Gosh Heather, I read this with lot of tears in my eyes. What a lot your family has been through, and yet all along poor Riley was intuiting two things, one being, that others thought he wasn't clever, and two, that he knew he was.

I can tell you there are many issues teachers don't get right in the hamster wheel they operate within.

Now this might seem simplistic to you, but this was a strategy I set up out of desperation at one time.

I talked to my students about how they felt about reading, asking them to be honest if they felt they'd like to share short reading sessions with a trusted friend.

The needy children did.

They then got to choose a trusted friend, someone they knew they could work with.

Of course this was not a scientific approach, bear in mind, but at times teachers get a little desperate!

Without going into too much detail, the children needing help chose an empathetic student to work with and the results far surpassed my expectations. Some were easy to help, but even the Rileys of this world were helped by quiet, able students I'd hear saying things like ... try this ... carapace. Gosh I don't even know what that means (😊) or the likes.

I set this up to try to promote confidence and risk-taking, to provide quiet opportunities for assistance, not to take over the job of me, the teacher.

Sometimes students are far more intuitive than we give them credit for, but mostly they have nothing to lose and their empathy promotes a willingness in the needy child, to try.

Hope this makes sense. I'm not discounting Riley's issues, but just trying to say that those precious moments when a chosen buddy sends messages that they can help a friend, can often be little incremental miracles.

Riley is also lucky he has such great parents. 💜💜💜