The day before

Here we are the day before the first day of kindergarten. Another chapter closes. We say goodbye to Ms. Cassie and Ms. Laura at New Horizon's Academy and say hello to Mrs. Scott, kindergarten teacher extraordinaire. Yesterday was “meet the teacher” conference at the new school. I picked Garrett up early from daycare and there was yet another biting “incident.” One below his right eye and another behind his left ear. Ugh. (I just can’t wait to get him out of there.) What a contrast kindergarten will be. Mrs. Scott seems sweet and patient. When Garrett was asked to name the color of the markers she was holding, he got it right on the first try. (A proud mama moment.)

Garrett seems very excited about his new school. Bob brought him by last week for a quick tour, so yesterday he knew exactly where his new classroom was. He’ll go to morning kindergarten from 8:30-11:45 a.m. and then walk just across the hall to Kid’s Place (where they’ll reinforce many of the concepts that were taught that day) until 3 pm when Bob will pick up him. (I'm very excited—Bob starts a new shift this week, so he'll be home every night for dinner and will have Sundays off. Yaaay!!!) I left with a big packet of paperwork and a huge sigh of relief.

Today, (as I write this) Garrett is in his final leg of his special needs evaluation. He’s had three visits: one with the speech therapist, another with the OT and today, it’s the school psychologist who will assess him for non-verbal cues (not sure how that works). After that, everybody puts their heads together and comes up with a plan. Next Monday, the team (including his two teachers and us) gathers to discuss what’s best for Garrett. It’s a given he’ll have an ESL class, but that’s an academic program not a substitute for special education needs. Unfortunately, the Kazakh translator never showed up. Something about car trouble, so we’ll never know if he truly understood everything he was asked to do. But I did find out from Anita (whose son was from the same baby house) that Garrett spoke Russian until age four, after which he was moved into a Kazakh speaking group at the preschool, so he was forced to learn another new language. Russian, Kazakh and English in six years—makes my head spin.

I'm anxious to hear what the school district recommends. I sent everyone articles on school readiness and placement of newly adopted post-institutionalized children. I explained that because Garrett was institutionalized his entire life his circumstances are different than that of an immigrant child. That picking up conversational English is easy—mastering concepts and reasoning for academic learning, which he missed because of little one-on-one interaction with an adult, may be his biggest hurdle. I told them I was going to be in their face, ensuring that he doesn't fall through the cracks.

I am mother. Hear me roar.