Report card time is never really a nice time for kids who have a learning disability.  We’re fairly new to the world of learning disabilities, but I do know that getting a report card has been very stressful for my son. Even though he doesn’t know the full extent of his disability because knowing his personality, I feel like he would just “label himself” and give up all together.

He knows he gets extra help. He knows he has special accommodations in the classroom – he doesn’t know that this will be a struggle for the rest of his life.  Maybe I’m a coward, I just don’t think breaking it to him at this age is a good idea in his case.

Yesterday we received his final grade four report card.  It didn’t matter to me what that piece of paper said.  We are all guilty of telling our kids if they get A’s they get rewarded. I know of other parents who have systems worked out that way, including my own parents. In our case, A’s don’t matter.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see an A, but I do not expect them – and that is okay.

I see this child come home after school telling me about the volcano he learned about that day or about Ancient Egyptians or even what he planted that day in garden club.  He may not understand everything all the time and may struggle with testing, but the information is there in a way that he perceives it.  I see his personality shine when he talks about the things he learned that day.  Even though he can’t really put those thoughts down on paper properly – they are in his beautiful little brain.

I am confident that he will learn these things in time…in his own time.  I’m okay with that. I may even be naive or underestimating his disability and he may never learns these things, but I see an effort and that’s all that really matters to me.