2ND-GRADE
An Emotional Year
This is the year that changed everything.
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Braden
In 2nd-grade, Mrs. Stewart was my teacher. She had a bunny named Simba. I got to take Simba home so many times. He would hop around the house and sit on the sofa with me. That was cool.
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That year, mom came to my class to let us all read to her. That was fun. Lainey and I would read to her every week. I liked when she came to my class. She came to school parties too.
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Spelling tests were hard. It took me a while to remember the word and by the time I started writing it down Mrs. Stewart had already said the next word. Writing the sentences was harder. I had to spell the words the right way and remember punctuation and capitals.
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Kaden and I liked to play together. Sometimes we wouldn't hear directions and didn't know what to do in class. Mom had a whole bunch of meetings with Mrs. Stewart that year.
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I also got to meet Dr. Johnson that year. She asked me some weird questions and had me answer things backward. It was weird. After I met Dr. Johnson I went back to Nurse Paul. He gave mom some fishy medicine for my brain. It was so gross. Mom tried to give it to me with jam, peanut butter, and applesauce. Applesauce was the best. I took it every morning after breakfast for a long time.
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Gran
This was a rough year. Haylee took a year off from teaching and Daniel was starting his second rotation overseas. With what was ahead, it was probably good that Haylee took the year off.
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There were many doctor visits and meetings at school. There were many days Haylee would call me in tears because of the refusal to provide any accommodations to help Braden since he didn't have formal paperwork that said he could have them.
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I thought the point of sending children to school was to help them learn, not to make them all do the same thing.
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I'm worried about how this will be resolved. I don't want to see my grandson taking medication that turns him into an unimaginative zombie.
Haylee
I opted to take a year off from teaching. It ended up being a very challenging year, so I'm glad I made that choice. Because of that choice, I was able to help listen to children read and really focus on Braden. Mrs. Stewart put children into reading groups and had them read aloud, popcorn style, to others. Since I volunteered for this each week I got to hear Braden and some of his classmates read. I was also able to participate in class party events. That part was fun.
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The harder part was when we were trying to find a way to help him through the spelling tests. I didn't agree with the grading of the test - especially how some words were tested multiple times on the same test. Those darn spelling tests are what ended up getting us to Dr. Johnson, Braden's neuropsychologist, and finally got him a diagnosis that would allow Section 504 accommodations to be put in place to help him.
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After his teacher and I both completed standard surveys for dyslexia and ADHD and they were evaluated at his doctor's office, the results came back inconclusive. Nurse Practitioner Paul Boerger referred us to Dr. Kim Johnson for further evaluation. She conducted a battery of tests and determined that Braden had inattentive-type ADHD and slow processing speed. She found that he's being distracted by audible and visual stimuli and is slowing down his processes in order to make sure he's doing his work correctly. He is trying so hard to do well, but it takes a lot of mental effort and time to do it. Unfortunately, he hasn't had any accommodations in place to give him the extra time he needs to be successful. With this diagnosis, we are now armed with information that can help get services in place to help Braden be successful.
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After trying to get services in place since October, and then completing the neurological evaluation in February, Braden started taking Vayarin to see if it would help. Vayarin is a neutraceutical that is designed to get Omega-3s across the blood-brain barrier so the brain can function more efficiently. We finally had the Section 504 meeting at the start of April.
It was finally determined that Braden does qualify for services!
After struggling for most of the year, he is now able to have the extra time he needs to complete his work, have assignments reduced (10 questions instead of 15), and have his work prioritized (graded work to complete first). He is also not to be kept in from recess to complete work! Yay!
*All kids need recess time to release nervous energy and to recharge their brains!*