Huzzah! We're going to Disney Land!

*** WARNING*** This is a very long post in which I brag about my kid. Proceed with caution!

Last year Andrei started 1st grade. It was a difficult transition for him. He had been attending a private Pre-K/Kindergarten Montessori school for about 3 years. They focused their curriculum on character development, life skills, and music. Their literacy program was based on phonics. Andrei learned how to fold laundry, cook, sweep up, wash dishes, and is a MDT superstar. He did not learn how to read.

When Andrei started 1st grade it was a serious shock. He went from being the physically and personality-wise largest kid in a small school of about 35 students where the student/teacher ratio was around 10:1 to a large public school of about 250 students where the student/teacher ratio was around 30:1, and in which he was virtually invisible. He also had to deal with the fact that American Public schools expect you to start 1st grade knowing how to read, and all he had was a rudimentary understanding (at best) of phonics. He had learned exactly 0 sight words in Kindergarten and couldn't even spell his name correctly, let alone read.

It was brutal. If you're wondering exactly how nasty, please refer to all of my posts about him from last fall.

To sum up, after we had met three or four times with his teacher, the principal, the school psychologist, and the teachers aids, we decided we needed to do something pretty drastic to help him figure out how to read and how to stay out of fights at school (which he was getting in because he just could NOT keep up with his class). His school counselor was pretty convinced he is ADHD or "behaviorally disturbed", and I got chewed out for my opinions on his behavior (that it was learned responses combined with abandonment issues and social anxiety, and that he actually needed counseling, peer support groups, and/or cognitive behavioral therapy).

Long story short, we agreed to try him on ritalin (which I am SO happy to say he is no longer on!!!) if they agreed to support us in some behavioral modification training. All parties grudginly agreed.

Thus, the star chart was born. This may be the most epic idea I've ever come up with.
It was a tough sell at first, since his self-esteem was virtually in the toilet after his umpteenth visit to the principal's office. In order to keep things moving we gave him prizes on all of the 5's (junk food, which is otherwise a rarity around here) and 10's (sleep-overs with a friend), with the grand prize of 100 stars being a trip to Disney Land. He gets stars for "right choices," including behavior, chores, and reading/writing activities. He really latched on to the idea somewhere in the 30's and has been zipping along ever since.* His behavior problems in class pretty much cleared up up about a month later.

Well, today he finally finished it with a 50-ish word composition about "family," a masterful treatise analyzing the role of the toaster waffles we had for breakfast and the importance of sharing. Here's an excerpt: "I love my family. They are nice to help me learn how to read and share. We eat good food. Today we ate waffles..." Steven Hawking eat your heart out!

It's been a long year- a growing year full of surprises, setbacks, and giant strides forward. Here are some photos of the momentous occasion (we also had a "graduation ceremony" complete with a vocal rendition of "Pomp and Circumstance")

This is my little man with the final star (the glittery thing on his finger). Please note the look of immense satisfaction on his face. My, oh my. What a handsome boy he is.

Here is the chart itself with the final sticker, highlighting my mad coloring skills.
This was taken directly after the last sticker was placed, during the closing song. :)

Anyway, it's been a great experience for us. Once he caught on to the idea that we were going to be consistent with both punishments and rewards, he really took off and ran with it.

I can honestly say that in the past year, Andrei has gone from being a deeply troubled "problem child" to being a well-functioning, fairly average 7 year-old. I think the star chart really played a big role in the process. Plus, Andrei loved it. So much so that about a minute after putting the last star on he asked me "Can we do it again?!"

We've decided next year's grand prize will be a Wii.

*If you want to know more about the star chart, rules, guidelines, or educational theory upon which it is based, please let me know and I'd be happy to go over the nitty gritty with you in person.