Tuesday Thoughts

Ever since we brought HJ home at 28months, I have been aware of potential academic issues for Internationally Adopted kids.  Research by Dr. Boris Gindis even indicates that children who are toddlers at adoption may struggle more than kids adopted at other ages because their first language isn't stable before they are required to learn a second language.  As a result, I have kept a close eye on HJ's progress. 

This has been an interesting journey as some have insisted that I am pushing/expecting too much and others have encouraged me to "follow my gut" to figure out what is going on.  We initially had HJ evaluated just before she turned 3.  At that evaluation, she was pretty much on target, but they recommended that we evaluate her again in a year.  She started pre-school a few months before she turned 4 in a pre-k 3 classroom. The next year, we enrolled her in the VPK program.  As a part of the VPK program, the public school came to her pre-school to screen kids for any concerns.  I debated a long time over whether or not to have her screened again.  I finally decided to have the screening done as one day she could count to 13 and the next day she could barely count to 5.  I got a call about a week later from the lady that did the screening.  She said that HJ "passed", but that she noticed some things that just didn't add up.  Finally, I felt vindicated.  We went for a full evaluation and the results showed that HJ was struggling, but not enough to qualify for services from the school.  This cemented my decision to homeschool her.  I wasn't about to put her in a classroom of 18 kids and let her fall even further behind.  The evaluators did recommend that she be evaluated again during K.

Near the end of school last year, I decided to request another evaluation.  After my initial meeting with the Child Study Team at the school, they requested that I bring her in.  So, the next to the last day of school, I took her in for a formal evaluation.  They told me not to expect the results until the beginning of the school year.  When teachers returned to school, I contacted the evaluator letting her know that I was interested in HJ's results.  She called me back and explained that the results were inconclusive and that I needed to bring HJ in for further testing.  So last week we did so.  I now have a meeting on Thur to go over the results with the Child Study Team.  I am so looking forward to finding out what I can do to help HJ with learning to read. 

She struggles so hard sometimes and when she does, she gets very frustrated.  When she gets frustrated, she gives up and quits.  This is hard for me to deal with.  I know it is tough for her, but if she doesn't push through the tough parts, she will fall even farther behind.  I can tell HJ is a bright little girl.  Some of the things she says and ideas she has just amaze me.  I am just hopeful that we can pinpoint the issue and I can help my little girl to be as successful as she and I know she can be.