Report Card Time

Last year, I had a really hard time with report cards.  It was our very first experience with the report card and I dreaded finding it in Patty's backpack each trimester.  First, I couldn't decide what the report card was telling me...other than she was "below level" in nearly everything.  Then, she would be "on level" one semester and fall "below level" the next.  It was utterly confusing and heart breaking and frustrating all rolled into one.

At some point I came to terms with the report card situation.  I mean, we have thirteen years of those things in our future, they weren't going to go away no matter how badly I wanted them to.  You see, I was of the mindset that the only good grade is an A and it took months for me to get past that belief. 

Now, I spend more time looking at her daily work and less time worrying about the measurements on her report cards.  It's so easy to see the progress she's making each and every night as we sit down to work on her homework.  She's reading to me!  She's learning to spell!  She's doing addition!  It's amazing to see how far she's come.  That report card, which comes only three times a year, is just a vague snap shot of the things she has accomplished.  It's really not fair to judge her by that piece of paper.

I hope all of this progress means the "gap" is starting to close and that one day we will be able to shed her diagnosis of developmental delay.  I don't believe there is such a thing as "normal" just like everyone else.  But, I do believe there is such a thing as "able" just like everyone else.