Stephanie Gauthier

My 8.5 year old son is very proficient at masking at school. He is a hard worker with a great attitude and no behavior issues. Because of this, I’m constantly told that he’s doing fine but because I’m his safe person, he shares things with me or melts down as soon as he is home. He is now realizing that he works really hard and tries his best but that school work is very hard for him and get gets a lot of answers wrong which rightfully, upsets him very much. We put no emphasis on grades at home and tell him that as long as he works hard and tries his best, that’s what’s important and what his dad and I care about. He is also struggling socially and with self advocacy but because these things aren’t tied into unwanted behaviors at school, they are being ignored completely. When I shared these concerns with the school counselor and told her how he had a meltdown at home about kids being unkind to him, she suggested private counseling. We have a 3 year re-eval meeting coming up in a few weeks and I would love some advice on how to get the school to acknowledge that just because he doesn’t express these feelings to them at school, it doesn’t mean that he’s not experiencing them. I also feel that he needs a concrete self-advocacy goal because he will never ask for a break, or tell a teacher if something has happened, or speak up if he doesn’t understand something.