We are thrilled that his 1st grade teacher decided to loop to 2nd grade. About 1/2 of the students are the same as last year. We all pat ourselves on the back and prepare for a smooth year.
An Occupational Therapist friend teaches P to ride a 2 wheeler in 2 sessions. He bikes around and around the block for a half hour or more nearly every day after school.
We are blindsided (teacher included) when P begins to bolt from the classroom when he gets stressed. He is beginning to realize that his peers can do things he cannot do. He feels like a failure. Writing had become increasingly a battleground. We institute a ‘safe place’ in school and issue him coupons he can use, no questions asked to leave the classroom and go to the safe place. His teacher does a behavior chart with him and he can earn points for not using his pass. It takes all fall, but he slowly begins to feel safe in the classroom again and uses the passes less and less.
We experience the same problem in Sunday school, but the teacher is less savvy at handling the situation. P is like the ‘canary in the coal mine’ for strong emotions and stressful environments trigger a fight or flight response, even when he is not involved in the stressful event.
