SCHOOL! {edited}

Good news!  Jude was qualified for speech therapy.  Our dig our speech therapist.  She's very good with the kids, or at least with Jude, since he's the only one I've seen her interact with (to be fair), and she's just very personable.  On top of that she's good at her job.  How do I know that?  After only two short interactions with her via the evaluation process?  Because, she knows how to use the system in a manner that is effective and in the best interest of the child.

Does this mean she abuses the system?

No.

Let me clarify.  As we all know every child is different, and while some share common learning strengths and weakness within each of those categories there are many levels.  For example some kids learn via visual aides, some through auditory.  So when testing for learning disabilities it's important to be able to anticipate what is going to really show any given child's possible handicap.  Some of those are even almost impossible to "test" for and can only really be discovered over a period of time.

This is why early education, preferably by people that are well learned in spotting these hindrances is so damn important.  This is why I have been fighting, pushing, damn near scheming to get my son into preschool.  He's smart, he's been ahead of the curve in everything but speech, but let me point out that the physical act of speech does NOT reflect comprehension or language skills, including vocabulary, as a whole.

That whole mushy line about kids being our future?  It's FUCKING true.

I want my son to be a benefit not only to himself and his family and friends, I want him to be a benefit to society.  I want my son to have things I only dreamed of, and I've done better by far than my parents... but I want him to do even more!  That's the point, for the next generation to do better.  That's always been the point.

So, anyway, our speech therapist could see that Jude needs help with his speech.  She could also tell that he's a smart little cuss.  And I hate to say it like this, but he's worth the investment.  Sure, technically every child is, and I don't doubt that she does what she can for each child she comes across... but let's not beat around the bush.  Some kids ARE smarter than others.  Some kids ARE more motivated.  Some kids ARE ... a more honest bet.  Just like some kids ARE cuter.  Some kids ARE nicer, etc.  These are the facts of life.  This whole movement of "everybody is somebody" bs is just that, bs.  I'm not saying that a mediocre child isn't wonderful in their own right and doesn't deserve the same opportunities... but if they were horses... you're not going to bet on the slow ones.  Just putting that out there.

So Jude, anyway, yes, smart, has some speech delays... without therapy will he grow out of them?  Yes, eventually.  Will it be on par with his peers?  Who knows.  He may, he may not, but there's no way of knowing without playing that out.  Is it worth the risk?  Hell fucking no.  Not when he has so much potential.

She also told me that Jude "will be a lot of fun to work with.  He's got a lot to say and has a great vocabulary."  Hell yeah he does.  My boy is prince of the spoken word.  And she said that he's going to pick this stuff up quick and likely won't need the therapy past this year.

I hate to say this but WA state has been pulling punches when it comes to their ability to live up to the "no child left behind" movement.  It's why the Charter School initiative has recently come back onto the ballot.  Because our education system is falling behind and the few people out there that actually give a shit about their kids education, like myself, are pissed off about that.  Not that I fully agree with the Charter School inoperative .. I think we need to solve the problem at it's core.  We need to overhaul the public school system that already exists, not just try to start a rival.

Blah, I'm running out of steam.

So yeah, Jude will now be bused so he will start PreK this year and while I know people are going to seriously fight me on this, I WILL be having him tested into Kindergarten next year.  All the  naysayers can come talk to me when my kid is graduation with his peers and not with the kids a year younger than himself.