I've said before that we were having Yulia tested in the schools. She underwent the testing in the past few months and Paul and I met with the diagnostic team Monday to discuss their findings. Going into the testing, their biggest concern was that there might be some "mental retardation." There is not. In fact, she doesn't even qualify for special education.
Her scores ARE low. Her IQ is 72 which is just above the 70 (mentally deficient). 80 is considered borderline. Her language and cognitive scores are low as well. But since both her IQ and other scores are so close together, that shows there is no sign of "mr" or need for special services at this time. They feel, and we agree, that the low scores are a result of her poor "home" environment and lack of mental/scholastic stimulation growing up in Russia.
She was tested with the help of a Russian translator. The translator says Yulia is able to speak in complete sentences, but her delivery is "littered"(DC) with poor grammar and poor word choices. Now, Paul and me ain't gonna have no kid of ours with bad gramma, so we're gonna keep workin on it. Honestly, we are seeing vast improvements everyday in her overall language, scholastic and social development. She's just beginning to put some sentences together in English and her comprehension is great.(We're having to be more and more careful about what we say because she's catching so much language these days.)
So, for now she'll continue in her English as a second language classes and Title One Reading. She'll also be going to school 6 weeks this summer to address reading and writing. The teacher is bringing in an aide to help with her math. And, there are plans for her to repeat the 5th grade. Overall, we think she's doing pretty dang well for a 10 year old newly transplanted to America!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
It Really is Cold Here!
People had told us it was going to be cold in Missouri. They weren't lying! When I drove Yulia to school this morning, it was 6 degrees on the car temperature gauge. Yes, 6 degrees! I didn't even know the gauge would go so low. (Everyone here just laughs at us.) Now, we know why there is a need for gloves, hats and scarves. You know, we never needed them in Texas really. (PP and SM, I could really use one of those giant furry hats from Russia.) But not to worry....it warmed up to a sweltering 20 degrees this afternoon.
Brrrr! At least there haven't been any hot flashes lately.
Brrrr! At least there haven't been any hot flashes lately.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
THOUGHTS
It just continues to amaze me how the Lord picked the perfect child for us when He picked Yulia.
1. Friday I picked her up from school. On Friday, she gets her progress report and our expectation is that she will have "excellent" in behavior. As Paul says,"If she can't get anything else, she can get sitting still and listening."
On my way to pick her up Friday after school, I was dying for a blizzard from DQ. Of course, if she didn't get "excellent" we couldn't go. She gets in the car and I ask her "Excellent?????" She says, "No Mom, Very Bad." I almost pulled the car over. Of course, I was very upset that I wasn't going to get my blizzard. She let this go on for 2-3 minutes before dying laughing and showing me she did, indeed, get "excellent." We enjoyed our blizzard!
2. She loves musicals. I can't get over this. It was butt-cold here today so we got some DVDs. I got Jungle Book for her and Hairspray for all of us, thinking she'd fall asleep. She loved Hairspray and afterwards was dancing and singing. I asked her if she wanted to be in a musical like Hairspray or HS Musical one day and she said, "Yes."
3. I'm trying to get her to work puzzles. She's getting better but doesn't have a lot of patience(that's nothing like me). While working the puzzles, she was singing at the top of her lungs and I told her "shhhhhhh". She said, "But Mom, I'm singing." I remember when my parents used to tell me "no singing at the table." Oh my gosh, it's frightening.
4. Like me, she's CRAZY about Pop. When she hears his truck, you would think the entire cast of HS Musical or Hannah Montana had just pulled up in the driveway. Of course, then she has to hide and scare him. Yes, everynight in the same place. You think he'd learn by now!
5. She is very hard headed and will argue with the fence post.(No laughing now)
6. I must say she's beginning to like hot foods. We're slowing weaning her in and she's doing very well.
7. She really is taking a liking to football. She likes to cheer against the Cowboys and Longhorns, but we're working on that.
8. She's VERY ATHLETIC(like her father). I finally put her into private swimming lessons and she's already swimming half-way across the pool, without any assistive devices. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Also wanting to play basketball, softball, dance and gymnastics. We're a one-thing at a time family here. A little too old for running from activity to activity.
Just some thoughts I thought you guys would enjoy!
1. Friday I picked her up from school. On Friday, she gets her progress report and our expectation is that she will have "excellent" in behavior. As Paul says,"If she can't get anything else, she can get sitting still and listening."
On my way to pick her up Friday after school, I was dying for a blizzard from DQ. Of course, if she didn't get "excellent" we couldn't go. She gets in the car and I ask her "Excellent?????" She says, "No Mom, Very Bad." I almost pulled the car over. Of course, I was very upset that I wasn't going to get my blizzard. She let this go on for 2-3 minutes before dying laughing and showing me she did, indeed, get "excellent." We enjoyed our blizzard!
2. She loves musicals. I can't get over this. It was butt-cold here today so we got some DVDs. I got Jungle Book for her and Hairspray for all of us, thinking she'd fall asleep. She loved Hairspray and afterwards was dancing and singing. I asked her if she wanted to be in a musical like Hairspray or HS Musical one day and she said, "Yes."
3. I'm trying to get her to work puzzles. She's getting better but doesn't have a lot of patience(that's nothing like me). While working the puzzles, she was singing at the top of her lungs and I told her "shhhhhhh". She said, "But Mom, I'm singing." I remember when my parents used to tell me "no singing at the table." Oh my gosh, it's frightening.
4. Like me, she's CRAZY about Pop. When she hears his truck, you would think the entire cast of HS Musical or Hannah Montana had just pulled up in the driveway. Of course, then she has to hide and scare him. Yes, everynight in the same place. You think he'd learn by now!
5. She is very hard headed and will argue with the fence post.(No laughing now)
6. I must say she's beginning to like hot foods. We're slowing weaning her in and she's doing very well.
7. She really is taking a liking to football. She likes to cheer against the Cowboys and Longhorns, but we're working on that.
8. She's VERY ATHLETIC(like her father). I finally put her into private swimming lessons and she's already swimming half-way across the pool, without any assistive devices. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Also wanting to play basketball, softball, dance and gymnastics. We're a one-thing at a time family here. A little too old for running from activity to activity.
Just some thoughts I thought you guys would enjoy!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
A MILLION SCREAMING GIRLS!
WHERE CAN YOU FIND A MILLION GIRLS, DANCING AND SINGING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS, WEARING "I LOVE TROY" T-SHIRTS?????????
At Disney's High School Musical(On Tour)!!! Yulia and I were just two of the thousands of females that were lucky enough to snag tickets for this weekend's performance. I must admit,
it was very good. Kinda a "Grease" for us old folks.
I think this is probably the most excited I've ever seen Yulia. She was full of unadulterated EXCITEMENT!!!! She couldn't stay in her seat for most of the numbers. (Of course, no one else could either, so it really didn't matter.) She sang at the top of her lungs, unaware that the words she was singing didn't match the song's phonetics. (Who cares???) Everytime I stopped clapping, I was immediately chastised to join back in. We had a blast. Yulia cried through most of the performance. I asked her why and she couldn't tell me. Really think she thought the movie characters were on stage in St. Louey. That's a hard concept to try and explain so I didn't attempt an explanation. None was needed. I think it was just such an unusual experience for her, which made it worth the money spent. (Of course, the next day, she heard Hannah Montana was going to be back in St. Louis. "Mom, You, me...Hannah Montana?" Um, let me think about this. NOOOOOOO!!!!!!)
At Disney's High School Musical(On Tour)!!! Yulia and I were just two of the thousands of females that were lucky enough to snag tickets for this weekend's performance. I must admit,
it was very good. Kinda a "Grease" for us old folks.
I think this is probably the most excited I've ever seen Yulia. She was full of unadulterated EXCITEMENT!!!! She couldn't stay in her seat for most of the numbers. (Of course, no one else could either, so it really didn't matter.) She sang at the top of her lungs, unaware that the words she was singing didn't match the song's phonetics. (Who cares???) Everytime I stopped clapping, I was immediately chastised to join back in. We had a blast. Yulia cried through most of the performance. I asked her why and she couldn't tell me. Really think she thought the movie characters were on stage in St. Louey. That's a hard concept to try and explain so I didn't attempt an explanation. None was needed. I think it was just such an unusual experience for her, which made it worth the money spent. (Of course, the next day, she heard Hannah Montana was going to be back in St. Louis. "Mom, You, me...Hannah Montana?" Um, let me think about this. NOOOOOOO!!!!!!)
When one attends the concert of the year, it's most important to look your best in case you should see Troy or Gabriella. Note the pink boa, pink bracelet and sparkly purse!!!
When not attending broadway productions, Yulia likes to play with the makeup kit she received for Christmas. I'm afraid she's getting better at putting on makeup than Mom!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
BRAGGIN'!!!
For those of you who can't stand bragging parents, please exit this blog site now. For all others, here's what Yulia's teacher had to say on her second quarter progress report:
"Yulia's positive attitude is infectious. She is a well-liked member of the class. Yulia has demonstrated wanting to learn and do tasks the other students are doing. I admire her willingness and perseverance."
We were quite excited to hear more good things from the classroom. She is a pass-fail student and is passing all coursework. She's made improvements or held steady in all areas of study. They've tested her I.Q., academics and social. We have a meeting set for January 28th to discuss the results.
"Yulia's positive attitude is infectious. She is a well-liked member of the class. Yulia has demonstrated wanting to learn and do tasks the other students are doing. I admire her willingness and perseverance."
We were quite excited to hear more good things from the classroom. She is a pass-fail student and is passing all coursework. She's made improvements or held steady in all areas of study. They've tested her I.Q., academics and social. We have a meeting set for January 28th to discuss the results.
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