The team meeting results.

Jonathan gets an IEP.  Starting in second grade my son will be a SPED student.  Ugh.  Kick in the gut.

I know this is a good thing, and there is nothing wrong with getting help when you need it.  There is nothing wrong with special ed.  A lot of kids have IEP's nowadays.  I probably wouldn't feel so bad if it was Jacob or Victoria with one.  But it is Jonathan.  The kid that has overcome EVERYTHING.  The one who wasn't supposed to walk or talk.  I made all that happen.  I worked with him every single day to get him moving, to gain control of his left side.  I wanted him to develop like a normal kid.  And he did.  He and I did that together.  And now I have failed him.  Granted I know that I cannot control everything, but I could have helped him a bit more. I could have fought him more on reading, spelling, and made him sit and do it.  I could have helped him more.  And I didn't.

That being said, it seems as though Jonathan really doesn't have any issues learning the material, he is struggling with processing it.  He isn't stupid by any means.  He really isn't even slow.  Well, technically he is, but learning wise he isn't.  But his brain shuts down when he looks at a page with 25 math problems.  Give him 5 or even 10 math problems, he has no issues.  Give him 25 on a page and he cannot do it.  Give him 10 minutes to do it, forget about it.  Let him take his time, it will get done.  And he is stuck on sounding every word out, which is totally screwing him.  It is a good habit, but not for sight words.  It is good for words that you have never read before, or long words.  But there is no reason to sound out the word THE.  And he does.  Every single time.

So the good news is that he will still be learning the same information as his peers.  He will be learning the same materials at the same pace, just in smaller blocks.  I am hoping to get him caught up a bit this summer and really work on sight words and reading.  That would help him immensely to start second grade.  I have told him that we will be doing school work all summer, and he isn't so happy about that, but he does know that when he fills up his journal a new bike will be coming.  That is 50 journal entries.  He can write in it more than once a day if he wants.  He just needs 50 entries.  50 good entries.  Anyone want to guess when he will be getting his new bike?