ed therapist

2006-04-24 - 5:35 p.m.

Third entry of the day:

So we just had a meeting with the woman who's evaluating Maddy.

This may be obvious, but it never ceases to amaze me: It's always very rewarding to talk about your kid with knowledgeable professionals.

In the first place, I think few people with children don't spend a lot of time an energy thinking about their kids, and then when there are problems (and I think there are always problems of one sort or another) you think even more. And then to have someone who is actually paid (by you, but no matter) to sit an listen to you wonder on and on about your child's problems -- it's wonderful! And they actually seem interested -- they may in fact even be interested, unlike your friends and realtions who cannot bear to hear you go on and on about this topic any more.

And then, because they're professionals, after all, they come up with insights, or they lead the conversation in such a way that you come up with insights on your own.

It's great!

And generally they confirm that the people you think are nuts really are nuts, and you're not some crank parent after all. Which is tremendously relieving.

Anyway -- what I came to see in the course of our discussion is that it's anxiety which completely shuts M down. She's pretty clearly pretty bright. She pretty clearly has some processing issues. But what really causes her to crumble is anxiety -- which can be induced by worrying about time (she is probably a little slow due to processing issues, but she's also just a person with a slow pace) or worrying about having too much to do, or worrying about what other people will think of her.

That all makes a lot of sense.

The educational therapist was also impressed that M likes Willa Cather so much, and that M likes to listen to Jeeves on tape so much. I hadn't realized that those things were unusual, but she seemed to think they showed an unusually developed verbal ability.

So that was kind of fun.

And now I'm going home. I wonder how N's chem final was -- poor kid.

Oh, and M's lunch today was: three frozen potstickers (unfrozen), a carrot, three cookies, a tiny banana and a yogurt. Pretty good, no? I hope she ate it.

out of print - new releases

find me! - 2008-02-12
where I've gone - 2008-02-07
Where I've gone - 2008-02-05
where I've gone - 2008-02-01
New - 2008-02-01

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