A mere 100-plus days after her birthday, Avery attended her 15-year doctor’s appointment. While she’s gained some weight in early puberty, we’re still waiting for her to gain inches. But Dr. Roscoe pointed out that she’s now 5 feet tall so that’s an accomplishment!
The only concern we discussed was a cognitive one, not a physical one. Lately Avery has struggled with taking tests at school. She can repeat all of the information to us at home, but once it comes time to take the test, she freezes and doesn’t perform like she should. As a result, her test grades do not reflect the knowledge she has. We’ve also seen this reflected in her national and state standardized test scores. Dr. Roscoe offered a few suggestions, such as requesting more time to complete tests or even asking for a different testing environment without distractions. Avery doesn’t think these ideas will help. She seems to have some test anxiety and blanks when it’s time to take a test. Dr. Roscoe said this isn’t too much of a concern unless she plans to pursue a career that requires a lot of test-like situations. As long as she has learned the material, her grade on a test isn’t quite as important because she has the knowledge somewhere in her brain; she just can’t regurgitate it on a test. So we’re determined not to let test scores stress us out during her final three years of high school!