The last couple of weeks have been a little rough for Chance at school. See, and right after I wrote about how well he was doing. Sigh. First, it was Halloween, then he was on Prednisone (that stufff SUCKS donkey balls for already hyper kids!), then it was… I don't know. SPD? Trying to get away with messing around? A cold kicking in? It's really hard to splice out all the elements leading to bad behavior, but I had to pick him up from school three times for just acting out so much the teacher can't teach. Of course, he doesn't WANT to leave school or want to be in trouble. He's got a good heart. His impulsive tendencies coupled with high emotions lead to… more impulsive behavior and high emotions! Yay.
So anyway, we've set up an OT re-screening to see if tweaking his sensory diet will help. His initial screening was over two years ago so I imagine we might need to change up his activities. I also want to see if there is anything else besides SPD popping up. The thing is he does great in his speech/OT sessions with another kid, but a classroom of 30 is completely different. I think he also needs some refreshers on how to express frustration/anger in better ways. I.e. without running around the room shrieking (what the hell is up with the fricking shrieking?!) OR rolling on the floor and refusing to get up because he knows that pushes everyone's buttons at school.
Aren't audiences great?!
Yes, I am cynical. Because brushing off all his behavior as SPD-based will not help him. Sometimes kids are just punks because they can be.
Whatever the reason for the recent behavior here's hoping it'll get better. And it's not all bad either. This morning Chance received an award for reading! (I mean, they will ALL get awards throughout the year, but that doesn't mean it isn't a big deal to the kids. Positive reinforcement, wooh!) He knows all the kindergarten required words and he's been reading first and second grade-level books. He's been reading for awhile (beause if you can't read you can't follow instructions on video games! Seriously, Mario Bros have been a big incentive for him) but he used to always want me and Keen to read books to him.
Last night, for the first time, he read an entire book to me, including the contents page.
Smart little punk. – wg
Smart little punk. hahaha! So I guess that means you have tons of time for the holidays, eh? (more evil laughter…)
Oh, the interruptions to the classroom, eh? Have they taken into consideration how the classroom interruptions might be causing his interruptions? The announcements, buzzers, assemblies, schedule changes, yada, yada, yada?
School is hard. We’d like to think that when they are at school, their “in their routine” and “on a schedule,” but sometimes I think those very things are working against us.
Sounds just like my son was last year. Turned out he was allergic to artifical food coloring. It always got really bad durring the holidays and summer. Colored candy, cookies and ice pops were his crack. Took 2 weeks to detox and once he did it was so quiet in the house it freaked me out.