Elsewhere in the Classroom

Aside from the issues with security at the school, yesterday was also our parent-teacher conference with Ms. A in the evening.

About a week ago, Ms. A sent home his first assessment of the year, but mentioned that he’s been displaying more disruptive behaviors in the classroom.  This was entirely new, based on how he’d acted last year, even if there are a lot of things that have been trending in the right direction.

For instance – she’s been reporting to us that he’s saying hello to his classmates without prompting in the morning, that he’s doing alright in his group activities, and that he’s being a more active participant in class.  These are all good things in the long run.

On the other hand, apparently he’s been screaming a lot more too, and getting out of his chair without direction.

We’ve seen the screaming before – it’s his default behavior when he doesn’t want to transition between tasks at home.  We’d not seen it outside of the family so we’d thought, perhaps a hint naively, that we’d be lucky and it was something that was only reserved for us.  Further, the getting up in class isn’t something unexpected, but he’s apparently just needing more sensory input.

His OT has apparently suggested some pressure massage on a schedule to give him enough of a sensory diet during class, as well as putting rubber bands around his chair legs so he can give himself sensory input when he needs it.  And when he’s seated, it seems to be working.  There’s an issue of what to do when he’s in circle time, but they’re still working on it…

We’re also exploring a few other ideas – weighted vests or lap pads, things that we can either use at home or send in to help him out.  I have to wonder, though, how much of this is going to work against our goal of getting him into a mainstreamed classroom for a few hours a week…

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