the sneak

In an email exchange with Devin's teacher, she mentioned that he is having trouble following directions and staying on task during the school day.  She said that the kids are allowed to read when they complete their work, but that Devin is slow to put his books away and join what the rest of the class is doing, so he often starts lessons behind the rest of the kids.  My first thought was that we were heading down the "occupational therapist" path to determine if there are attention, fine motor or sensory issues to consider.  So I emailed her some questions.  I asked her if Devin's behavior was impacting his school work; if she thought his behavior was "typical" for a second grade boy and if she had any suggestions as to how we can help him. 

Last spring Devin's first grade teacher suggested that he be evaluated by an OT because he was always wiggly in his seat, because his handwriting was awful, because he was mouthing everything (his fingernails being the first choice...) and because he needed a lot of prompting and coaching to get started on his work.  The OT suggested some things to work on over the summer and said that we should re-evaluate his progress in the fall.  Since then his handwriting has improved and he stopped chewing his nails, so I thought he had matured and grown past some of his issues.  Plus, I know he's reading at a third grade level and will often read for forty-five minutes in a single sitting.  Clearly he can focus when he wants to.

I was volunteering in second grade last week, and Devin's teacher and I had an opportunity to chat about Devin.  She said that she thinks his behavior is impacting his work at times because he starts assignments after everyone else and is rushing to complete his work with the rest of the kids.  She also said that this behavior is typical for a kid Dev's age, but that he is doing it a lot more than most kids.  For instance, there were a number of times when the class would be reviewing and correcting their work, and Devin would sit at his desk (in the front row) and be reading from a book in his lap or playing with the items on his desk. 
Luckily his teacher and I are on the same page about leveraging extra therapies for potential attention issues (slow to get into the extra therapies), and we said that we would continue to talk to him about following directions and staying on task with the class while at school.  I completely agree that he needs to participate in these activities and follow directions, and I am thrilled that his teacher realizes that he may get past this with our encouragement and his own maturity.

Leave it to my kid to get busted for sneaking a book in school.