Parenting After a Stillbirth/Infant Loss

My DD just turned six last week. She is in grade one in a French immersion program at our local school. We lost our son to a cord accident in July and frankly, she hasn't really reacted to the loss at all. Sometimes she says she misses him or she wishes he could be there with us and she gets actively involved in activities that honor his memory (i.e. lighting a candle on Oct 15, etc) but she never really cried for him aside from at the funeral.

Anyway, she had this French reading test this past week. She studied so hard and she knew the majority of the words without difficulty. So she goes to school on the day of the test and the teacher calls her up to her desk and puts the list of words in front of her and my daughter goes through the first 9 words, no problem! Then she stumbles and decides "forget it, I don't feel like trying" and just gives up. She ended up with a 14 /45. I don't get it! She totally blew the exam on purpose! I got home and showed her the exact same list and she breezed through them with a 36/45! I feel like maybe getting that first one wrong was enough to kill her confidence and make her give up altogether...

Is it possible that this rebellion at school could be a manifestation of her grief? How can I help her get her confidence back?

Can you talk to her teacher or maybe a counselor at school? Maybe they would be able to help. I hope you can find something that works for her!

Hugs,