Mrs. Holland

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I love Sam’s teacher. Mrs. Holland is everything I could wish for in a second grade teacher. She understands Sam and appreciates his quirks. She’s able to take his challenges and morph them into strengths. And she loves him. There’s nothing a parent likes more than someone who agrees that her kid is awesome.

An extra perk is that since she was his kindergarten teacher, she knows intricacies of his personality that she might not know if she only met him 6 months ago. They have a history together and he trusts her completely.

Sam was in Mrs. Holland’s class when he went on Ritalin. She was amazed at how it improved his focus; she’s been a big supporter of our choice.  She knows all about Brain Balance and has been an active partner – keeping us updated regarding any relevant changes she sees in the classroom.

A few weeks ago, Sam forgot to take his medication and I emailed to warn her. She didn’t get to the email till the end of the day and when she did, she was relieved that there was a simple explanation for his challenging day.

This morning, she sent me an email with no text. Just a title: 

Forgot his meds today?

I checked the breakfast table and the pill was gone. Phew. I emailed her back:

lol. sadly, no. is he crazy?

After school, she responded:

Ha. No, not crazy just very silly. He also had a tough time focusing but not like he used to. He used to kind of zone out. this wasn't like that at all. He followed directions and was able to do his work independently. he just got unfocused from all of his giggling:). His handwriting also wasn't like it usually is. That is probably just from the giggling. 

Nothing to worry about. I don't want u to think he had a bad day bc he didn't at all. He had a good day, just had a case of the giggles:)

Not one to worry about a day of giggles, I forgot about it.  

On our way to Brain Balance, I asked Sam how his day was. He said it was good but that he laughed a lot.  Did you take your pill today? I asked. Nope, I found it in my pocket when we were packing up. 

At a stoplight, I wrote her back:

Turns out he had it in his pocket. Stinker.

Within five minutes she sent this back:

Ha! I will say that the meds do help and he definitely benefits from them, but seeing him off them also let's me see that as he gets older he might do fine without them (and I am saying this w/o any medical degree whatsoever:). 

His focus struggle is different than it was just 2 yrs ago. He was able to do his work on his own, complete it with just a quick refocus and did follow directions. He does better on the meds and for now, "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but I wouldn't be surprised if this was not a lifelong thing. 

Is this improvement because he’s two years older? or because of all the work he’s doing? or a combination of both?

I don’t think there’s a way to know but regardless, I will take emails like these any day over the awful reports his preschool teacher used to spit out as I drove away from pickup crying. But I will save that drama for another post. For now, let’s just focus on the positive – Sam is doing great. Mrs. Holland is the best teacher ever. Brain Balance seems to work. American Idol is on. I love Ryan Seacrest.