The Supposed Trouble with Vincent

Before I start, I'd like to say that I know I've had a couple of doozies here, and will post something sunny at my next opportunity. Former scout's honor. But for now...

At the end of the week, Vincent had back-to-back examinations with the pediatrician and with a school psychologist to evaluate his readiness to start school. This is standard for children who will be school age in the fall, but with Vincent, it's more critical than it was with Kilian. Vincent's birthday is the day before the cut-off date for children who are required to start school in the fall. With Kilian, the answer was obvious. I feel a need to be more cautious with Vincent, since he will be among the youngest kids if he does start this year.

First off was his check-up, which was on Thursday. At this examination, they evaluate physical development and test cognitive skills. Vincent did very well. The pediatrician was satisfied with Vincent's growth and his abilities, even though the first thing Vincent did after I undressed him for the physical was to cup his hand under his armpit and make farting sounds. You should have seen him with his little arm flapping like a chicken wing, and his bright blue eyes ablaze with delight.

At the end of the examination, Dr. Hußlein also gave me a sort of warning, and an offer of support. He told me that the school psychologist often makes recommendations based on projected class sizes for the coming fall, and sometimes misguides parents to get closer to a desirable number of first-graders. He expressed the opinion that Vincent would be underserved by another year in Kindergarten, and that some of Vincent's motor skills are above those of his kindergarten peers. He even offered to write a testimonial that Vincent is school-ready in the event that the school or school psychologist recommend that he not start school.

His meeting with the school psychologist was on Friday. It progressed somewhat differently, and not only due to a lack of opportunity to get out an armpit fart.

Vincent did behave oddly at his examination. He used his „little voice“, and drew a convoluted form in one of the shape drawing tasks. It should be mentioned that this was one of ten, the other nine of which he had copied to the tee. Well, insofar that a five-year-old can. In the sorting activities, he rapidly identified the missing parts to given shapes and the things that were not like the others in a given column. She asked him to write his name and draw a person. He wrote his name beautifully, but then he drew a peach-colored body with no face, no clothing, no defining features, but he did include ten fingers and ten toes.

This woman infuriated me with her manner. When Vincent left the room for the private consultation, she picked up the picture he drew and shook her head. She talked to me as if she might be talking to someone whose dog had just died; as if I had cause for grief. She told me over and over that I shouldn't worry, but should wait and see what the next group of experts has to say.

The thing is, I wasn't, and am not, worried. Not in a way that would cause me any sort of grief, anyway. I told her that I am proud of my son. I praised him. I told her that I know that his behavior at the examination was odd, but he is a very intelligent child. And I did my best to not act on my impulse shout at and/or shake her. In the cartoon rendering, there would surely be steam coming out of my ears, and exclamation points above my head.

She said that while she didn't think that another year of kindergarten was the right answer for Vincent, we should give some serious thought to which school Vincent will start in the fall. The options in the area are the Montessori School here in Grassau, and the Waldorf School in Prien. I am not at all enthusiastic about either of these choices. The German school system is a demanding one, and I don't know how well the kids from these schools reassimilate into the rigorous academic structures of the upper classes. I would like for him to go to the same school as Kilian. I would like for him to be able to go to school right here in the village, too, with all of the other kids from the neighborhood. Kids only ever want to belong; I'd hate to take part of that away from him by sending him to the oddball school in Prien.

At the same time, I do have some hesitation about sending Vincent to school in the fall. I am not worried about his cognitive abilities in the least; he's shown us again and again that he's a very bright boy with a remarkable capacity to remember detail. It's the social part that concerns me. We have an appointment scheduled with a child psychologist next week – we've been on the waiting list for some time. I guess I'll see what she has to say, and take it from there.