Need Help with BP and Children

[KatWrangler]

Cross posted with Learning at School...

Well my gut feeling is correct. We got a letter from the school yesterday. Apparently my son is in the 5% and is entitled to tutoring. They said he was in Tier III. Meaning 95% of the kids in his class (or it might be the entire Kindergarten grade) read and comprehend better than him.

We have a permission slip to sign to begin his intensive tutoring. Since he is in Tier III he will be evaluated weekly.

The other thing is my husband sees himself in our son. Behaviors, learning ability, communication. As you may knowl my husband was finally diagnosed as Bipolar II in June. If my son is also BP (which I don't think they will even diagnose in a child this age) could this be interfering in his learning?

I am confused and angry right now. I feel like this NCLB cr*p is pushing our kids too soon. Or am I out of the loop with education of children?

[Naturalyst]

At his age, he can't yet be diagnosed as bipolar.

Further frustrating the problem, I'm sure, many of the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD or ADHD) overlap with those of bipolar disorder and it is nearly impossible to tell one from the other in children.

No matter, your son can be taught skills on maintaining focus, time-management, organizing thoughts, etc. that will help whether the root is bipolar, ADD or whatever.

We've "been there, done that".

[Satori]

Its quite possible, many BP kids some across as a major case of ADD/ADHD and it interferes with there learning ability but the youngest I've seen dx'd as BP is age 7, my dd was 8. The meds have been life changing but at 5 I was not ready to try meds. Anyway, there's a couple of books that you might find really helpful, "Bipolar kids" by Greenburg and "The Bipolar Child", the author escapes me. Anyway they have a lot of really good advice in the books on how to help BP kids succeed in school. You may not have a dx but if its on the radar then the suggestions and prove useful to you.

I know at this point you have chosen to use public school but in our case a public B&M school as a disaster on all fronts, especially with the school having a cow about dd's reading/writing abilities. They literally were talking about failing her for 2nd grade already at the 1st quarter report card (totally ignored the fact she was more then a grade ahead in math/science)! We switched to a virtual public school where I could give her the intense 1 on 1 she needed and she's doing great now!

Originally Posted by KatWrangler

Cross posted with Learning at School...

Well my gut feeling is correct. We got a letter from the school yesterday. Apparently my son is in the 5% and is entitled to tutoring. They said he was in Tier III. Meaning 95% of the kids in his class (or it might be the entire Kindergarten grade) read and comprehend better than him.

We have a permission slip to sign to begin his intensive tutoring. Since he is in Tier III he will be evaluated weekly.

The other thing is my husband sees himself in our son. Behaviors, learning ability, communication. As you may knowl my husband was finally diagnosed as Bipolar II in June. If my son is also BP (which I don't think they will even diagnose in a child this age) could this be interfering in his learning?

I am confused and angry right now. I feel like this NCLB cr*p is pushing our kids too soon. Or am I out of the loop with education of children?

[Naturalyst]

Wanting to add that my DSD, who was holding-on academically by her fingernails in early grade school is now pulling a 3.5 GPA in college and applying for graduate school!

She's not problem free. But, she knows herself well and can judge when she needs to change tactics or needs medication.

With you as an advocate, I trust your DS will find a path too.

[KatWrangler]

I got a call back from his teacher. Basically, she said he is at the pre-k level. He is very immature, doesn't like to sit still, doesn't concentrate etc. He is more interested in art (which I should post pics of some of his drawings), playing at the lego table (in his class). He can't identify letters properly yet. Sigh...

I mentioned to her my husband is Biplar II and if she sees that or ADD or ADHD in him, because we see quirks of Bruce in him. She said its hard to tell at this point but she will keep that in mind.

I also mentioned that his pre-k teacher advised us to keep him back a year. She asked what the pre-k teachers concern were (which are immaturity and everything that is showing up now) I told her I had talked with my daughters IEP coordinator for advice. She said send him, because if he needs services he will get them. Rather than holding out a year and probably still needing services. Conner's Kindy Teacher said, that probably would of been a good idea to keep him out a year. But he is here now and we will do the best to get him up to speed.

She did say, he isn't the only one at this stage. Its just now a days they get kids in that know the whole alphabet Thats why she asked if he was in preschool or not. Which he was in a partial year of preschool and a full year of pre-k.

They do use starfall.com. She said thats a great resource.

Hubby is seeing the Psych Doc this afternoon. He is going to talk to her about our concerns about our son.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by KatWrangler

I got a call back from his teacher. Basically, she said he is at the pre-k level. He is very immature, doesn't like to sit still, doesn't concentrate etc. He is more interested in art (which I should post pics of some of his drawings), playing at the lego table (in his class). He can't identify letters properly yet. Sigh...

I mentioned to her my husband is Biplar II and if she sees that or ADD or ADHD in him, because we see quirks of Bruce in him. She said its hard to tell at this point but she will keep that in mind.

I also mentioned that his pre-k teacher advised us to keep him back a year. She asked what the pre-k teachers concern were (which are immaturity and everything that is showing up now) I told her I had talked with my daughters IEP coordinator for advice. She said send him, because if he needs services he will get them. Rather than holding out a year and probably still needing services. Conner's Kindy Teacher said, that probably would of been a good idea to keep him out a year. But he is here now and we will do the best to get him up to speed.

She did say, he isn't the only one at this stage. Its just now a days they get kids in that know the whole alphabet Thats why she asked if he was in preschool or not. Which he was in a partial year of preschool and a full year of pre-k.

They do use starfall.com. She said thats a great resource.

Hubby is seeing the Psych Doc this afternoon. He is going to talk to her about our concerns about our son.

It is very very common for boys to start at 6 and not 5. This struggle will not end in kindy, you will run into the immaturity problem his entire school career. Its really not worth the battle, take it from moms who's BTDT. Pull him and wait a year, it won't hurt him but leaving him will. Its going to start making him hate school because he can't do any of the work and is always in trouble for "ants in the pants" I'm guessing. How we think of school in later years is often determined in our early years. If they struggle early they learn to hate school and give up, please, don't let your son be one of those kids for something that simply waiting a year can cure. There is NOTHING wrong with starting kindy at 6 and it will save you a whole lot of frustration and heartache.