PreK Angst
Last year we eagerly sent our 3 year-old Luca off to PreK at public school. He's smart! He always has a smile on his face! He is there for only 3 hours a day. "What could go wrong?" we thought.
Well, lots.
The first few weeks were pretty uneventful. But, then the dreaded treasure chest was introduced. It was all over after that. When I am 90, I will have nightmares about the treasure chest - a torture device in my book. Children earned stars for "good behavior" (and lost them for "poor choices"). When they earned a certain number, they went to the treasure chest to choose the plastic bauble of their choice. Luca made a visit to the coveted "box-o-plastic-crap" once the whole entire year. When we picked our little guy up from school, we were almost always met by a litany of crimes he committed during the day - throwing books, misreading other children's non-verbal cues . . . I think I have blocked the rest out. He hemorrhaged stars on a daily basis. Initially, we backed the teacher. We withheld special privileges at home when he lost stars. Nothing seemed to work and the behavior only escalated. Our boy is a creature of habit. Once he started acting out to get attention, he couldn't stop.
THE conference
At our mid-year parent-teacher conference, his teacher suggested he be tested. After the initial evaluation she suggested he may have Asperger's Syndrome. This was despite the fact she was not qualified to make such an evaluation. We soon found ourselves in a room with 10+ specialists (psychologists, speech therapists, special education teachers, teachers)who evaluated our son. What did they find?
Ooops! The teacher was wrong. He is, in fact, GIFTED!
FOURS
We went to our mid-year parent teacher conference last night. Luca is in a new classroom with a new teacher who greets him every morning . . . who treats him with respect and patience . . . who doesn't have a treasure chest in her room. He is assessed on a number of skills - a whole 8 1/2" x 14" sheet full. And, he has earned almost all 4s (4 being the highest number possible). He still has problems interacting with his peers because he is used to speaking with adults, but otherwise he is thriving. So, great job, buddy!
To celebrate, I am taking him to a planetarium for a star show on Friday. Stars for the star.
To celebrate, I am taking him to a planetarium for a star show on Friday. Stars for the star.
8 comments:
Congratulations!!! Interesting how far off the original teacher was....interesting and scary...but thankfully they figured out the fact that he was bored!
You and I have discussed this before, but I want to reinforce that thank goodness someone figured it out. Luca is a doll ;-)
I'll email you privately about something related to this ;-)
Shannon
Way to go Luca! We are in the middle of searching for a preschool for our son - ugh! I never thought this would be so difficult! Thanks for sharing. I'll have to keep all of this in mind if our son exhibits challenging behaviors to his teachers.
Yeah! I'm happy it all turned out in Luca's favor!
Oh wow, that is isane. I am so glad you got him to a new teacher and figured out that is a smart lil man. Sean has treasure chest, but everyone gets it as long as you get a sticker everyday. You only don't get it if you turn a card, but then you can earn the card back. It was never viewed as a huge deal, i don't think.
GO LUCA! He is so darn cute, and he sure sounds smart too!
You can have a fun celebration. It's so fun celebrating. I Love doing special things with my son. :)
Congratulations. That is wonderful about Luca. Its amazing how people want to automatically give a "title" to a kid, and blame someone else.
I am so happy he is gifted, what a smart little man.
Sandi
I am glad to know that Luca is in better hands! I am new to your blog, just started the adoption journey. YIPPIE... But I was drwan to this post since I am a Pre-k teacher who uses a Treasure chest!!! Totally not the way your son's teacher did. My children never lose the stickers they have earned. They work hard for those! I feel children need grace.. Love and encouragement...
Anyway... I am glad that you know why your son was doing all he was doing... Keep him wanting to learn.. My 16 year old son is gifted as well and graduating High school this year. It can be a challange to have a gifted child...but I would not change it for the wold.
Good luck on the rest of your journey...
I will never understand Luca's teacher from last year. It takes less than 5 minutes with Luca to recognize that he is an amazing child.
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