I always dreaded returning to school each fall, but Kai had no such issue. He was happy Wednesday night, and went off to school on Thursday morning in good spirits.
He was still happy when I came back from a business trip that evening, and he told me that he had had a great first day of school.
An email we received the next morning from his therapist at school confirmed this. “Kai is off to a greatl start this week!!”
However, later in the day, we received another email from her. That one was not so uplifting.
Ms. K explained that Kai got upset at the end of the day when students were given a chance to pick prizes out of their classroom’s prize box. Sometimes he gets to pick first, but on this occasion other students got to make their selections first. Kai was worried that someone else would pick the prize he wanted, a particular Pokemon card.
Some kids voice their concerns.
Kai did not make such a choice.
He attempted to punch his teacher.
And so, on day two, he already had his first major incident of the school year.
It’s going to be a long year.
Ok...that was unexpected! The only thing I could immediately think of would be heavier amounts of endurance exercise. It raises the threshold for excitability dramatically. I greatly moderates mood and energy levels...along with frustration levels. The key is doing it for long enough... 45 min to an hour...at least every other day...preferably 6 days a week. My son's mood is greatly improved by it...as was mine in life.
ReplyDeleteNow, if this is not an option....you are in for a long year :)
I am working on trying to increase his exercise, but 45 min to an hour several times a week is still a challenge for several reasons, among them time constraints and his unwillingness to do it for that long. But we are working on increasing his workouts as best we can.
DeleteI think we also need to keep working on his behavior in several other ways, including always explaining what is a good and appropriate choice and what is not, and trying to teach him more appropriate ways to channel his frustrations. He had improved, but we need to keep at it.