Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A New Mom To Report Cards Wonders What To Do

The boys brought their report cards home last week. I am proud to say that they both achieved excellence in almost every single area. Ryan got a B on patterns (gosh, the kid is in kindergarten...we are not concerned) and Matthew got a B in phys. ed.

Now, getting all A's and a B in phys ed is an outstanding report card. We are not concerned at all about Matthew's grades. But I am curious. At the beginning of the year, I let his teacher know about his foot. I never thought about him having a different teacher for phys ed. So, currently, the phys ed teacher does not know about Matthew's foot.

That means, the grade he received is comparable to every other child that teacher works with. That B is rather great in that perspective.

So, that begs the question. Do I tell the phys ed teacher about Matthew's foot? Not so that he grades him accordingly, but so that he knows that if he sees limitations, it is not for lack of trying but for physical reasons.

Or do I just let it be and have him continue to work with and grade him as a student without physical problems?

I'm torn. What would you do?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Being a therapist and a mom of a child with a special CF, I often don't tell people I'm an OT until after they get to know my son and me because I want them to treat me like a mom and not a professional. But, this case is a little different. You also may not ever develop a relationship with the phys ed teacher. Surely the phys ed teacher has noticed the AFO, right? Did his regular teacher tell the phys ed teacher, do you know? Tough choise. The great news is that even without him knowning or even if he does know....it's a B...that's wonderful. Headed to STL this weekend, will give you report when I get back. :) Jamie

Sue said...

I was wondering the same thing as Jamie ... I can't imagine the teacher didn't pass that info along to the gym teacher. (sorry -- do you guys call it 'gym' too, or just phys ed?). Anyway, we were in a similar boat with Grace -- not that preschool gym class is anything to get concerned about, but she did get "graded" (remember?). If it was a true "grading" system, she would have failed everything. For the sake of putting something on paper, they did say she "needed improvement" in every single area (except jumping -- she's a pro at that). But they did acknowledge the caveat, that her clubfoot prevented these activities. I did feel that I should tell them up front about it -- again, not for grading whatsoever, but just for letting them know why she can't hop on her right foot, etc. In this particular case, it was the right thing to do.

But seriously ... a B is awesome!!! Take heart in that -- Matthew is on his way! :)

Jennifer said...

Tough one. I would think that the teacher may have passed that indo along, but if not I think just leaving it is ok. He is doing awesome.

Jo-Ann said...

I too wonder if he would have asked about it after seeing the AFO, or his teacher would have passed the info along too. That said, I find that even after telling people about it, they still don't understand that this is a forever thing, not a 'wear the AFO for a few months to gain strength' or something along that lines.

Still undecided as to what to do...

Good luck in STL Jamie, can't wait to hear how Levi is doing!