Typical Olivia

I left work early yesterday so I could go conference with Olivia’s and Alyssa’s teachers.

I was scheduled to meet with Olivia’s teachers at 4:40 and Alyssa’s teacher at 5:00.

I got to O’s classroom at 4:35 and both her teachers were there, waiting for me. The kindergarten class has thirty-two students, two teachers and one aide. The students are in small groups called centers throughout the day.

Olivia is pulled out of the regular kindergarten class a couple of times a week for speech therapy, occupational therapy and for time with the special ed teacher.

The first thing her teachers told me that is she’s tested out of one of her IEP requirements. She’s no longer being pulled out for reading assistance because she’s tested at a point where she isn’t eligible for extra help. Which…yay! Right? I mean, this is the girl we worried would ever read and her teachers were telling me that she’s doing so well that she doesn’t qualify for extra help.

In fact, her teachers continued, Olivia is currently reading at a first grade level. She took one specific test that put her at the top of her class academically.

Holy cow! This is not how I expected this conference to go.

Yes, we are still working on social issues. We’re still working with her on decision making. She still isn’t really interacting with her peers but she’s connected with one of her teachers and the aide and she’s making huge strides in communicating with them.

There were a few tests on which she didn’t do well because of the way the tests were conducted and her expressive language at school is not where it is at home but damn, my girl is blowing kindergarten out of the water. She’s proving every single doctor who ever said a child with 5- syndrome will not speak, read, write, walk, run, jump so, so wrong. She’s doing this every single day.

I know that Olivia is not like most kids with 5p- syndrome. But then, most of these amazing kids are unique in their own way.

What it comes down to is that Olivia is not typical in any way. She’s definitely not typical like most of her classmates but she’s also not your typical child with 5p-. I can’t wait to see how many more ways she manages to be atypical.