School planing meeting

December 2, 2009
Behavior & Learning, Food, School, Testing
1 min read

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?

Leave a Reply

You may also like

Behavior & Learning, Food, School

School & nutrition

Finally, a parent-teacher conference where the teacher didn’t recount all of Isabella’s shortcomings. How they have tried every math program available, including the one that I insisted on, and have had zero success. How her inability to stay on topic hinders all of her attempts at class participation. How reading, well, reading — Orton-Gilingham should be working; it works with every other child with dyslexia. I dreaded those meetings. Truth be told, I avoided them. I let the teachers phone me, so they couldn’t see my stricken face. This year, however, I filled out the form to attend the conference and […]

November 2, 20091 min read
Special Needs

Hello world!

Ever wonder what’s it’s like to raise a child with apraxia, autism, ADHD? Probably yes if you have a child with a challenge or you know someone who does or if you’re a therapist who has dedicated your life to these children. Well, I am both of these people — a mother to a child and a nutrition practitioner. Follow me on my journey of healing my daughter, Isabella Speranza.

September 2, 20091 min read
Contact