Update on Parrot...Is it Summer Yet?

On Friday Chris and I had a meeting with Parrot’s teacher. Parrot is a very special little boy with unique educational needs so we need to make sure that the school district is meeting his needs. If you don’t know Parrot very well you can read My Dilemma With Parrot to learn more.

Inland Northwest Summer

This year he is in what the school district calls, The Self Contained classroom. This is a room of about 9 students in grades K-2, a head teacher and a teacher’s aid. The kids in the Self Contained room have a variety of special needs ranging from ADD, learning disabilities and Parrot with high functioning autism. The Self Contained teacher has really helped him learn and grow socially. He also got a lot of special attention which probably helped him excel academically.

During the school year Parrot spent minimal time in the regular Kindergarten class. Based on his test scores he is reading at a level 30, which is beginning third grade, and is at beginning third grade math. The academic work that the Kindergarten class has been doing is way to easy for my five-year-old boy. His test scores were also the highest of all the Kindergartners in the whole school (roughly 100 kids).

Next year the Self Contained teacher will be going over to the new elementary school where my kids will attend. But she doesn’t think that her class will be a good fit for Parrot. She is going to have a classroom filled with kids who are below average academically and have varying learning disabilities. She will not be able to spend the time challenging Parrot like she did this year. So we have pulled him completely out of the Self Contained classroom for next year.

The new school is going to have a combo 1st/2nd grade. His teacher is going to recommend that he be placed in that class. He will also take the test for the Highly Capable program in the fall and spend 30 minutes a day in the resource room working on social skills. I know that Parrot is going to find the 1st grade work easy and possibly boring. But if he is in the Highly Capable program he will work with a small group of kids on more challenging assignments. I am very confident that he will do just fine in 1st grade.

My kids have less than two weeks left of school. I can not believe that summer is just about here. At the same time I am very excited for summer. Summer means that I can look forward to warmer weather, spending more time with my kids, and our family vacation back home to Wisconsin.

This morning I signed the four younger kids up for swimming lessons. They will begin the lessons after we get back from visiting family in Wisconsin. On Thursday June 13 the kids have a half a day of school. Chris will be returning from a business trip to LA that afternoon. And we are hoping to have the van all packed and ready to go by 3pm.

It is going to be a long drive from Spokane to Madison. We have a portable DVD player to keep little Bear and Monkey entertained and the older kids will have books, their leapsters, and other activities to help the drive go much smoother. I can’t wait for the trip! I’ll probably write more about this as we get closer to June 13.

Are you planning a family vacation this summer?

Cascia