Teacher vs. Pediatrician-who wins?/who's advice do you take?

As a Teacher I know the wealth of knowledge that I have and I trust in the wealth of knowledge that my team has. However being a parent you have no choice but to entrust your child, their care and their learning into what you expect to be and just plain old hope to be "capable hands" on a day to day basis. However, for a doctor/pediatrician you entrust your childs care to them on a appointment basis. And with both you expect that they will give you and your child exactly what he/she needs or what you think they need. There are so many differences and yet very little (but one or two) similarities. So with two capable people giving you two different opinions on the same subject matter, who do you listen to?

Feeling that your child may be different in any way is difficult to process and to handle. However, if you feel that your child is different in any way seek help immediately! Please don't wait. There can only be two senarios. 1. You were worried about nothing because there were test and nothing came of it. OR 2. Your worries were correct, something was found and now your child is on the road to receiving help to correct or to recover what went wrong.
BUT IF YOU WAIT only one thing can come of that: the child misses the opportunity to correct it, you continue to wonder and now someone else has to point it it because it is interfering with learning.

This blog post is in honor of a family that trusted a pediatrician that encouraged mom to wait. The child is in my care so naturally I had to bring it up and try to deprogram the parents about getting their child help. This child had never been in school so mom only had the pediatrician to listen too. I am sorry that this happened. The parents now have the info to get some help and prayfully soon mom will contact them and they will be on the road to getting the help that this child needs.

Check In Time...

As the year progresses, seemingly way too fast, it is time to check in! As a teacher I am happy to chat with parents, I enjoy corresponding with them (unlike some teachers). I think I provide way too much information but because the parents are away from their children for so long, they like way too much information!

But this time of checking in is a time to discuss parental concerns about school, home life, ask questions etc. But it is also a time for teachers to do the same: discuss concerns, progress thus far and to brainstorm with the parents if needed.

So parents, please do not be alarmed when a teachers requests a "check in" meeting. This is for your benefit alone!.
As a side note, here is this months bulletin board:
Its a combination of teacher work and student work!

Off and Running Really FAST!!!

You are most likely aware that the school year has already begun. For me, the title describes it best, it is off and running really fast! Once the children's feet hit the carpet of their new classroom for the first time, it doesn't slow down until after Christmas...

Growth:
Change and growth as an individual is tremendously important to me. But as a teacher, I feel like it keeps me current, renews my passion and it keeps me going with all of the things that are on my to-do list. So this year, my change or growth is that I am starting community outreach for my preschool classroom. I have been taught that you always give back, so I would like for my classroom and prayerfully the school that I am at to have a presence in the community. Now by the definition of community, we are reaching far beyond that. However, things in our community are not exactly age-appropriate for my class. However, we are still in our state and we are doing wonderful things. We have 3 community outreach projects for this school year; 2 that we rotate by month and one we complete monthly.

Rotating monthly, we will send either cards or banners to John Hopkins Hospital the children's cancer wing or to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Our one true "community" outreach project will be monthly and that is making lunches for the Light House Shelter.

For my three year olds, this will build the foundation that they will need to the thoughtful individuals that will grow up to be adults that will seek opportunities to give back to their community.

My hope for the school is that more people will see that although this is a big commitment, it is worth it. There are people who need our help, especially now with the state of the American people help is needed more than ever.