At my daughter’s new school, kids with learning disabilities aren’t square pegs

“Mom, do I look like a dead chicken?” asked my 11-year-old daughter in all seriousness on our way to her new school. I looked over, and she’s in what vaguely resembles a rotisserie chicken pose: arms folded in and feet curled up to her chest. Together, we laughed.

Her silliness wasn’t what stood out to me. It was the fact that she was being silly in the morning. The ride to school used to be full of pleas to stay home and cries about how much school sucked. So this easygoingness is new and it leaves me feeling light and happy.

I didn’t expect a complete transformation in my daughter’s mood once she started at a private school for kids with learning disabilities. I crossed my fingers that first day of school and I silently prayed she’d learn to like it there. I didn’t know how she’d react to our decision of pulling her out of the only school she’d ever known.

Her dad and I knew her public school wasn’t providing enough instruction to make up for the years of pandemic-related learning loss and the extra challenges created by her dyslexia, ADHD, and auditory processing disorder. I’d seen her confidence slipping away and fading like a bright, colorful cushion left in the sun for far too long. But did she see it too?