Education Week

So today and tomorrow, Shawn's school is celebrating American Education Week. This morning I got to go in and sit for about a 1/2 hour to observe Shawn's morning routine at school...whoops, not school...Kindergarten as Shawn prefers it to be called. What a treat this was! At the end of last year through the help of Shawn's preschool we have discovered that Shawn has some learning disabilities...what they are exactly, we haven't figured out quite yet. What the school did know was that he was going to need some help come the fall. Well, in May we met for an IEP meeting with his new teacher, the speech therapist, psychologist, and learning support teacher. It was established amongst other things that there would be a teacher aid in the classroom for Shawn and another kid in his class.


(Here is a picture of Shawn not wanting to get on the bus initially the first day of school.)


We met with the teacher last week for parent/teacher conferences. I was sort of nervous, but excited at the same time. My husband and I knew that we saw a difference in him just in the short amount of time he was in school, already. He started to recognize some letters, could write his name, could count past 5, recognize some numbers, the list continues. It has been very exciting to watch him learn and be excited about it. Don't get me wrong, as the teacher and learning support teacher both said, he still is behind, but he has made progress since the beginning of the year, and that is HUGE!


It can be very frustrating and upsetting when you stop and think about what Shawn has lost in the first 2 years of his life from general neglect. I get so upset to think that maybe he could be farther ahead if only the agency would have had the case earlier. Where could Shawn be now? But I will stop thinking of the what ifs...there is no point. Shawn is a bright and happy little boy. We will continue to encourage and love on him more than he can think possible.



(The picture to the right is one of favorites of Shawn-it is on the porch of my pappy's cabin)