Graduation and other adventures

[michellea]

DS graduated early June with honors and won his school's "Outstanding Vocational Student" award and scholarship for his excellence in academics, career area, community service and leadership. I could not have been more proud. It was a very long rode, but with the help of the community, including this one, he found his own kind of success.

Tonight we head out to UMass for New Student Orientation. This will be another hurdle, and I am sure I'll be holding my breath the entire first semester.

His school sent me his school file including his testing and other goodies. It is amazing to me that a student that continues to test so darn low in reading (everything except comprehension below the 16 percentile) is able to function. This is a good reminder that people are more than their scores, that accommodations (especially AT) are necessary and there a lot of intangibles that go into being a student. Let us remember to nurture those intangibles and keep them front and center even as we try to strengthen the weaknesses.

[healthy11]

Hearing about graduations makes me realize that time is flying, even though I know that it seems to drag on and on when parents are in the midst of educational battles! Michellea, congratulations to your son on all his accomplishments, and thank you for everything you've done to support him, and help others on Millermom Forum, along the way!

(P.S. Talking about time flying, today is my son's 25th birthday...I can't believe he's "a quarter century" old! It's also the first time he's not even around to celebrate it, since he's still on a work assignment in Phoenix, but I guess we can give his dog, that we're pet-sitting, some cake instead!)

[Mayleng]

Congrats Michellea. Very happy for your family.

[kewpie]

Wonderful news Michellea!! Congratulations to you and your son!! :-)

[dw]

Super congrats to your son, michellea. And to super advocate mom, your whole family, really.

[jisp]

CONGRATS MICHELLEA!!! Kids grow up despite themselves and despite us. And one of the joys of being a parent of a child with special needs is that we get to watch them excel despite all the obstacles that were put in their way.

Hopefully he will love UMass. And remember if he struggles or has a set-back it is not the end of the world (as you know from past experience). College students are still growing and learning and developing.

Jill

[hsmom]

Michellea,

Congratulations to your son and to you, also. Seven years have gone by since I came onto this forum. Where have the years gone?

Your son is fortunate in that he had an area/interest he wanted to pursue. My son, on the other hand, knows he will go to college/university, but doesn't know what he wants to do in the future. He's become a strong writer, and I'm hoping he will continue to work on this. is weakness is still math and science, though he will be taking algebra 2 and geometry this coming year and will take pre-calculus his senior year.

Again, it's so nice to hear that our sons and daughters can succeed.