Conference

Yesterday, we had a parent-teacher conference with Cooper's teacher and the school counselor. I feel confident that we can get him back on track. He has just hit a bump in the road and we need to give him the tools to get over the hump!
Like I have said previously, he needs to come up with some better coping skills. So we are going to help him with that along with the staff. The best idea is the stress ball at his desk for when he is frustrated and can't suck his thumb. That will also signal to the teacher that he may need some help. He also needs to be proactive in asking for help and recognizing that he needs it. That is something we will be working on too. She said maybe they can come up with a secret signal to let her know he is not understanding something.
Starting next week he will be meeting with the counselor once a week. I believe that made him feel better. His demeanor had changed that day after school. I think he liked talking to her about what he was feeling and she made him feel like it was normal and he wasn't the only student struggling with writing. He felt normal and also felt like someone was in his corner watching out for him at school and cared since mom and dad can't be there for him to talk to.
His teacher will be checking on him more often after giving an assignment he may not understand right away. He just likes to know he's doing it right and have that extra attention. When I sat with him while he was doing his homework he was fine. He just wanted me to glance at it to make sure he was doing it right so if it was wrong he could fix it before he did the whole assignment wrong. Then have to redo it. It's hard these days without a teacher assistant. Budget cuts are awful to education. Last year he had a T.A. in the class who could check with him on things. Cooper would hate to interrupt the teacher to get help. The budget cuts do not allow T.A.s in grades after 1st grade.

Everyday since we have been working on it, I can see an improvement. Little steps are big steps to me right now. I will take what I can get.  He needs to gain that confidence to be successful just like we all could use a little work that area, I know I do.