Parent Teacher Conference

We went to Riley's parent teacher conference, and I was pleasantly surprised. He seems to do well in reading and has a great deal of background knowledge about everything, but has a great deal of trouble with writing and the sound he hears in writing.

Both of his teacher had stories of background knowledge that only Riley knew as a kindergartner. His morning teacher said that he was the only one who knew what a moat was in a Katy story. His afternoon teacher said that she read a book about the president and at the end there was a picture of the Statue of Liberty, and Riley was the only one who could identify it and tell everyone that it was in New York City. (He has never been to NYC.)

His reading level is a level B. He is expected to be at a level C by the end of the school year. He also seems to have a grasp on his sight words. He has 40 to learn this year and another 60 next year. He just got his last set of 10.

We discussed Riley's sideways vision issues, and I outlined what I have done with regards to specialists in dealing with this issue. We also talked about the sideways vision of the uncles and some of Riley's generation. I talked about how I had read once that it was a sensory issue; trying to block out too much visual imput.

The teachers felt that we should work on Riley's writing and writing the sounds that he hears in words. I believe that it is a good idea and will work on it with him. We are all at a loss as to what else to do and hopefully, IAT will have some new ideas.

OT Again

We had to stop OT for awhile because Riley started going to school all day. We finally got a new time slot and he goes every other week now.

I am starting to see the discrepancies between Riley's abilities and the abilities of the typical kindergartner with regards to fine motor skills. Riley's school just celebrated the 100th day of school and as part of their celebration, they had to color 100 small things on the numbers 1, 0, 0. I use to use this sheet when I taught, and I know what I expected from my students and the way that Riley colored this sheet would not have been acceptable for me as a teacher. We really need to get to work on improving his coloring.

I can say that he seems to be doing well with the Handwriting Without Tears program that the OT started with him. He seems to get that system and keeping in the space that it gives. I see his handwriting when he comes home from enrichment and because they use a dot to tell the students where to start, his handwriting is a mess. The fine motor needs to become a priority.

I am meeting with his teacher on Monday and I am somewhat anxious to see what she is going to say. I know about the fine motor, the lack of ability to follow directions, and being easily distracted. I know that he has made some improvements because of his oral knowledge, but I do not know if they are going to be enough. He has already been referred to IAT, so I am waiting to see what they are going to say also.

I still mostly believe that Riley has mostly sensory issues although the book that I am reading right now says that SPD is not recognized by the DSM, and therefore is usually a secondary diagnosis with a primary diagnosis of Autism, Asberger's, ADD, etc. Maybe I should have Riley evaluated by a clinical psychologist as was suggested at his end of the year IEP conference last year since they knew that Riley still needed services, but was not eligible in the school setting and therefore graduated out. I think I am going to wait until after the IAT meeting to tackle that one.

Riley's Sixth Birthday

This was originally published as Hawaii Day Seven: Riley's Sixth Birthday on Penny's Next Phase.

My son got to celebrate his sixth birthday on Maui. We started out the day with breakfast at Kihei Caffe where Riley got his favorites, French toast, bacon, and sausage. I was also impressed because Reese actually ate the same thing. She has not been eating much since we have been here, and her favorites are usually rice and pasta related.

After breakfast we traveled along the coast to see Kapalua, where the Mercedes Championship is being held the weekend after we leave, Napali, where we saw some whales off the coast, and Ka'anapali, where I believe that one of the Big Breaks was held. We stopped off at Whaler's Village for some shopping, and where Riley got a special birthday gift from his dad, a Hot Wheels Airport. We left Whaler's Village to go to Lahaina to have lunch. Ron and I have fond memories of Lahaina from our honeymoon when we had dinner at the Lahaina Fish Co. right on the ocean. Lahaina was very crowded because there was a cruise ship in port. We ended up eating lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise, which says it is the original one. We ate on the second floor where it was open and you could see out into the ocean. (Earlier in the week, we discovered that the hotel that we stayed at for one night on our honeymoon is on the main strip in Kihei directly down the hill from my sister in law's house.

Once lunch was over, the kids had enough car riding and we dropped them off at home. My sister in law ordered a cake for Riley at the Four Seasons Hotel because it was the only bakery she could find that would make a special cake that tasted like mainland cake without having a grocery store cake. She said that most of the bakeries in the area bake a traditional Hawaiian cake that was spongy, and she wanted a homemade cake for her nephew/godson. The cake was absolutely beautiful, tastefully decorated and just right for a six year old at the same time. Riley really enjoyed the cars/trucks that came with the cake and finally being able to open his presents. He now has a complete collection of Thomas the Tank Engine videos as well as a new big wheel and more construction toys. We also had pizza at home for dinner which is what Riley wanted, pepperoni, of course.

What Santa Brought

Santa brought Riley a shooting set. It is cans/bottles on a log. It is pretty cool because it uses infrared technology to shoot the cans/bottles down rather than bullets.

Riley also got a pirate ship from Santa. I do not think that this was a big hit for him. The shooting set was more exciting even though it was not the same as the one he saw in the catalog.

The other gift that Santa brought was not one that Riley had requested, but one that Mommy and Daddy thought would be entertainment for his flight to Hawaii. He got a Pocket V Tech Smile portable video game. He did end up playing with it on the plane and hopefully, it will be useful at home in the car.

Santa also appeared at Auntie Rosanna's in Hawaii. He brought sand toys and Thomas the Tank Engine videos.

Riley was really blessed this year at Christmas!