Archives for October 2013

This weekend I received my son’s evaluations from Renfrew Education’s assessments of the students in his class a few weeks ago.

Let me begin by recognizing that I am EXTREMELY grateful for the incredible services they offer through our kindergarten. Free of charge any students who require it receive Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy (Speech and language pathology), and Physiotherapy. Their Kindergarten program catches many, many uncaught issues our children have and works with the kids to correct these at a young age.

In fact they do such a great job, that when my youngest daughter was in a group speech program the kids NOT in the program were jealous! They have worked extremely hard to prepare programs of therapy that are fun and beneficial!

All that said, this year I was a bit surprised when we received the assessment. Most of what was written didn’t surprise me. But a couple of things did. The fact that it said my son needed assistance holding a pencil, that was a shocker. The one that said he needed additional work on cutting skills also surprised me. That he was having difficulty drawing circles and squares and triangles and X’s came as no surprise. That he had difficulty following classroom routines (coat off, indoor shoes, going to circle) also surprised me. Finally that he doesn’t always pronounce his “s”, absolutely no surprise.

So, I went to his teacher and asked her about the results. I explained that a few things I wasn’t at all surprised by, but a few I was. I explained that I wanted to make sure I was doing whatever I could at home to improve these lacking skills – if indeed they were lacking.

I explained that I was surprised that his pencil holding was requiring assistance. She first explained that she had no consultation in the assessment and in fact didn’t even get to see them. They were given to her sealed. I was surprised that the teacher’s input wasn’t gotten because she knows my child best, and has more time with him than 2 hours on a given day where evaluations of 20 unknown students are being made.

She explained that if the child doesn’t hold the pencil in a perfect pyramid they are assessed as needing help. Really. I don’t always hold my pencil that way.

I inquired about his cutting. I explained his love of cutting…pants, blinds, curtains, head phone cords, tax receipts, tablecloths, head phone cords, tax receipts, and even occasionally paper. She showed me his recent cutting of a curvy ghost. I thought, wow! That’s really good. She said, he could have gotten slightly closer to the black lines, but I wouldn’t have requested additional support.

I asked her about following classroom routines. And I asked if it was considered that his school bus is frequently late so he’s the last student to arrive in class, often AFTER everyone else has already made their way to the carpet. She responded that he didn’t have any trouble in this area at all and she was unsure of why it was marked. I DO know that his bus was late the day of evaluations (I’m the driver and the Board will not allow adequate time for the run to get to school on time).

So, I gratefully appreciate Renfrew Educational Services and all the great work they do…however, I think it could be greatly improved by seeking input from the teacher – like they used to do.

I’m not going to worry about the results, or the follow-up assessments in a few weeks. If he gets extra help, it can only benefit him! And if he doesn’t I’m not too worried!