We just had a planning meeting for Isabella’s eduction with her school and caseworker. These are the meetings that I dreaded. In the past, I was known to break down sobbing or run out the meeting or both. I have not done that in a very long time. This meeting was about testing. Okay, for those of you who have taken standardized tests, these tests are much worse. Think about how many people who you know say, “Iam not a good standardized test tester.” Well, no kid with a learning disability is a good standardized test taker. They completely suck. These tests are developed to measure our kids’ weaknesses, not strengths. They are so demeaning.
Because Isabella has made such fabulous progress this school year, we can postpone that dreadful testing. She’s doing homework nightly for the first time. She’s answering comprehension questions correctly. She’s generalizing. This is perhaps the most thing to happen. Generalizing is a term that special ed teachers love to throw around. It means: taking what you learn in school and applying it to real life. Reading in class to reading street signs. Doing math in school to setting a table. She wants to read at home and does. And like many tweens, she knows how to do stuff on the computer and the Wii that her parents do not!
It’s all good! Could it be the diet?