Well, I guess as expected only one teacher showed up (Lang Arts), and she could only stay about 10 minutes because she had to be out front of the school with all the other teachers who were protesting the state layoffs. Our district is cutting 91 classified jobs. Sixty-five percent of the districts in the county are cutting 2,500 jobs, of which 1,200 are expected to be teachers.
So we met with difficult child 1's counselor and the district nurse who is assigned to him because of his IHP (Independent Health Plan) that he has for the Crohn's (which really isn't relevant right now because he's in remission).
The counselor had received feedback from most of difficult child 1's teachers. There is definitely a pattern of him not talking to other students. In one class, which is fairly small, they are allowed to sit where they want. He picked a spot in the middle of the room with no one sitting around him at all. Like an island. Sounds like him. I told them how he says he often goes to the library at lunch and doesn't socialize much.
One teacher said he's very diligent about getting his planner signed, but then he doesn't turn in the work. Yet he'll participate in class discussions and most of the time gives the right answer.
Another teacher said he could see some anxiety, especially when another student was bothering him and touching him. difficult child 1 reacted by "touching" back, but then decided he probably shouldn't have done that and got up to talk to the teacher about what was going on (which was good).
In orchestra he sometimes forgets his instrument (leaves it in another class and then it takes a few days to find it). He needs to practice more.
His Lang Arts teacher said that when he actually DOES the work, he is very good. But it's often late. He had an essay that was due last Thursday. He finally turned it in yesterday. She said it was an "A" paper, but because it was late she has to mark it down. And yesterday I found a stapled packet of work that was incomplete that she'd given back to him to re-do. He hadn't touched it yet.
My next meeting is Wednesday with the school psychologist and RSP teacher. The S/L specialist has also been invited, though she's only there twice a week. I'm going to ask about auditory and visual processing, language pragmatics, as well as the usual cognitive and psycho-social tests. I'll be giving their list of tests to the neuropsychologist to review to make sure there is no overlap, and then we'll be off and running. Even if we don't get a chance to implement supports for very long this year, at least we should know how to better help him in highschool next year.
husband went with me, and it was very good to have his support. He made some good comments and suggestions and was helpful in explaining his observations of difficult child 1's behaviors. I think he's finally understanding that it's not just a parenting issue here... and that difficult child 1 really IS a good kid who tries hard, but who is also his own worst enemy because of the way he's wired.