10/24

It wasn't a good day. But it might have been an important one.

He was an hour late getting to school, and pushed back on most of the work today. But there were some positives.

• He participated in the art class, and seemed to like it. We made origami sailboats. I can show you how. I made something that somewhat resembled a bird and he was pleased with that.
• The first two days of recess were meltdowns. Today the recess was one of his best parts. I've taken to somewhat officiating the unofficial soccer game that takes place. There are a few kids in the class who are pretty good. My guy seems to have a little potential; since I have "coached him up" a little and tried to involve and encourage him, he seems to be responding. It's perhaps the only place in the school where he isn't significantly at a disadvantage. He's scrawny but willing to stick his nose in there most of the time. And it's a place where he many times seems to embrace teamwork of passing and overall achievement.
• I've buried the lede... for a science project, the class simply had to copy down some facts that were posted on the Smart board. He's been a little reluctant to do this before. Today I think I got a clue as to why that might be. The first thing he had to write were the words "in tidepools."

He wrote this: sloopedit ni.

Later I had to cajole him for 15 minutes to do another project. He doesn't like writing or reading (and he *really* doesn't like the music teacher, who he weekly says he "hates"). To make the writing happen, I would write the hard words and have him write the easy ones. When he asked how to spell them, I sounded it out and pointed to an alphabet. So he wrote the words correctly.

But when it came time to sign his name, he wrote it backwards.

Is this a key moment? It seems to me it could be. Maybe this helps explain how his brain functions. Is he dyslexic? He's spent so little time actually doing the assignments, it's taken me this long to recognize this problem.

Although it was a pretty bad day overall, I'm excited about this possible discovery. I do think his home life is a toxic environment. But if this information points down the path that diagnoses a learning disability, then the district can design specific measures to help get him on the right path.