The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.
-Author Unknown
Today is the day, the last day of school. After today, Helena will be in 5th grade.
In many ways, this has been a challenging year for Helena. The school day was an extra half hour longer than before. The workload seemed to increase dramatically, and, early on, homework sessions stretched long into the night. There were monthly oral book reports, and oral presentations on each of the continents.
There was also a new school case manager to deal with, one that came on board only a few days before school started. A new teacher and larger class sizes too. Oh, and not to mention the expansion of the school that took away the primary playground space and all the playground equipment.
Of course, myself and the IEP team knew all these things were happening (aside from the change in case manager) and we tried as best we could to plan appropriately. Yet concerns remained. How would Helena handle all these changes and responsibilities?
Helena took to her new case manager right away, and quickly developed a great rapport with her teacher as well. The homework was a challenge at first, but as I met with the IEP team throughout the year we managed to come up with a strategy that helped Helena, to the point where homework was taking her about the same amount of time to complete as the other students. The playground was a huge issue, and still is. Recess was held in an open field without playground equipment, and while Helena occasionally participated in games with other children, most of the time she asked to be by herself. Definite sensory overload there.
Helena loved doing her oral reports. She especially loved making Powerpoints to use in the classroom.
In the end, she was a respectable "B" student in 4th grade.
All in all, Helena adapted quite well, thank you very much.
What becomes so apparent in repeating this process year after year is how much Helena has changed. Maybe it's due to familiarity, or a greater awareness, or maturity, or something else, or all of the above - I don't know. What I do know is that change does not affect Helena as much as it once did. I can remember how on the last day of school in kindergarten, and again in 1st grade, Helena had awful days, full of tantrums and other unacceptable behaviors. We all agreed that this was due to the last day being such a departure from the normal school routine that Helena could not adapt to it. The episodes were so bad that for the past two years we kept her home from the last day of school.
This year, though, is different. Yes, the school routine will be totally different as it usually is, but Helena is different as well. There will be parties and plays and overall fun today. And Helena will be a apart of it. There is no doubt she can handle it now.
So now, as of 2:30 pm this afternoon, 4th grade will be at an end. And on August 31, at 8:30 am, 5th grade will begin. In between, Helena will be attending summer school to help her with reading comprehension and some social skills, as well as just plain enjoying summer vacation. She already knows her new teacher, and she knows many of her new classmates.
There will be changes to deal with as always. The school will be bigger. There may or may not be a new playground in place. The old superintendent's office will be the new music room. She needs to learn how to use a combination lock. The school workload is again likely to increase.
My little girl can handle it. She has really learned how to adapt.
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2 comments:
This is so encouraging to read. I think one of the hardest things to remember as we parents plan for a new school year, is that our children are going to be a year older, more mature, and better prepared than they were the previous year—even our children with special needs.
I am curious, though, what your strategy for homework was since that was our biggest challenge this year (2nd grade) and will only be more of a challenge next year.
Congrats on the success! Way to go Helena!!
Kristen, thanks for your comment.
Part of what we did was limit some of what she had to do - only even or odd numbered math problems for example. She still demonstrated she understood the concepts but did not have as much repetition. She also was given an extra day or two to get the work done so the nightly workload wouldn't be as burdensome. But she also motivated herself - the sooner she got her homework done, the more play time she had before bed. She decided not to stall as much as she had in the past. She also figured out that the more she did while she was in school, the less she had to do at home. So she worked hard in school as well.
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