My boyfriend and I have 3 kids between the 2 of us. My BS is now 9, His BS(My SS)is almost 6, and our BD is 18 months. Our boys get along great and adore their little sister. All in all we do pretty well as a blended family as I come from a huge one. My SS is with us every Wed evening till Sun morning. We have had many issues with his BM not taking him to daycare/preschool (which is why he's starting Kindergarten a year late). This is a HUGE issue with me. We make a big deal of education with my BS. He isn't always a good at school, but always has good grades. With SS, I seem to be the only one who believes he's smart (besides his father). He might possibly have a learning disablity and I have tried to convince his father to take him to be tested. He agrees with me but wont take action. He assumes it's moms duty to handle that along with Doc and Dentist. (I deal with ALL SS Doc and dentist issues as I am already doing it for my own children. BM just wont. It doesn't bother me, but I have no legal power so I cant sign for shots or anything extra. She complains to SS about me taking him so he gets confused, but his father tells him that I'm allowed.) Issue I'm about to be dealing with is school. I know it is going to be a struggle with the custody arrangement they have. It is stressing me out and school is still weeks away. I feel like I care more about SS's mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing more than BM does. And more than I should. There are other issues with BM, but him adjusting well to school is on the top of MY priority list these days. I know he will do well with learning. He's behind emotionally and acts like a 3 year old most times. He tells me he thinks he isn't smart. He has told me in the past that his BM told him this. I try very hard to get him interested in learning. My BS and I read to him, do fun math excercises, ect. I'm worried that BM wont put as much emphsis on learning and will continue to push him to behave like a baby. She still spoon feeds him and carries him everywhere whereas at our place he is treated like a growing little boy and has much independence (ie. learned to shower himself at 3). Does anyone else have issues with education and bio/step parents?? I am also worried about his speech. On Wed we can barely understand him. Mixes up words in his sentences, pronounces "easy" words incorrectly. By friday he talks like a normal 5yo should, but still has trouble with a few things. It got so bad earlier this year that my BS would refuse to talk to him till he would speak correctly. That made a HUGE difference in SS as he adores my BS. But Wed is still a tough day for everyone. We had an issue with SS spring of 2009. He went from a "normal" 4yo to behaving like a 1yo. He wouldnt talk much, said he didnt know his colors, shapes, numbers, alphabet, wouldnt eat by himself, ect (this is when he told me his BM told him he isnt smart). My boyfriend tells me I am doing a wonderful job with all of our children. But I do tend to worry a little extra about my SS as I have less control with his overall health and happiness. I try my best to give all of my children the attention and love they need. Should I push more for a learning dissability screening, or just wait and see how kindergarten goes for him??? I dont want to delay if there is something we could do to make his life better and learning easier.