Uh oh, trouble at school. Jon refused to stand up straight while in his stander, folding himself over and lying on the table. After constant reminders, then warnings, he had to be timed out. After a couple of minutes, his teacher Tami went over to discuss things and asked if he understood why he was timed out.
“Yes,” he replied, “Tami made bad choices.”
“WHO made bad choices?”
Pause.
“I made bad choices.”
Later in the day, same deal, this time Jon continually jackknifed over his wheelchair, despite cajolling and warnings. Time out again. Discussion. “Tami made bad choices.” Here we go again.
Jon’s teacher suggests that it’s regression, which you sometimes see when you have gains elsewhere (and we are seeing wonderful reading and improved spoken sentences).
The theme of the day continued. When Jon came home on the bus he had gnawed a good sized chunk out of the book he was reading, something he hasn’t done in a year and a half. Sigh. I gently pointed out that means no book tomorrow. His shoulders sagged.
Inside, I asked him if any bad choices had been made today.
He immediately looked at me and said “Tami made bad choices!”
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
On the good news side, his lousy day did not hurt his reading or spelling homework–a year ago a day like this topped off by book restrictions would have resulted in crying and tantrums. He seems to have compartmentalized these things.