Assessment 2019-20: Beowulf

Beowulf started the school year at age 6, turning 7 along the way.

If I had to choose a dominant theme for the year, it would be Managing ADHD.

The phenomenal medication fails for Ladybug and Brother left us very frightened of trying stimulant meds for Beowulf, but the Guanfacine he was on, while it did help regulate his DMDD, did not help the ADHD.

Beowulf, a bright kid, could not do any schoolwork independently.

Not even a coloring page.

And he was increasingly unhappy, self-deprecatory, and dangerous to himself and others.

So we dove into the world of stimulant meds.

And we found success!

In a single school year, Beowulf learned to read with age-appropriate fluency, learned to control a pencil, became capable of gathering school supplies and sitting at the table, developed enough focus to complete an age-appropriate school assignment, began participating in group discussions in meaningful ways, became much, much, much happier and far less self-deprecatory.

He is however, still increasingly dangerous to himself and others because his impulsivity is only controlled as long as the stimulant is in his system, and the stimulant has to leave his system for him to sleep at night, and the period of time the meds are leaving his system are dreadfully hard on him.

Then we are left with our wild Beowulf every afternoon and evening for several hours.

His doctor said we could easily adjust the time of day we give the meds in order to make sure the maximum effect takes place when we need him able to focus and control himself, but that proved to be untrue when I tried it.  His little body can't handle the time change, so we have to be sure that we use his focused times wisely.

Academics

Reading--Beowulf completed the reading halves of Big Step and Giant Leap books by Genesis Curriculum.  (We skipped the math and handwriting because we used other books for those.)

Once those were done, he joyfully moved to keeping a book list of books he read aloud either to me or to Mister Man, who was his best reading buddy:

The Cat in the Hat
Green Eggs and Ham
Are You My Mother?
Hill of Fire
Owl at Home
Frog and Toad are Friends
No Roses for Harry
The Fire Cat
Volcanoes (this was a level 4 or 5 reader!)
Volcanoes:  Mountains that Blow their Tops
Days with Frog and Toad
Nate the Great and the Stolen Base
Billy and Blaze
Blaze and the Forest Fire
Titanic:  Lost and Found
Pompeii:  Buried Alive

He also completed Core Skills Phonics K.

This summer we tried keeping reading journals, but we failed at it.  I'll hang on to them and try again next summer.  However, Beowulf does read to himself a bit each day in the minutes between brushing his teeth and being called to the couch for bedtime stories.  I find him usually sprawled on the floor, reading softly to himself from the cache of dear books on the shelf near his bed.

Math--Beowulf started the year doing 1/4 to 1/2 of a math lesson each day out of Grade 1 Arithmetic by Rod and Staff.

And that, with full supervision and encouragement.

Once we found the right meds, he was able to do a full lesson a day with alacrity, and even did extra lessons some days just because math is so fun.

He successfully finished the entire program earlier this month.

Handwriting--Beowulf worked his way through Simply Classical Copybook, Manuscript 1 by Memoria Press.

His handwriting is wobbly at best, illegible at worst.  Letters jump from small to large and back again.  He's still doing frequent letter reversals, even of the letters in his name.

But when we got a referral for an OT assessment, he did everything perfectly!!!!!!!!  His test results made him ineligible for any services.

So, we keep doing our best to help him by using chunky, triangular pencils with extra thick lead; encouraging him to finger-crochet; encouraging coloring, cutting, and using stickers; building with Legos; building with other toys requiring fine motor manipulation and playing with playdough.

I have begun to notice this summer that he does not use both sides of his body equally.  He was windmilling his arms at a park one afternoon, and one arm consistently made smaller, less coordinated circles than the other, even though he seemed to think he was doing the same action with both arms.

It is something I am watching.

Beowulf participated meaningfully in Morning Meeting and Academy all year.

He also was part of my Little Kid Read Aloud group at bedtime each night.

PE--He rode his bike, hiked with us, dug in the sand pit, learned to shoot a basket, helped in the garden, learned to jump rope with a skipping step, ran races, played tag, had sit-up contests with his brothers, climbed trees, walked on rocky shores, learned about core muscles, and did a thousand other healthy physical activities outside.

He danced with American Rhythm which developed both physical coordination and social skills.

Right about the time that Beowulf "gradulated" from the ADHD clinic, his behaviors took a turn for the worse.  I'm seeing far less joyful success and a lot more angry struggling.  Just this week he told me he wanted "to be dead!"

That moment passed, but not until he'd punched two holes in his bedroom wall and broken some of his brother's treasures.

It looks like Managing ADHD might also be the theme of this coming school year.

Nonetheless, Beowulf is a kind, smart, funny, engaging, endearing little boy.  He made incredible academic strides this year, and I am incredibly proud of him. This year counts easily as an academically successful 1st grade year.

He makes us laugh almost every day.