The Other Half of the Glass - School Progress Report Part 2

The discouraging things we realized about Jonas's school life last week kind of overshadowed the positive stuff so today is about celebrating what's going well. We need to look at the glass as half full and not half empty!

• He's doing much better since we changed the dosage of his medication. He's more focused and less emotional, which is making it easier for his teachers to talk through his frustrations with him. It's also helping him with his bi-weekly tutoring sessions!
• He's starting to realize the importance of his education, which I think means that it's starting to matter to him how well he does. This is a mixed blessing when his expectations are too high, but it's better than him not caring at all. He's actually starting to remember his homework without us asking to ask and calrify and check the agenda, etc. We still double check and remind him but it's great to see him taking this responsibility.
• He's getting better at conflict resolution with his peers. At the beginning of the year he was constantly in conflict with the other kids, would get quite emotional and just run away. Now he's starting to listen more and trying to understand the other person's point of view, while insisting that they listen to him too. Now he only seems to turn away from them when he feels that they aren't letting him speak.
• He's starting to make friends at school, albeit with younger kids. His teachers say that he plays very well with them and thinks it may actually be helping his self-confidence and sense of responsibility.
• He is a very creative thinker, who always comes up with a unique perspective for his assignments. He's starting to add detail to his work and really elaborating on his thoughts and ideas.
• He's really enjoying the hands-on science that they're now doing. Inventing things, testing things, coming up with new ideas, etc. He's loving it!
• He's starting to take to using the computer as a learning tool, rather than just for playing games and watching videos. They just introduced him to spell check and his keyboarding is getting better. This could be a key tool for him in the future.
• His teachers see that despite his increasing frustration with tests and marks, "his self confidence is starting to flourish." He doesn't immediately discount his ideas and he's speaking up more often during class discussions, due in part, I'm sure, to the respectful patience his teachers insist upon when he is trying to speak.

We're on a waiting list for speech language service and occupational therapy at the Grandview Children's Centre, and we're working with the school to continue exploring new strategies and to get his IEP formalized. This is the stuff we need to build on as we address the stuff that's on the other list. It's a long road that we're on and it's easy to get discouraged. We know that we have to stay positive though and keep trying to find way forward. The glass really is half full!

Cheers!