Parent-Teacher Conferences with Ms. Dana this evening. The quick summary:
- Kitten is a joy to have in the class. I didn’t get the impression that this was mere rhetoric. She and the TA were really enthused about their enjoyment of Katherine.
- She’s ready for Kindergarten. Heck, they joked about skipping her up to Second Grade. On the little checklist report card, she’d filled out “M” in all the spots I saw, indicating Mastery of the necessary skills. She’s great with puzzles. She’s great with sequencing. She tells great stories, does great dramatic play, etc. She enjoys volunteering for various functions in the class (she especially enjoys being line leader, a role that rotates among the kids on a list, and she keeps asking the teacher, “Are you sure my name’s on there?”). She enjoys being in charge (e.g., playing teacher when the kids are playing school). She does things like, when asked to name a color, asks, “Do you want to know it in English or Spanish.”
- She’s a tad on the sensitive side at times, being easily driven to tears if she thinks she’s being treated unfairly by an adult. Yeah, we know that all too well.
- Her speech teacher indicated that her disfluency (stuttering) is practically gone — which, upon reflection, is true. Her articulation problems remain, especially when she talks at her normal speed (which is fast — wonder where she got that from); when she slows down, she can pronounce most of what she’s supposed to properlly. Need to work on “L,” “SH,” and “CH” sounds. She gets upset sometimes when she’s not understood (again, no news there, nor surprise). She’s bright, and has lots to say, and wants to talk faster than her mouth can do the words right now. Again, no surprise.
She goes in for her annual progress review on the speech stuff next month.
All in all, a very nice conference to have had to go to.
28 view(s)
Dave,
I didn’t know your Kitten stuttered. I have stuttered ever since 5th grade, although it comes and goes. Most of the time I can cope with it or hide it so that most people aren’t even aware I’m stuttering, but it’s definitely there. Once in a while, however, it will take me a good, long time (like 10 seconds) to get out a word, and unless they know me very well the person I’m speaking to will look like I’ve been possessed by a demon.
I’m curious, what kind of speech therapy did Kitten go through? I went for a few years, which helped me gain the level of fluency I have today.
Oh yeah, it’s been my observation that stutterers are as a rule of above-average intelligence (yes this is self-serving). I really have noticed that, though.
Katherine’s stuttering has, as noted above, pretty much gone away — and I can believe the “intelligence” part (self-serving to me on a couple of levels) because it always seemed that it was happening because she had more to say than she could get out of her mouth or through her vocabular. She’s picked up other ways of dealing with that (pauses without repeating the last syllable or word, looking for alternate words, asking “what is that word?”) that are less obtrusive.
I’m not sure precisely what techniques they’ve used. Phonemic recognition and teaching her how sounds are formed has been part of it.