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Eight more days ’til Christmas and the only one that thinks that’s too long is Kiernan. I guess when you’re six, the time before the Yule does drag a bit.

The Magic Panacea

We had John’s birthday dinner last night, and a little family talk before and after. Robin had a conference with Kiernan’s teacher, who said what all teachers of ‘different’ children say: “she needs to be medicated”. I think Kiernan is very bright (don’t all grandma’s think so?) and gets bored in a regular classroom with 24 kids. All roads point to very small class private school, but there’s a process to get there, I’m told. The child has to suffer first and then – and only then – can deliverance come in the form of individualized education. Just because children are chronologically the same doesn’t mean they are – the same.

Kiernan does well in math, but stinks at reading. That’s the exact opposite of her mother and aunt’s tendencies. They were right brained; she’s left brained, just like her dad. He hates reading too, so he helps her with her math. I find Kiernan receives information much better aurally than visually. She says the letters jump around in front of her eyes, but if she hears a story, she can practically repeat it verbatim. What does that say about her situation? I think she needs the equivalent of books for blind children, to help her see the words as a whole, rather than sounding it out. She seems to have no capacity for sounding out. That technique makes no sense to her at all. So I’ll be looking at the library for science-based books that talk to her. I believe the answer to correct this deficiency is repetition, repetition, repetition!

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated in solving this conundrum. Hyperactive, my patoot. She’s bored! The problem is not the child, it’s the system that expects uniformity based on age. Silly system.

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