Mordecai 9 years old

Tilly saved my bacon yesterday. I was happily sitting here at the computer blogging when she said, "Oh, you have a meeting at Mordecai's school today, right?". Umm…yeah. I completely blanked out on it. Despite the fact that it is clearly written on my calendar and I had discussed it with Chuck. At any rate, I had nearly an hour before his appointment, so it was no biggie. I was just glad I had Tilly here…

Being a goofball…

For those of you who aren't up your school lingo and IEP is an Individualized Education Plan. In Mordecai's case this first IEP was to determine eligibility for Special Ed. He qualifies, of course, as we knew he would since he has an official diagnosis that falls on the  Fetal Alcohol Spectrum. 

Without boring you will all the details let me just say he lags behind is reading, writing and math. He does well socially, has friends and for the most part works for his teacher. He still loves school. He has the occasional day when he is reluctant to go (usually if he knows we are going somewhere and he is missing out). The six other students in his class are severely disabled (either mentally or physically). This makes Mordecai the "star" student in his class. A good position for him. I know it's been hard to have his younger siblings effortlessly pass him academically. He helps in his class and is one of the only students who signs to the non-verbal child. 

He has 38 sight words and reads at a late kindergarten level…this is of course news to me since despite years of effort he refused to display this skill to me. I knew he had a handful of words, but most of those 38 he went into school knowing (according to his teacher). His teacher has him phonetically writing one words sentences…something he would never have done for me. One interesting note is the speech therapist said he can accurately repeat long, complicated sentences, but can't use the same words in his own sentences. His poor vocabulary is something I've noted. What this means is he can often sound like he knows what he talking about…and often seems more capable than he really is- very common for people with FASD. In a social setting it's nice because he comes off as being very "normal". Other kids don't realize he has any issues. 

And on a final note, everyone I have worked with at the school has been helpful, friendly, and makes me feel completely part of the team. I am thankful that I followed my gut and enrolled him. So far it's all been good.