Vision

Nita's school contacted me last week on Thursday, asking me to come in Monday morning for a meeting about getting Nita evaluated for extra educational services.

This was interesting on several levels. I have been requesting an evaluation for two years. Over the last month, families who intended to have their children enrolled in this private school next year were to pay a $100 registration fee. We didn't. Plus, early last week, we requested that Nita's paperwork be sent to the public elementary school. So this has me wondering why the sudden need for an evaluation six weeks before school lets out. Does the current school intend to count her in a census of special needs and want to get her evaluated before the end of the year? Or did they realize that this should be done to keep from looking bad (too late). And I love the call on Thursday afternoon for a Monday morning meeting mentality. These are working mothers--(what) were they thinking?

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Nita does in the public school. This is the same child who wrote a check for a hot lunch, and it is the same kid who decided she needed glasses. A friend of mine had a habit of leaving reading glasses everywhere, so Nita appropriated a pair of these without my knowledge and took them to school. When she went to her special reading class, she made a great ceremony of donning her spectacles. The teacher asked, "Do you wear glasses?" Apparently, Nita answered in the affirmative, or at least in the just-this-side-of-lying.

It was then that Nita really began to struggle in reading. I got a note home from the teacher, saying that Nita needed an eye exam. I complied and sent a note to the teacher, telling her that Nita's vision was fine.

Eventually, of course, Nita lost the glasses. The teacher then sent another note home requesting that I replace this poor child's glasses, implying that my refusal to do so was being neglectful. It took a while, but we all arrived at the same truth.

You know, I really wonder how much of this kid's need for intervention is real, and how much is the adults' perception of her lack of learning. I think she knows a lot more than she lets on.