A little bribery is all it takes

I had an IEP meeting with Dean's speech teacher in the fall. She was concerned because Dean just wasn't progressing as he had in the previous year. Sad news for a Mama to hear. I talked to Dean about it later and found out something interesting. He said that he loved his teacher and loved going to Speech and he didn't ever want to stop. He had decided to never fix his speech problems so he could always go.

How could I argue with that? She IS pretty great.

I tried to explain why he should try hard in Speech again. Didn't he want to have his speech troubles gone? He countered with: Not really, no one makes fun of me, why should I?

I tried again: Your teacher's boss will think that she's not a good teacher if she has a student who stays in Speech forever. Do you want people to think she's not a good teacher? Weelllll, no, he said, but it didn't convince him either.

Last try: We will go to Leatherby's and you can get their biggest sundae and not share with anyone on the day you graduate from Speech class.

Voila!
That's a peppermint, mint chip, marshmallow creme Granny Sundae from Leatherby's. And yes, it is bigger than Dean's head.