Thursdays are gymnastics day – I pick the Monster up from school at the end of the day (rather than his riding the bus home) and zip over to Rebounders to let him get some playtime on the equipment with one of the wonderful instructors in the I Can Do It Too program, which is a good cover for his getting at least some PT that the city’s not giving him.

This afternoon, his instructor Ms. J suggested that we start considering the idea of putting him in a small group session rather than one-on-one like he has now.

It was never really intentional that the Monster has one-on-one time.  I happen to just be able to get him over there before most other parents can, and it just facilitates an easier transition to his evening schedule afterwards, since there’s theoretically time to do homework before the wife leaves for choir.

But the other thing that one-on-one means, aside from someone concentrating on him, is that there’s someone there to rein him in when needed.  He has a tendency to run away at times, and having Ms. J free to chase him down or call him back has been good for keeping him from causing trouble when he’s taking out into the big gym.

Apparently, he’s been getting better about listening and not running off, and he’s started to show at least a little interest in other children and what they’re doing.  Since ICDIT has groups with kids around his age, she offered the suggestion that it would give him some social interaction to mix in with the physical skills, especially as he’s been showing more willingness to follow directions.  I have to admit that the idea is at least a bit intriguing on a lot of levels – I want him to have social practice, and these kids are having similar issues to the ones he’s having.  Plus it’s a sport activity, and I’d like him interested in that as a venue where he can make friends… and it would be nice to see him interested in kids other than his brother and cousin.

Since we’re closing in on the end of the school year – meaning we’re about to take a two month break from gymnastics due to schedule issues – we’ll probably not do anything about this before August, but when you look at the idea plus his almost definite move to a regular classroom… it’s going to be an interesting time in socialization land.