Have you hugged a Sp Ed teacher today?

I'm ecstatic. Tommy came home with his 2nd report card today. I was prepared for a drop in "achievement" as the K teacher said that expectations for kiddos gets exponentially tougher as the year goes along. I mean, we are talking about my poor, little Special Ed kid who couldn't understand or be understood the way he should for the majority of his life. We are talking about the kid who was unable to sit still, was unable to wait, was unable to listen, was unable to be engaged in any kind of fine motor activity for more than 3 seconds. Literally.

I was thrilled 10 weeks ago with what came home. He was "proficient" in all areas except "uses emergent spelling" and had "needs improvement" in just 2 areas: works independently and produces legible handwriting. Because I am a former colleague of all of the people at his school, a part of me was afraid they were being kind. Thankfully they send home a scad of assessment tools that show exactly what is expected and exactly what my kid did. Anyway, 10 weeks ago I was on Cloud 9 because, really, he was doing so much better than I expected. Pretty much a "normal" Kindergarten kid.

So... cut to today. Second report card. Braced for a few more "partially proficients" and "needs improvements"... But this kid came home with FIVE "proficient with distinctions", ZERO "partially proficients" a couple extra "outstandings" (one in ART of all things!), and his only "needs improvement" was in "produced legible handwriting"!!

His teacher wrote in the comments section: "He has strong academic skills in all areas and is a leader in class discussions." (WHAT???!!!)

To top it off, he was SO proud when he arrived home today because his teacher chose him to portray Martin Luther King in their class play today. (Yes, Aunt Heather, one of those "proficient with distinction" marks was in Social Studies!)

It's a good, good day for the Giesslers.