2004-11-07 Emily P-T Conference

She is doing very well with her reading(no big surprise there...she loves to read) and is in the highest possible level for her age group.

She is doing okwith her math...moslty she just needs to pay a little more attention so that she doesn't make "silly" mistakes.

The teacher did however have a few concerns.

She talks about things that really have no relevance to what is going on(the teacher is doing a math lesson and Emily raises her hand and starts talking about what she did over the weekend). She sometimes forgets to raise her hand.

Apparently, she is having difficulty getting her work done on time. Her desk is very disorganized and she has a hard time finding things that the teacher asks the class to save and take out on another day.

Her teacher says that Emily is constantly trying to help others with their work. She said that this would be fine, except that Emily is helping others with theirs before she has even finished her own.

The other day she brought home about seven pages that she had not finished at school and had to bring home and do. Apparently, her teacher told her that she would lose recess on the following day if she did not finish them. She does give them a little time each day to "catch up" with things that they may still need to work on but Emily (on her own) decided that she would bring them home, thinking that the little amount of time that her teacher provides at school may not be enough.

Her teacher made it very clear that she believes that Emily has "what it takes" to finish her work , get organized etc. I agree completely.

Emily is so smart. She has the "brains" of a child much older than she is, which from a mother's perspective has it's good and bad points. Seriously, some of the observations she makes, the things she says...she just amazes me.

It also gives her a sort of "advantage". In a nutshell, you can't put anything by her. She notices everything, doesn't forget anything, and will hold you to whatever you say.

Some of these issues that came up during her parent-teacher conference have come up every year...mainly the "social" aspects(not raising her hand, irrelevant discussions etc.). Math has always been just a slight concern, reading has laways been a high point.

Everything else though, is new this year, at least as far as I remember.

Naturally, I wonder if it's the medicine or just the seizure disorder itself that could be causing some of these new issues.

Earlier this week, I sent a note in to her teacher asking her to compare notes with Emily's first grade teacher to see if she had the same impressions of Emily. If they agree, maybe Emily needs a little "extra help" to stay on track(motivational type things I am thinking, maybe a few gentle reminders). If they don't agree, and these concerns are in fact "new", I will follow up with her neurologist in a couple of weeks at her next appointment.

Overall, I am under the impression that the teacher thinks she can do this if she concentrates just a little harder, and pays just a little more attention to detail. I agree, she is more than capable.

I am anxious to hear back from her regarding the note. I sent it in on Wednesday so hopefully I should hear soon. It might take a day or two for the teachers to coordinate a meeting etc.

I hope that everything works out, whatever the results. There is something "different" about Emily since this whole seizure thing came to light. It isn't anything that I can put my finger on though. She's Just different.