Bragging rights

OK, folks. I know its not kosher to do this. But I'm so proud of the kid. I cant stop myself.

Alex's parent-teacher conference was yesterday. I was very nervous. Last year, it went like this:"Kathryn, great to see you. And Alex, why are you looking so scared?""I don't know." And he starts to play with the crayon bin -- flinging crayons in and out, scampering under the table to collect them and repeat.

"Alex, you're a very smart boy, I know you can do the work I give you. But you really have to sit at your desk and do your assignments."To me, "Alex has to stop crashing into furniture, running as fast as he can, and talking to me without raising his hand."To Alex, "Alex, I will call on you, if you raise your hand."Alex says, "But sometimes I know I'll forget and its REALLY important."On and on it went, we were scheduled last for a reason, no definite time limit.

Yesterday, it went like this...

"Alex is doing great. He completes all his assignments, reads at a 6Th+ grade level. Alex that means that you read and understand the content of the text your reading. I'd like to see you start reading some other genres besides fiction." (He already does this.)He beamed."Alex's math skills are at a 3rd grade level and I'd like you to start working on fractions and multiplication with him at home. It would be great if you could teach him the times table through 10 or 12." (Yeah, we'll throw that in the daily to do list without disrupting anything else we've got going.)

My only concerns are that Alex continue to work on writing neatly. Including spacing between words and letters and size and shape. This has already dramatically improved. And Alex needs to work on self-starting to keep distractions from keeping him from completing his assignments."

I was so happy for him. He was dreading this conference. I think, he remembered the disastrous conference of last year and wanted so much to not have to work on everything from remaining seated in his seat to actually doing the work assignments.

When Mark asked how his parent-teacher conference had gone, Alex smiled. I think with the ADHD, Alex often feels inferior to other kids. He often says stuff like, "Why can't I just do what they want me to do." Its was nice for him to get a home run!