Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

Angus and I went to his school this morning for Parent/Teacher/Student interviews. I honestly don't know why this kid stresses out so much before we go to these things. The teachers always have something positive to say about him. Things like what a nice polite boy he is and how he can do the work when he focuses on it. The only negative things I hear is that he is a bit of a social butterfly and at times he would rather talk with his mates instead of focusing on the work. He also need to submit all of his work, whether he has finished it or not, so that it can be graded. 

Stress less kiddo and do the work. You'll be fine (~_~)

This mornings floral collection from Rory. 

Look at what I found inside when Angus and I got home. Of course these 'flowers' were not neatly piled together but spread throughout the lounge room. My guess is Rory either missed us and wanted to surprise us when we got home or that he was extra hungry and wanted more food. I'm tending to believe he was extra hungry.

What A Day!

So Mum what's new in the Wug's backyard? Rory joined me at the desk when I was catching up on some blog reading :)

Boy what a busy day we had today. This morning I was at Angus's High School attending parent-teacher-student interviews. Of course Angus absolutely hates it when we attend these things. I don't know why .The majority of his teachers always say wonderful things about him. Things like: how polite he is, that he's helpful and that he's caught up with his work or is doing better than last time the teacher taught him. Of course there was the occasional comment like you need to stop chatting with your friends so much and focus on the work. Angus is such a chatterbox when he wants to be. I don't know where he gets that from. It must be his Irish side with the gift of the gab or something :D


This afternoon it was graduation time for Brodie and I. The Ambassador Program we were doing wrapped up today. We were able to invite family to join us at a Chinese restaurant to help us celebrate. I know I wont need to eat dinner tonight! We had such a lovely time. I almost didn't want to see it end.
Two of the ladies who ran the program want Brodz and I to give a  talk to a small group of students at our local TAFE. They are doing a course related to working with Special Needs kids. It wont be until next term some time. I'm kind of looking forward to sharing my story.

Brodz & I were given a book to write our story in.

I'm a bit pooped from all of the running around from today. I really would like to catch a Nanna nap before it gets too late or I may not sleep tonight. It's a good thing that school holidays started today. I have the next two weeks to have lazy mornings. Maybe a nap wont hurt after all :D

Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews

Angus and I had interviews at his school this morning. The poor kid was so nervous about what the teachers were going to say about him. I told him not to worry. That the the teachers would ALL say he is a smart kid and that he is just a little bit lazy when it comes to work.

Teacher after teacher said that Angus is a good kid. A smart kid. That he was polite & that they have no behavioural problems with him whatsoever! That he wasn't afraid to ask for help. Some of them said that he needed to organise his time in class a bit better and focus on the work. That he should try harder to submit his work on time.

One thing that was pointed out, that we knew about anyway, is that Angus lacks confidence in his abilities. He is afraid to take risks. He seems terrified of getting things wrong & is often worried about his work not being as good as the other kids. Looks like we are going to have to work on that a bit more. I'm not sure how to tackle that yet but we will work on it.

And there was Angus thinking the teachers would say bad things about him. I knew he was a good kid at school. I have every confidence in him doing the right thing & making good choices. Keep up the good work kiddo & we can help you to focus on the areas you need a boost with! You rock!!

School Interviews

We had parent/teacher/student interviews at Angus's school this morning. I saw all of his teachers. They all pretty much said the same thing: Angus is a great kid but he needs to focus more in class & listen to the teacher when they are talking.

I also learnt that Angus has been busted watching movies on his laptop or playing games during lesson time when he's meant to be working. I told he may have to leave his memory stick at home if this sort of thing continues .. either that or he be taken out of the laptop class altogether! I know he would hate that.

All in all though I think he was pleasantly surprised. The teachers spoke of many positives with only a few areas of concern. Angus is awfully unorganised but I think we can work on that for next term with colour coded folders for each subject with notebooks in each of them just in case he needs something to write on other than his laptop. Hopefully this will help.

Right now all he wants to do is veg out a bit & play games. His school holidays have just started. Two weeks off or so he thinks - I KNOW he has work to do over the holidays that needs completing! I'll at least give him the weekend off before he needs to start 'catching' up or trying to get ahead.

Time For An Update

Gosh half the time I never know where to begin with a blog entry. I suppose I should just start where I finished last time.

Friday ... the car was still off the road. It had been way too hot for Mark to work on it. I think the temperature was around 40C (over 100F in the old scale). I was unable to go to he Primary School to do the newsletter. Brodie got a lift from Nick's parents & Angus got a ride with a friend so neither of them missed school.

Saturday ... it was still shockingly horrible weather. The air-conditioner has been getting a good work out. We didn't make it to foodbank as the car was still off the road for the morning. Mark did NOT have a good day and he managed to break his hand. His Borderline Personality Disorder (wiki) was getting a good work out ... his hand managed to connect with the shed door a few times then the brick wall outside for a few more punches. We didn't know his hand was broken at the time but it didn't look good and was beginning to swell up heaps. Mark popped some codeine tablets and finished working on the car. Around 2 p.m. I took him to the hospital. We were there for quite some time. He had a couple of x-rays taken and we were finally told that it was broken. Which to be honest was no surprise as you could no longer see three of his knuckles. The doctor slapped a half plaster on it gave Mark a box of panadeine forte and sent us home.

Sunday... the weather was still hot. I had an awful headache and decided that it was too much for me, the boys and the car to travel the 40 km to Church. I didn't feel up to driving all that way and then go into Nursery with a bunch of toddlers. Not that I don't love the toddlers because they are just SO adorable!!

Monday ... the weather was still hot. Angus had the day off - it was a pupil free day. Not much else happened. Well I don't remember anything important happening.

Tuesday ... Brodie had the day off because it was Parent/Teacher/Student interviews. Angus's sports day was cancelled once again due to the hot weather. It was the third time it was cancelled too. They are hoping that it will be held during the second week after next term starts.

Brodie and I went up to the High School just before 1:30 p.m. We went to see all of his teachers. It was wonderful to hear a lot of good stuff being said. Brodie of course was Mister Negative! Saying how awful it was that the teachers would only say bad things about him. I think that perhaps he was so used to the bad reports that he didn't exactly know how to react to the good stuff. Although I was not impressed with his behaviour. He was butting in, talking over the top of the teachers or myself and fidgeting like crazy!

Wednesday .. I can't remember much about yesterday. Which is sad to say really. Other than knitting more beanies and doing some grocery shopping, enjoying the cool change that finally arrived and watching a bit of TV I didn't do much else.

I would blog some more but the boys are nagging for dinner so I'll write some more later if I get the time.

Meetings & Other Stuff

I had organised a meeting at the High School for yesterday afternoon. I wanted to find out what Brodie has been up to of late and so see where I needed to concentrate on with him at home as far as his school work is concerned. Mark & I get there just before2 o'clock and the Assistant Principal (AP) meets us to tell us that Brodie isn't feeling all that well and was in the sick bay resting. We went to check on his to make sure it was nothing too serious. I was thinking he might've been foxing as he wanted to go home earlier than usual. He didn't look that well, in fact he was very pale but he said he was okay enough to stay there while Mark & I went to our meeting with the AP & Principal.

No onto the meeting. It seems that our boy has been using some more inappropriate language with girls. Saying things like nice knickers, etc when they're walking up the stairs or making comments about their breasts by saying things like "Got milk?" The little scamp!! They did however say that his language towards girls had improved though. Maybe it has but what he has said was definitely uncalled for.

The Principal said that while Brodie has been on his current medication that his behaviour has improved. That most of what he gets into trouble for now is nowhere near what it was like before. That they can see less bad behaviour and more of his Aspergers coming to the fore. We were also told that the school has sent some of their teachers (about four of them) to Professional Development sessions regarding Aspergers Syndrome. To which these teachers came back and reported to the rest of the staff with many different ideas and things to share with them that will greatly benefit Brodie in the long run. (Our boy is not the only child at their school with Aspergers).

The AP told us that there is still quite a lot of work that Brodie is NOT doing. That he has not been handing in all of his assignments (homework) to his teachers. All I could think was yep that sounds about right. I could talk to Brodie until I am blue in the face and it will not make much of a difference to the amount of work that he produces nor the quality of it either. I will do my best to keep him 'working' and handing in his assignments.

Parent-Teacher-Student interviews will be coming up again in about three weeks time. I will attend and I can just imagine what I will hear. That he isn't doing the work and he isn't participating as well as he can in class. I'm not sure what I can do to change that or if I should even try to.

I don't want to sound like a wet blanket but I have a feeling that even though the school might put him up into year 9 next year he may end up doing year 8 work. I mentioned this yesterday and the AP & P didn't say that was not a possibility.

After the meeting we ended up taking Brodie home & collecting Angus earlier than usual, to save petrol later on and he only missed about 40 minutes of school). Brodie miraculously felt better about half an hour after getting home. I kind of knew he would though the little imp!

Earlier this morning, before 10 am. I got another phone call from the High School. It seems our boy did not behave again. He walked out of class which meant he has a second exit. While the school was on the phone to me I could hear Brodie in the back ground mouthing off and not following the teachers instructions which meant that he has a third 'penalty' against his name. Great you know what that means!! His third exit means a suspension. I went to collect him as there was no use keeping him there. Not happy Jan!!

About an hour after we got home the AP phoned to say that Brodie was not required at school until Friday morning and that if it was possible that I also came up to the school with him before he goes into classes. Sure no problem! I have nothing better to do with my time. Well I know that sounds awful sarcastic but that's how I feel at the moment. I bend over backwards for that boy and this is how he behaves. Gosh that sounds harsh perhaps considering he has Aspergers and other things going on but he knows better! I'm sure he does!!

The boys!!

Brodie been such a prat with his behaviour. The other day at the supermarket we asked him not to poke and prod the food as no one wants to buy squashed food. He went weird and started saying (to Mark) come on be a man hit me. I could not get over how he was daring Mark to punch him! Needless to say Mark didn't and ignored him. I did warn Brodie however to watch it as he will say it to the wrong person one day and they will hit him! What a little scamp he is!!

I had parent/teacher interviews with nearly all of Brodie's teachers last Tuesday. Brodie was expecting it to be all doom and gloom but I knew it wouldn't be as I read his interim report. Which, to be honest, surprised me it was much better than I expected. Peter (principal) explained that it would more than likely be the different what that the teachers are handling him this year. There were many positive things said today which was great to hear. There are a lot of things Brodie needs to do, like focus on his work and cut out the inappropriate language etc, but all in all its much better than last year.

We had a dietitian appointment on Tuesday as well. I know what I need to do as far as Brodie is concerned and the dietitian agreed that I am already doing the right thing. I just needed Brodie to hear it from her as he doesn't always listen to me. He knows that he needs to cut back on his intake and needs to increase his exercise. I have agreed to let him ride his bike for half an hour in the mornings as he is usually up around 6 am anyway. So I told him he can ride from 6:30 am to 7 a.m. Then he can have breakfast. Hopefully that will inspire him to do a little more. We go back and see her in three weeks time. I know it will be a struggle but I just hope that he sticks to it. He nags all the time as he 'thinks' he is hungry .. I just hope that he isn't sneaking food out of the cupboard late at night or very early in the morning to compensate for the lack of it during the day.

I had a parent-teacher interview for Angus on Thursday. The only thing we need to concentrate on with him is making sure he gets his homework completed and to do his reading every day. He hasn't been getting me to write it in his reader cover and he also has not been showing his cover to his teacher either.

They started school holidays on Friday. They're being such prats at the moment. Constantly arguing. I don't know if we will all survive the next two weeks at home! Thankfully Brodie is going to the Temple on Thursday so there will be at least one Brodie free day!

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Yesterday was parent-teacher interviews at the High School. I wasn't sure how things were going to go and I expected that all I would hear was how badly the big fella behaves at school. But here is how the afternoon went ....

All of the big fella's teachers said the same thing that he is a very intelligent kid and can cope with the work that he is asked to do, even with the amount of time he has missed in their classes he is still managing to pass. All of them agreed that it was his behaviour that held him back (like I didn't know) and that if he could handle himself better by not teasing, name calling or being rude to the other kids that things would improve immensely for him. I have no idea how we are going to achieve that. Maybe they could've given some 'friendly' suggestions.

I still don't think that the teachers realise he is a special needs kids. From the comments some of them made it seems like they have just labelled him difficult and a behaviour problem.

I guess it didn't help that the big fella was rude, loud and a little obnoxious during our visits with his teachers. He constantly fidgeted. He switched off from the conversations when the teachers spoke about things he didn't want to hear (and he made it very obvious that he didn't want to hear them) and tried to talk over the top of the teachers and myself & constantly tried to change the subject.
I can see why they have labelled him as they have. I just hope that they take on board what I had to share with them

Also his teachers do not realise that I also have a background in teaching (mainly because I haven't shared that with them). For me at least, I think that High School teachers forget that some children are not as mature as others. They have probably worked with 'normal' kids for so long that they don't know or understand what they need to do with a special needs child. Their expectations for ALL children are the same regardless of their abilities. I also believe that once they are out of college/uni that they forget some of the basics that they have learned while they were there (I admit that I have forgotten a lot myself, especially since I haven't worked as a teacher for 5 years).

Out of all the teachers there were only two that didn't mention his behaviour. They just made comments about his work and how well he is coping in their classes. It made such a nice change to have someone say some positive things instead of just the negative.
I must admit with the two teachers who approached things differently than the others I was really impressed with. One was the Japanese teacher. She admits that the big fella has such a hard time in her class, not because of the work because is coping with that but just the behaviour. He now has a different learning program as far as Japanese is concerned. The teacher still sets him work but he is now allowed to work in the library. Both the teacher and the big fella are much happier with this arrangement.
The other teacher was the Maths/Information Technology teacher. He said look I won't go on about the behavioural stuff we know that there is a problem and we're working on it. Let's just talk about the work side of things. He then proceeded to tell me that even though he has missed a lot of the classes he is still passing and has a great understanding in Maths. (Hmm I think I said this already) There is no problem whatsoever with IT (which I knew there wouldn't be it is his favourite subject).
Why couldn't ALL the teachers just say that about the behaviour? It isn't like I didn't already know there was a problem.

All in all things went a lot better than I thought it would be. I left the High School feeling okay about the big fellas work. We just need to concentrate on the behavioural stuff and the homework side of things. I've not told the big fella that his 'day off' and I use that term loosely is now his "CATCH UP" day where he can complete all the work he needs to that he has missed. I've also put it in a way that he understood (well I hope I did) that he may go up a grade into Year 8 next year but that wont mean he will be doing Year 8 work if he cannot complete all the Year 7 work this year. I think he understood that one and from the look on his face he didn't like it. Perhaps that is incentive enough to get him to work a little harder than he has done.

Mid-Year School Reports

I got the boys school reports today since it's the end of term. I am thrilled with the little dudes report (as usual) but there is a new format the schools are using. It's a state wide thing and I don't particularly like it because it lacks detailed comments. Oh well thank goodness the school will be doing parent/teacher interviews next term and I can go get a better idea on how he's going.

The big fellas report well that is another story. I was wondering how the school was going to report on his 'work' considering the amount of time he hasn't been there!! I have to admit that they have also made a mistake in the amount of days that the big fella has been absent from school!! They say 21 days but I know for a fact that they suspended him for 22 days this term!!! Can't they do Math?? They've assessed him in a way that I was told they would not. From what I remember from a previous meeting they said that he would have a lot of Not Assessed areas on his report but that didn't seem to be the case for ALL of his subjects. In fact there were a few that were just plain unsatisfactory. How can they assess him when he isn't even there???
One of the subjects relating to sport and how the big fella always takes his sports clothes, hat if needed and a drink bottle had me laughing and thinking that the teacher out and out lied especially when the big fella said that he doesn't even have a drink bottle. Also the big fella hasn't done sport at school at ALL this term so I think that will need to be pointed out to the school. Do they think we don't pay attention to his report comments or something?? It will be interesting to find out.

I do know one thing and I agree with most of the comments from teachers that the big fella has a big problem with concentration, working in a group, listening & working without being disruptive among a few other things. I do know that I WILL be taking the report with me to the BIG meeting next term and asking them what the heck is going on with it?!!?!!