She’s starting to feel different.
Ashlynn just started her second grade year. At the end of first she basically made a full year’s worth 
of growth going from beginning Kinder reader to end of Kinder reader, but still couldn’t pass the last level. I put her in tutoring again, just like I had done the summer after her Kinder year; but this time it was 3x a week for 30-45 minutes. I saw so much growth and confidence.
Thanks to her awesome teachers, Ashlynn has had solid reading instruction that includes explicit phonics instruction paired with an evidence based sight word program called Edmark. Ashlynn has sooo many amazing skills. She has sight words, she has all of her letter sounds, she can blend words. For all intents and purposes, she should be passing this last Kinder level. For some reason though, when we go to put it together, it just isn’t coming together.
Ashynn found a “hooked on phonics” box I had forgotten about in her closet. It’s a mostly phonetics based approach home program that includes computer disks and leveled books. She has carried
these books, a stack of probably 12, EVERYWHERE.
Today alone we read one waiting at the dentist, she read one in speech therapy since she refused to leave them in the car, and she picked one as her bedtime story. When we were done reading, she sat at the edge of her doorway and read more to her stuffed animals. It was very late and I told her she had to go to bed. I heard her say pleadingly,
“But Mommy. I HAVE to learn how to read.”
That KILLS me. It literally breaks my heart into tiny pieces. Why does it have to be so hard?? If I had worked that hard as a child I can’t even imagine where I’d be. Maybe I would be an author like I’ve always wanted making millions.
She’s so much more aware this year. I can tell. One of her friends from last year was retained and the other was grade skipped. She’s happy everyday she comes home. She still wakes up excited to go to school; but it’s been hard to make friends for her this year. Her T.A’s are AWESOME. They are always trying to facilitate friendships and get her playing with kids…….
It’s just….
Ashlynn has always known she has apraxia, but this year, I think she understands what it means to feel different.
