Jacob

This morning I met with Jacob's teacher and the speech teacher at his school. At Jacob's parent teacher conference his teacher and I discussed some of his difficulties he was having in class and we decided together that a speech evaluation would be beneficial for him. Just after Spring Break he had two days of testing. He is so funny he came home telling me how FUN it was and how much he loved "Miss Katie". It was good to see him so positive, as he quite often lacks good self esteem and will get discouraged easily.

Now some of you who know Jacob and know his vocabulary and the way he uses words may think it is crazy to have him tested but also understanding him still can be difficult at times. He talks so fast and the words slurr together at times.

The first testing he had he scored about average, however on the lower end. Miss Katie decided to do further testing and this time it proved to be more difficult. She discovered that articulation and expressive and receptive language skills are adversely affecting his ability to communicate effectively. So, we set up some goals for the next year and they are

1. by next year to have Jacob be able to provide a 4 point description of pictured items (category, function, location, parts) without any verbal or visual cues

2. To produce s, z in words without putting his tongue through his teeth and to improve his speech intelligibility by decreasing his rate of speech in structured sentence activities.

He will be taken out of class twice a week in addition to his already being taken out twice a week for reading help. Given the fact he is only in school 2 1/2 hours a day that is a whole day a week he will have one on one instruction with the teacher. His school is wonderful. Jacob is by far not as the bottom but because of a wonderful, proactive teacher we are making sure that he does not fall through the cracks but getting the little bit of extra help he needs now. The best part is even though he needs help he has no idea this is what it really is. He thinks he is just so special to get to be with these ladies.

Jacob will also go to summer school for a month from June to July. It is just under 2 hours a day and I think it will be great for him to have something to do each day for a few hours. (Although Nathan may be upset:)

It was really fun to see and hear what Jacob's teacher thinks of him. She stated that "Jacob is curious and likes to tell stories. He loves to learn and tries very hard. He is very social and gets along well with his peers and teachers. Jacob knows his letters and sounds....Jacob is attentive and asks appropriate questions during classroom discussions." Of course it also says how he can be easily distracted and impulsive:)

As I was leaving his class to head out his class was returning from Gym (a favorite of Jacob's) and he saw me. He was SO excited to see me and ran to give me a hug. I quickly hugged him and sent him back in line but could not help and savor the moment because I know it will not be long before the last thing he will want to see is me int he halls of his school:) He is such a blessing to me and helps me SO very much each day. While he is still struggling I see so much improvement in him since last summer. He is growing up:)

Here are a few recent funnies:

Jacob said to Ms. Katie during his assessment "This is a BLAST!!!, um what does blast mean? " (SO FUNNY)

Jacob's class has been doing "underground observations" and each child has a worm. I helped in his class the other day and he came and told me his worm is dead so he draws this picture of his dead worm with a frowny face and tells me it stinks but he is bringing it home anyways and we will just get air freshener. Seriously he cracks me up!

Time to go get the kiddo from school. It is supposed to be 82 here today! Finally flip flop weather! (but I love my AC:)