school looking out for her, and for that she is blessed. She is fine, and she will be fine, and she will continue to grow and make me laugh with her great sense of humor and comedy. For that I am blessed.

Oh, and one more thing....Syd slept through that horrible thunderstorm last night. Hallelujiah.