Some Good News from School

Kai’s inability to handle frustrating situations has been an ongoing challenge. So it was a very pleasant surprise to get the following email from a staff member at Kai’s middle school:

Kai experienced a frustrating occurrence that involved another student on the outing. While at the bowling alley, I gave all students 4 quarters to play a few arcade games. After Kai had put 2 quarters into a game, another student sat in the playing spot and played the game, thus blocking Kai from playing the game he'd just paid for. Kai came directly to me and let me know what had happened and asked me to replace the quarters he'd lost. He communicated effectively and calmly. At the same time, the peer and his aide approached us to attempt to talk and Kai was not ready to interact with the student. He was quickly becoming frustrated with both the situation, as well as his glasses were bothering him. There was also a lot of environmental stimuli that were, potentially, further promoting his disregulation.

Kai did such a great job tolerating all of these potential triggers and stayed calm (or close to it!) the entire time. Once he'd taken some quiet time in the van, he self-initiated an apology to the student, saying, "I'm sorry I lost my cool back there!" The student then apologized to him for playing on his game. It was a really heartwarming moment, as well as an affirmation of Kai's ability to avoid becoming overly disregulated in these types of situations. It was great to see this skill emerge during a situation that could have been a major trigger for him and in a very public setting.

I wanted to let you know how great he did and how proud we were to see him "keep his cool" in the community and repair with the student without staff prompting or support. GO KAI!!! :)

It was the most encouraging and heartwarming news we’ve gotten about Kai in quite some time. Is this is just the beginning of him turning a corner in being able to regulate himself?

Here’s hoping.