5

I learned...you shouldn't judge a kid by their IEP, even when it makes you want to expect the worst.

Something great that happened was...our new student started and it went really smoothly. His IEP made us prepared to expect the worse and we were pleasantly surprised. He was sweet, followed the routine, and learned people's names. Anything can happen on his day two, but day one was a great start.

Something challenging that happened was...trying to focus Malachi on his math work and understand what he was telling me. He seemed frustrated which led to him mumbling which led to me being confused and he being more frustrated. Eventually we were able to sort it out, but it was a challenging few minutes.

A question I have is...how do you balance expectations for children with behavioral problems without "waisting" time and energy to get the to just sit and maybe focus. Do you let them warm up and learn the routines on their own, or push them to participate and learn.

I wonder about...what it feels for a child to get pulled out for special instruction.  Are they ashamed, shy, scared, excited? Do they realize why they are leaving the class?