Ashley

Oh Ashley. Oh my sweet, silly, smart, sometimes challenging Ashley! Where to even begin? Ashley started kindergarten on July 15th. We decided to do an extra year of pre-K because she has a July birthday and because of all the challenges we have had with her (her developmental delays, her maturity and her listening). She really loves school. I was nervous for her because she is NOT a morning person and school starts promptly at 7:30. Lucky for me, Ryan gets her up in the morning and takes her to school.

She is learning so much! It amazes me how much they pack into their days. She is reading, writing and spelling already. She has homework every night. Normally it is a book, sight words flashcards and either some type of worksheet or something verbal (synonyms, antonyms, senses, verbs, nouns, etc). It seems like a lot for a kindergartener, but she seems to be picking everything up. But academics were never her issue.

Ashley started fall break on September 19th. I had her teacher conference that day too with her fabulous teacher, Mrs. Garner. She has Mrs. Garner, a teacher's assistant, Ms. Blue and a student teacher. So I am very thankful there are three teachers/helpers in her class of 24 students!

The conference went as I expected. Ashley is doing great academically, she is right on grade level for everything. She scored very high on a test they gave the students. But her teacher brought up concerns with Ashley's focus and listening. Sound familiar? She is concerned because she feels Ashley "zones" out and when she tries to talk to her or reach her, she looks at her blankly. She seems to think this is something Ashley cannot control. When they switch tasks, sometimes Ashley is still back on the task they were just doing (for example, they work on a program on ipads that has songs to help them with phonetics. Then they move to reading groups and she told me Ashley will be turned around in her chair, still singing the song from the ipads). Her teacher also has issues getting her to line up from the playground, she told she and the students will be calling Ashley's name to line up, all somewhat close to her and Ashley does not hear them.

On a good note, she told me Ashley is doing well with social interaction. She said she is well received by her classmates and that she is a good friend and has her own group of girlfriends. That made me very happy to hear because that is something she has sometimes struggled with in the past.

So our next steps is to have a committee at her school review her case and put together some strategies to help Ashley focus better in the classroom. If the strategies do not work, our next step will be to do an evaluation with the school psychologist. Her teacher has been wonderful to work on this.

I have done so much research over the past two years and nothing seems to fit Ashley to a tee (ADHD Inattentive Type, autism, etc). So I don't know if she will ever get a diagnosis or if we will just always have to work a little harder with her. She is the sweetest, most loving little girl and it makes me worry what types of challenges she is going to face growing up and how she may be hurt by her peers. She is so absorbed in her artwork and projects at home, she really amazes me with what she does. Maybe art is in her future and that will be an escape for her.

I am hopeful that we will get some answers soon and find the best ways to help my sweet girl!