Report Card YAY!

To say that this has been a challenging year academically would be an understatement. It does not help that Liam's sister is academically a superstar- I don't believe she has ever brought home less than an A. So while we don't make the comparison, I'm quite certain he does. This has been a year fraught with average grades for him, and he's unbelievably hard on himself. I try to highlight the positive of what he's done well in when he brings home a report card, and remind him that if he did his best, that's all we care about. The biggest accomplishment for me was the comment!
First marking period the comment was: Liam is impulsive and inconssistanyt in his daily work.
This made me seethe. Did she not read his 504 plan and the information that I had attached to it about Tourettes being more than just the tics? I tried to discuss this with her at the parent teacher conference and she was fairly dismissive and wanted to discuss what Liam was doing well academically and her fears for bringing him up to speed for middle school. I thought second quarter would be better. Nope.
Second marking period comment: Liam likes to make his own directions rather than following the directions given. His written work is not always organized well.
No, Liam has a neurological disorder that makes it very hard for him to follow directions given and sometimes he needs to have it gone over in a little more detail and time. Liam also has in his 504 plan that all writing assignments should be done with a graphic organizer because he has a hard time organizing his thoughts when writing.
The thing that made me most furious in these comments is that by fifth grade, we all know that Liam is reading the comments himself as soon as he gets out of the classroom door. I had this discussion at our last 504 plan meeting and asked his teacher to PLEASE email me or call me with those types of comments and to try to find something positive to say about my child in his report card because he comes home pale as a ghost and horrified when he has to hand them to me.
I am happy to say that this report card was different- he burst in the door and yelled "mom I got a great report card!" And it is. All As and Bs, not a single C in sight. A check mark in needs to work on self control and needs to work on working independently. And the piece de resistance in my opinion:
Third marking period comment: Liam has shown improvement in all areas.