Last night my daughter begged me to let her skip school today. I asked her why didn't she want to go and her response was "I just don't want to." This morning I woke her up and the crying started almost immediately, her ankle from a softball injury has been hurting her again, and then she was just stressed about school. Stressed to the maximum level. She is 10.
Let me say that we transferred her to a new school this year. Still a public school and still a school within the same district but a different school. She has a new teacher, new principal, new case manager and a new Assistive Technology aide. She told me Friday that she loves this new school. She loves her teacher, her new case manager, and just everything else about this school, so why the stress and tears?
Because school is hard for her.
Try to imagine going into an environment every single day for 7 hours where you know you are going to struggle. Where everything about the day is going to be hard for you. My daughter is dyslexic so not only does she struggle in the main 4 classes but lunch, she can't remember her lunch number so she is afraid to buy herself an ice cream because she is in "5th grade and should know her number by now." In gym where following all the rules of a game is hard to remember. Music, where reading is hard for her. And I send her there every single day. We all send our babies, every single day.
We have a great team in place for her this year but she is behind. Even if she had the greatest IEP ever written, she would still struggle every day. I have said this so many times on here, early intervention! Early intervention is key.
I know my daughter is not the only one who has to be brave every day when they enter the building, and I think we are slowly getting to the point where we are catching and helping these kids but in the mean time, our kids are dealing with a lot of stress. What is the answer?
I am sending out hugs to all of you parents that sit in the quiet dark room and silently cry because I know how hard this is for you too.