Ralph Chronicles: Smarter than the average first grader...

Ralph has attended the same elementary school and extended school year program for the last two years many of the teachers and staff know him. They all know Ralph is a kid who is not easily swayed, to befriend and quick to be engaged, you have have to earn his attention and affection. Once he lets you in you have a friend for life. Ralph has a fascination with the alphabet and its sounds. He knows them, recites them, sings them you name it he does it.

So the first week of school the teacher sends a note home saying, "Ralph does not know his alphabet or their sounds..." So I respond back he knows them and he says them all the time. When I picked him up from school his psychologist greets me and says Ralph is playing these guys. She sat in to observe his class, and she knows him very well, knows all about his obsession with letters. Its Ralph's turn to participate on the letter board and he refuses to say anything, the psychologist tells them he knows them I heard him say all of these. So they start saying the alphabet to get him to join, he lets them get to the letter "z" and he says, "all done, good job"! He manipulated them into to doing his work and praised them for completing it. The teachers look at each other and laugh. Ralph is very smart and knows how to get what he wants without saying a thing. And that's smarter than the average first grader!