bits of advocacy

We had the parent teacher conference the other night.  I wasn't unhappy with the results, but still think they don't see the real Esme... and it is my job to help with that - so she is treated like a smart child by all of the instructors - and then they will see improvement all around.  I think her speech teacher can be an ally with this.  I followed up with an email about what she had said the other day - about (someone, children, teachers maybe both) thinking she is the child that does not understand, when she does understand, and it makes it hard to learn when they put her with the children who do not understand. I also sent them Minecraft screenshots of her world to show her creative side, and more home drawings and math work in her folder.

She said yesterday to Daddy off the school bus that she was not a baby, and that it was a sweet thing.  She didn't say much more... but I hope that is true.  She told me this morning about not getting in trouble for something the day before because she did the right thing, even though the other child did not do the right thing, and she knew they would cry when they did get the timeout - and they did, but she didn't.  She said that was a hard decision, whether to have them cry alone or be in timeout with them.  I agreed it was tough - but she had to show she knew what to do and maybe the child would understand better then, too.  She said maybe.

She drew a mama mouse with a baby inside, and told me the baby would be small and pink and eyes not there (because they are closed), and would have a small tail when it came out.  She then remembered she wanted a pink crayon for her pouch at school, because she didn't have one.  I said that was a great idea and put it in her bag to take to school.  I put the mouse drawing and wrote down what she had said so the teacher can see her thought process there.  She said they are doing some spelling of the words in the ABC book and she likes it but it is hard - and she has to read their book 'apple, bear, camel' sometimes and not hers, but ok...  She read a pretty long book with me for bedtime.  I ordered her another pack of reading club books that were a good price.

She came back from the bathroom this morning and said in a very small voice to me that she was scared of all of the hair ties on the sink because she thought they were bugs and then she was a brave and looked at them and they were not bugs.

I am glad she is advocating a little for herself, even on tiny things like the crayon - and talking to me about the things that are hard for her at school, so I have insight and can help.   I relayed a little of it to the teacher in email - because once they see what is going on inside her head, they might interpret things differently than just 'she is copying' etc etc.. with the timeouts.