Trial and Error = Frustration

Sierra visited many specialized doctors for intensive hearing and eye tests.  But after thousands of dollars and lots of frustration nothing seemed to be working.  We tried bifocals at the 1st grade level then really expensive Prism rainbow glasses.  Neither worked.  The hearing tests revealed she was ultra sensitive and technically hears EVERYTHING, meaning, things such as being in an open classroom were huge distractions.  She would hear the teachers speaking in the hall or next door or the toilets flushing in the nearby bathrooms and all were reasons not to pay attention.  

My daughter hated school and reading  books.  She looked for every excuse not to have to go to school.  She was sad because her friends were excelling and she was trailing further behind each day.  I am not sure what her early teachers really thought but they would send all the daily work home.  After an entire day of frustration she had to come home and finish the centers she skipped during that day.  We moved through Kindergarten and First grade and she still could not read.   Sierra had a great mind because she could  memorize so well.  It took us a little while to catch her tricking us into thinking she was reading.  "Read it out loud, mama", and so I did.  It only took one time and she had it memorized.  She was in the Second grade and I had hit my own personal limit.  I knew we were not getting to the root of her problem.  Her perseverance and patience with this frustrating situation is note worthy.  She had to wait and wait until we could figure this out.  

ABC's NOT Elementary Dear Watson

"But, why do I have to say the ABC's if I already know the words?"  from Sierra a 3 year old.

It was all up hill from there.  Her Pre-school teacher recommended we hold Sierra out of Kindergarten because she did not know her letters yet.  It was more than that though, she avoided letters and any kind of reading like the plague.  She loved to watch Television but steered clear of anything with letters such as a book without pictures.  We did not heed the advice of the pre-school teacher and Sierra began Kindergarten in 2007.

Sometimes we regretted not holding her back.  While she was ready socially, she was not interested in learning the fundamentals of language.  She could carry on an intellectual conversation with anyone because she had been speaking now for over 4 years, in some cases 1-2 years earlier than her peers.

It was only now the time when we began to consider that there may be a problem with our intelligent little girl.

We did not lack an ear full of advice from friends and teachers, in fact everyone was eager to give their thoughts on the matter.  We began with the basics, her eyes and ears.

First word

When Sierra was only 9 months old she said her first coherent word.  She has never stopped talking since. I knew she was hiding a genius inside her tiny little body.  With Perseverance being her first name and Perfection being her last name she has been one incredible child to parent.

I should have paid more attention to the question she answered with her first word but I was so amazed that she answered me in the first place.  We had just finished reading card board baby books when I asked her "Do you want to read anymore?"  Her emphatic answer and first word was "NO!".