Beware of Preschool Teachers! April 1, 2008

Anyone who knows Logan knows that he has a unique personality.  He does strange things when he feels uncomfortable, and he acts defiant when he is bored or overwhelmed.  At 4 1/2, he hasn’t learned how to regulate his emotions.  He acts out in strange ways (such as doing the robot dance when he is talked to by someone he doesn’t know) because that puts him in a comfortable place when he feels uncomfortable.  He also stares off into space regularly, but usually comes out of it with an intelligent question or statement.  Such as: “How does that heater make heat to blow by the fan?”, “Are these poles holding up the highway so it can be in the air?”, or “How do the spinning things on top of the helicopter make it go up in the air?”. 

I have called him my little engineer since he was 2 1/2 because he is constantly thinking about or asking baout how things work.  He is reading and doing math at a first grade level, including writing.  Why can’t his teachers see what I see? 

Last year in preschool, Logan’s teacher decided that she didn’t like him from day one.  I know that parents say this about their kids’ teachers all of the time.  I am a teacher.  I know how that goes, and that it is usually just an excuse for their child’s behavior, but this is different.  She told me that he was way behind, didn’t know his letters, would not obey instructions, and would not socialize with the other kids.  She even went as far as to pull out another student’s work in his class and show us a comparison between his work and hers, just to point out how far behind Logan was.  I thought this was ridiculously inappropriate, and false.  Logan has known his letters by pointing the out since he was about 16 months old.  He wouldn’t perform for her becuase he sensed she didn’t like him.  We pulled him from that school seeking something better for him.

 I am a teacher myself, and I do not take it upon myself to diagnose my students.  This year, it has been mentioned that Logan is showing autistic behavior.  I think someone needs to look up a clinical definition for autism.  Logan is extremely affectionate, he interacts with other kids and adults well, and is about as mellow as a 4 year old can be.  Since when does quirky behavior and intellegence equal autism? 

Pretty soon, they will be demading that he be heavily medicated so they don’t have to feel uncomfortable around him.  Maybe his teachers should try the robot dance.  It seems to work for Logan.

HELP!

Wicked Witch of the West to Fish in Just One Week April 1, 2008

Read with a slight flutter and voice of panic:

“I’m melting…melting…meltttiinngggg…….”

Read with a British accent:

“How do you know she’s a witch?”  “She turned me into a fish!”  “Well you’re not a fish now.”  “I got better!”

I think it was a newt, but in Logan’s case, it is definately a fish.  He began last  Monday so afraid of the water that he went in kicking and screaming and clinging to me like the water was going to eat him up.  By yesterday, he was pushing off the steps on his own and swimming around the pool like he owned the place.  Keep in mind, he cannot touch the floor anywhere in this pool. 

He swam from one end of the lap pool to the other without stopping half way; he tred water for quite a long time; and he floated on his back without help for at least 2 minutes.  He is practicing being pushed to the bottom (in 5 ft of water) and pushing up to the top to tred water on his own and is doing GREAT!  At this rate, he will be diving to the bottom to get dive sticks by the end of the week.  I am so happy that his fear has melted away faster than the wicked witch.