They had to wait out in the corridor in chairs that were just a wee bit too small and then the parents the appointment before them exited the classroom and Cal and Gillian were allowed in. Lewis already knew he was supposed to play quietly on the other side of the room while his parents talked to his teacher. Owen was currently asleep in his car seat. Cal picked him up and carried him through. Lewis's teacher was in her mid twenties with long black hair and deep brown eyes. They'd met before, of course, in the pre-placement interviews and on the first day but Cal still shook her hand in greeting and she said that he should call her Sarah. Gillian had met her several more times than that, often when she came to pick Lewis up at the end of the day.

They took seats at one of the tables near the front of the room, where the chairs were once again, just that wee bit too small, so Cal felt his knees were up around his shoulders. Sarah glanced over at Lewis who was selecting a puzzle from the stack on a shelf. "Lewis is a great kid," she started and Cal felt a well of pride. Fantastic opening line. Not that he was expecting something way worse; by all accounts Lewis did well in school. "He's very sweet and considerate of his classmates. He's respectful and dutifully follows the rules. He's a real pleasure to have in my classroom."

'Keep talkin',' Cal glanced over at Gillian who was smiling.

"Lewis is pretty advanced in all subjects. He's produced some great art," she pulled a sheet from his file to show Lewis's rendition of a family portrait. Interestingly, the people, house and tree were in relative proportion. "Maths is fine," she went through the list of subject breakdowns, noting he was at the expected level or slightly above it, until she got to reading. "He recognises words easily and knows all his letters and when I ask him to tell me what the story was about he gets most of the basic concepts. But his pronunciation, it's a little difficult for words he hasn't come across before."

Cal had been feeling a floating bubble of delight slowly bumping its way around his abdomen and all of a sudden it seemed to deflate. Owen made a smacking sound in his sleep and for a second all the adults were distracted. "Is it holding him back?" Gillian asked, focussed again, absently rocking the car seat so Owen settled again.

"Not so much holding him back. With one-on-one he picks up new words just fine. He's very focussed when it comes to this kid of work. He's great with blends and the sound of constants and vowels. I just notice he's a little afraid of attempting to sound out a word on his own and looks to someone else to tell him first. I'd like Lewis's confidence in trying new words to rise."

Gillian nodded and offered to work on it at home with him and Cal just couldn't help but feel disappointed. Not that he was disappointed with Lewis, not at all, as far as he was concerned his son was brilliant. It was the boy's hearing, Cal just knew it. He just hoped it wouldn't always be like this. Lewis already tried very hard to compensate. And so had Cal and Gillian, teaching him ways to cope early in his life. Teaching him to sign had made him more aware of words and letters. Sarah enthused home help as being potentially beneficial.

"How's it been with his hearin'?" Cal spied a gap and went for it.

Sarah turned her attention to him. "He's been teaching the other children a few of the basic signs," she responded with a smile. "And Ms Dawson, our aide, has been working with him one-on-one as well, sharing more school orientated signs."

Cal thought, as parents, that they should have done that to prepare him better. There had been too much Owen-focus leading up to Lewis starting school.

"The children make sure to look out for him."

Cal hated to hear that too.

"But I can see Lewis makes a concentrated effort to listen when it's required. He's often one of the first children to respond when I ask for quiet or if I give instructions. He's very disciplined and gets on with his work. When he knows what is expected of him he strives to achieve it."

Ok, that sounded better.

"Lewis is going to do really well at school," Sarah went on. "I can tell he gets a lot of support at home, which is really great. He's confident enough to raise his hand during discussion time. He doesn't pass up his turn during show and tell. Besides the reading I've already discussed, I really don't think Lewis's hearing holds him back much at all."

Calk breathed a suppressed sigh of relief. Perfect.