The dreaded parent-teacher conference

Noah's parent-teacher conference is tomorrow. I dread these conferences. It's not that they are all that different from any other meeting we have about Noah, it's just that these are focused solely on his academics, and time is limited. And as you know academics aren't Noah's strong point.

This meeting is only 20 minutes long (seriously, how can you have a real discussion about a child's academic progress in 20 minutes?) and will also include his regular education teacher. I know there won't be much we can discuss in 20 minutes. Hell, I don't think I've ever had a phone call regarding Noah that has only lasted 20 minutes.

However, for the first time, I'm not really dreading tomorrows conference.  I feel like I know more about Noah's academic progress this year than I ever have before. His teacher and I have been in frequent contact.

Noah's teacher this year is amazing. Truly amazing.

He is so in sync with Noah and really sees the potential in him. It's because of him that we are starting to see academic progress, especially in reading. 

School this year is different. New school, new teacher, new administration, different expectations. 

And with Noah we are seeing more maturity. 

And we seem to have him on a better medication regimen than ever before.

So behavior issues at school are less of an issue than they ever have been. They haven't gone away, and when he does have problems they tend to be more significant than before, but they are no longer constant.

When the teachers aren't constantly struggling with behavior issues they can actually take time to teach. 

And this, is AWESOME!

So we have a child that is now able to access the academic process, and a teacher that is willing to do anything to help this child, and we are seeing progress.

I'm not expecting a p-t conference for an all A child, but I do expect to hear some positives. I like positives! I need to hear positives.

And maybe, just maybe, we will eventually teach this kid to read.