Wow. I just had a parent-teacher conference that went very differently than I anticipated! I went in to it with my back up, ready to defend my son, only to be blown away by all the amazing things his teacher said.

First of all, he scored above and beyond their expectations on the FAIR testing that Florida has for reading so he's in her top reading group (which surprised me). He's her top writer, which also surprised me because he struggles with his letters so much when we do his homework. She said that he's adjusted amazingly well to the mainstream classroom, and his old ESE teachers and she converse all time. They are thrilled with how well he's doing, and there is a lot of high-five-ing going on, LOL! He is going to be in "gifted" (which is a term I hate, so I call it "advanced" instead) math, and he is her helper in the classroom.

His behavior has improved "tremendously" she said, and she feels that his 'bad days' are more an exception to his behavior rather than the rule. She notices that he seems to only have issues when he's away from adults, and I explained to her about his previous problems of being punched, bitten, and kicked while on the playground last year. She seemed horrified and said that could easily explain why he gets aggressive.

What makes me most proud is what she said about his interaction with some of the other students. He is, in her words, one of the sweetest kids she's known. She put him at a table with a little girl who speaks no English, and while most of the kids either ignore her or yell at her, Ian sits with her and shows her how to do what ever assignment they're working on. He's patient and kind, and she is blown away with how nicely he treats her and the other students that the rest of the kids don't quite know what to do with.

I am SO proud of my little boy. So, so proud.