Acquara Independent School

Got behind on blogging, so have a bunch to catch up on.

Yesterday the kids went for a walk with Nik and Aaron shot some pictures. One was a lizard he found. We did not have homeschool because we were supposed to go to OMSI with D and that did not happen. Next week it will happen with or without D. I decided to do taxes and immigration and other paperwork so the kids did not do much.

Aaron's Lizard

Avery had head start with Danielle on Wednesday. They worked with whistles and party blowers and mouth things. I’m not sure if it makes a difference, but he enjoys it and it can’t hurt.

Head Start Notes.

Today was VH.

Discoverers seemed to go ok. I did not go with them. I think next week is A and N’s show and tell and then on the 16th they are doing valentines, not next week.

Naim’s drama seemed ok. Today I went with Aaron to Measure for Treasure to try to get to the bottom of the candybar/bionicle mystery. The first thing I noticed while sitting with him waiting for class to start is that he was hyper, hyper and pretty much yelling at everyone. Not in a mean or bossy way, just in a GIVE ME ATTENTION!!! way. I had him chill the fuck out. Then he was not so happy for me to be there any more because I was going to monitor his behavior. I talked to the teacher and she said that she did not know anything about the “deals.” But that she had basically turned Aaron over to her assistant to work with him because he was being a monster. She was actually really nice about it, but what is stupid is that she basically made some bullshit excuse as to why she couldn’t talk to Nik about it, as he is the one who has been there most Thursdays. Basically, I could tell it was either the dad thing or the blind thing or likely both that made her not comfortable to talk to him. So she has been telling him that everything is fine.

So class started and Aaron forgot that I existed and made it all about the assistant. I didn’t care, I just found it funny. The person who offers him the best bribe gets his affection. So, I stayed for about 20 minutes until I had to go do community duty. It was really boring. I mean, I think it is ok, the teacher is ok and there is nothing wrong with her at all, jut compared to his other classes, she is not the most dynamic teacher. NOT that that is an excuse for him acting like a big whiner-cryer over every little thing, which is I guess what he is doing. He raised his hand to tell her that on the way there he counted up to 568. (He did. I heard every minute of it.) She was funny about it and then redirected, so that was all good. After class, I talked to the assistant, and I got the scoop on the deals.

Apparently, he blew them off at first and then they said if he paid attention, he could play with bionicals the last 5-10 minutes of class. So they brought a tub of bionics down, and he fiddled with them the whole time. So they took them away. And apparently then he had a crying fit of epic proportions that lasted like an hour. (this was months ago, apparently.) So she has been coming up with little rewards for him. And yes, they both say he has come “a long way.” but this has all been about a rewards program. She is very proud/happy with herself, she likes him and says that he is a very sensitive kid and she has one of her own. The biconical thing is something to try to sustain behavior for several weeks at a time. To her, one bionicle costs the same as about that many weeks of candy bars anyway, so she would rather do that.

So, I’m talking to her right there in the hallway, and Aaron and Naim are there, as well as her daughter (the sensitive one). So, to say that this was stupid and he couldn’t do it would have come off as a real bitch move and they have already established something here that she is happy with (and I guess the teacher is, too.) So it seems inappropriate to interfere, even though to me it seems a bit manipulative of Aaron. Because he CAN behave without all this support. But he has become the special child in that class. Which brings me to another observation. I’m not sure how much it pertains to this case or not, but it is something I am slowly seeing sometimes. People tend to do a bit of a pity thing with the kids, like give them extra attention and act like they are having some kind of special problem rather than just usual 7 year-old stuff. Is this some kind of run-off from having three disabled parents? Are my kids thought of as needing “extra care” because they are lacking in some department (perceived to be lacking, I don’t think they are more than any other kid, though no parent is perfect.) Or is it just because EVERYBODY knows us, we stand out so much that so do our kids? Don’t know. But Aaron seems to know how to work the extra attention.

Filed under: Drama, Early Intervention, Language Arts, Math | Tagged: behavior issues, Discoverers, Head Start, Measure for Treasure, VH Drama |