ANDREW IN SCHOOL

Andrew was always an average student, but someone that teachers always felt could do better. Andrew wanted to do better and wore his sisters Olympics of the Mind tee shirt for his 4^th grade class picture. He said to me, you know Mom, every year when I go back to school from summer vacation I vow that I will do really well in school but something happens to me and I am not able to do it. 

He never got bad grades until middle school when the teachers called home and said they wanted a conference. John and I talked to Andrew to see what the problem was and he said I do not know. We helped him put together a plan like the one we had for Marnie when she became overwhelmed by schoolwork in the fifth grade. Andrew presented the plan and the teachers were impressed. Despite this, Andrew was never able to really shine in academics even though he felt he should be able to.  

He did shine socially and athletically. He always had a wide circle of friends around him. His sisters often would complain that Andrew had a better social life that they did. He was a natural at any sport he tried and played a sport every season. What he did not want was to have a lot of pressure from coaches. His performance would suffer whenever he got star attention and the next thing we heard was that he wanted to quit the team. He was well-liked and well thought of by his classmates and they chose him to be captain of his High School Lacrosse team.