David Weekly, V3 - 31

So Thursday was quite a day for the boy. We had a visit to the Shriners, and then we went to his teacher conference. I had discussed with David what we'd talk to the doctor about two things: his feelings about his hand, and the possibility of surgery.

Basically, the doctor says that David's hand is fine, and if anything, surgery would make his hand worse, not better; that there is very little likelihood of him passing on his condition to any children he might have, although it might still be a good idea to speak with a genetic counselor (but that's way down the road). The doctor told me that most kids who have a similar type of condition as David usually are more well-adjusted and more mature, do better in school and that kind of thing. What the doctor looks for at this point is to make sure that the skin and the bone are growing at the same rate. If there comes a point where David's bones are growing faster than his skin and he can't stretch his fingers as far as before, then surgery might be a possibility. But for now, we're on another 2 year schedule for the next appointment. He has full functionality in his hand, and there is nothing to "fix". This is how he grew, and he will continue to be that way.

I asked one of the support staff if there is any kind of group where the kids get together to talk about their issues, but it doesn't seem that there's much call for it, or whatever...Instead, there are a few resources online that I will research. Maybe I'll just get him into a regular counseling, if he shows that he still has trouble.

Also had David's conference Thursday. The first nine-weeks focuses on behavior, rather than academics. David's behavior is improving, says Ms. Perez. She also read me off a list of things that David can do from his assessment, such as count to 104, or that he knows 54 letters. It would seem that g and a have different typographical conventions depending on the font of the book he might be reading. The other 26 x 2 letters are upper and lower cases. I asked Ms. Perez about the fact that David will be done with the rubric for kindergarten by the time Christmas rolls around, and she said that, while the school doesn't like it, they can put him in the gifted program. It would seem that if they did, it would be more toward the end of the year. I'm ok with that. She did also say that he is more mature than others in his class...Ms. Perez told me that David can be sent to work with the first graders in the 2nd half of the year to do some things, such as reading. Ms. Perez assured me that he will remain challenged throughout the year. She showed me a list of sight words he's supposed to know, and he knows words that the class hasn't gone over yet...I told David that because he's smart, he will have to work harder than he would otherwise. I don't want him to think that just because he's smart he can skate along. I want him to work hard for himself. We have trouble at night sometimes, getting him to do his "homework", and Ms. Perez says she'll support me, since David fights me on the homework front, by whining, or not doing a good job like he can. He doesn't like that I'm redirecting him sometimes. Other times, he gets right to it.

Meanwhile...it's been a bit cool in the mornings, and David has been wearing a sweatshirt or a jacket to school. One day, I told him it was warm again, and that he didn't need the extra warmth, but he insisted, until we got outside, and discovered that it was indeed warm enough...and said, "I think I made a mistake," rather sheepishly. I, of course, was impressed at his ability to admit to being wrong. He doesn't always do it, but it was good none-the-less.

Last week, David had a terrible week at HOST. He had 3 X marks on the calendar. He jumped on a little girl because she had something David had wanted, and when I asked him why he did that, he said that she was "making teamwork" with another little boy, and he was being taunted about not having a bottle or something (I'm not sure what), and eventually lost his cool. Naturally, I had a big problem with that, and so did the HOST people. The thing is, David was still clearly not being properly supervised - to the point that he was getting taunted and then could attack someone. This really upset me, of course, and I decided that HOST isn't working out. David does well for a week or two, then has some kind of major issue. So I've decided to enroll him in a Taekwondo after-school program, with the hope/expectation that he can learn to channel his anger when he gets angry, and that he will learn some self-discipline as well. I know it's a slow process of change, and I know he's only been at HOST for a month, but two major incidents in that period tells me that it's not right for him. I do have to expect more of this from him, sadly. That's also a reason for the new after-care: they will have the ability and resources to handle his behavior issues.

And David had a "moment": We were watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", and it was on regular TV. David says, "But we can watch it any time..." and he points to the DVD...

Have a good week, everyone...