Life on a Jittery Planet

Max Waiting for the Bus

There was a good month between the summer school session and when the regular school term started. Things got  a little rough. Max was feeling a little pent in at home, and I was probably a little on edge myself. He is just so into EVERYTHING and prone to running when your back is turned.  I hate to admit there was a big sigh of relief when Max got on the bus the first day, but there you have it.

Things seem to be going well prettty well at school now. He is spending time in his mainstream class as well as the resource room and, of course, the sensory room. There was a little bit of a bumpy start to the year, but I think it was a matter of him getting back into the rhythm and working out his new schedule.

Max’s speech, as a well as his comfort with using it, is increasing slowly but surely.

One day after school he  both cranky and having crying jags. I couldn’t figure out why.  It wasnt’ until I was tucking him into bed that the words started pouring out of him. It was a little difficult to understand, but I got the gist of it,

He had three areas of concern:

1. He didn’t want to do his work at school and didn’t know why he had to.

2. He had some sort of issue with Sophie, one of our cats. I never really figured out what happened, only he did not want her in his room.

3. He was really worried about the Vikings starting lineup.  Apparently they don’t know what they are doing and need someone with some experience to teach them how to play or they will get hurt or even killed out there.

I did my best to explain to him that school work is important because that’s how he will learn new things, and everyone has things they have to do.

I told him but he needed to be gentle with Sophie and if he left her alone she would leave him alone. I also said if he didn’t want cats in his room we could shut the door.

I wasn’t sure what to tell him about the Vikings, but I did say they are big boys who can take care of themselves. They are playing a game and nobody is going to get killed for real. I said sometimes people say, ‘killed’ when they mean, ‘lose’.  The funny part is I don’t really watch sports. I can only assume he overheard someone at school or even on the news complaining about the team and he took them way too literally.

I think that highlights a couple of things about Max. He may not look like it, but he is always listening. And while his communication difficulty may lead to some  misunderstandings, he does care about people and he does have empathy.

On Saturday we went to a Fall Festival and Max surprised me with his love of square dancing, but I’ll save that for another post!