Joey's Testing

Joey tested for his 2nd degree black belt Thursday.

 His form was great!

 His weapons which he was most nervous about went really well. It was one of the best I have seen him do.

 He had great sparring!

The board breaks were his down fall. This upper punch board break has been hard for all of the students but Joey did it a few times successfully in class. That night it just was not meant to be. He tried once and it did not break so he turned and did his kick and snapped the board without a problem. It was a beautiful but we missed it on the camera.  He then was able to try the punch 2 more times but it was not meant to be. I was instantly worried that he might breakdown but he held himself together. We assured him it was okay and that we were proud of him! There were no tears and he left with a smile, so all in all it was a good night even if he did not get his next belt.  Joey did earn 10th  place in the World Champion ranks for sparring and forms.  We had not idea but he earned enough points at the one (maybe two) tournaments he went to this last year to rank.  Joey is registered in the cognitive challenges group and so we thought maybe we will try a few more tournaments and who knows he may place even higher.  I am so proud of Joey!

I also had Joey's ARD meeting with the school to discuss his IEP (individual education plan).  It went really well. He is not having any problems academically, which was not a shock to us.  His teacher did say that the only struggle they have is that she catches him reading during non-reading times regularly.  This leads to him becoming frustrated and sometimes upset because he has missed some of the instructions.  He has a second teacher (the class goes to one in the morning and one in the afternoon) and she said that he just that morning he had been in a hurry to answer a question and answered wrong in their game but she encouraged the class to respond positively with "good try" and such and there were no tears.  We also learned that he does not let anyone at school call him Joey anymore.  He did tell me that he is older now and so he should go by Joseph.  Well, there is another Joseph in his class and so it was getting confusing so one of the teachers asked if they could call him JR and he agreed. I had no idea that he was JR. I am so happy to hear about him adapting and being willing to change if needs be.  They have also learned that he works better in small groups and putting pressure on him to socialize at recess makes him worry too much so he has a mentor that plays with him once a week.  Also there is a teacher that goes out once a week and does a group game with Joey participating.  One teacher stated that Joey is such a good reader that she often has him read things out loud and then explain them to the class in terms they can understand. His social teacher (that is what I call her) stated that she had never worked with a student whose driving force for doing things is adult approval.  I knew that but I did not realize just how important it was to him. Peter and I are going to try harder to be more liberal with our praise.  This will be good for Joey and really all of our children.  I appreciate these meetings and the chance they give me to learn more about my Joey and how he is doing at school and in life in general.  The teachers and counselors are all reassuring too.  I am so thankful that I get to be this amazing boy's mother.