I just wanted to reply to this post even though it's been a while because I think we figured out a big piece of my son's issues! He needed ear tubes! I feel a bit silly because he's had them twice before but we thought he was in the clear for it. We try to keep a close eye on his ears but they were full of ear wax and ironically the old tubes were in the way so no one could see is ear drums.
In October his right ear drum burst and in November he failed the school hearing test in his left ear and we figured out that his hearing in that ear was diminished by about 30 dB. So basically, I think that at the beginning of the year both of his ears were probably full of fluid and affecting his hearing. I think that plus the big transition in schedule and expectations was causing most of the issues (although to be fair, I'm not sure why he needed to be able to hear to know that putting stuff on his and running around the classroom is a bad idea..). We got ear tubes put in over the Christmas break and also got him a chewy necklace for him to use while he's sitting and working.
Even after the ear drum burst we've seen a ton of improvement. When I poke my head in the door while I'm helping out I've seen that he's sitting still better and more engaged with the classroom. They've also started the 'meatier' part of the school year with real leveled reading and he's enjoying that more. The teacher said he's been doing great behavior-wise and 'isn't even on her radar' for behavior right now. So hooray!!
Homework at home is still hard, but honestly it's been a long day for him so I get it.
I wanted to say thank you to this group, you guys are amazingly helpful and insightful and it was awesome to get support from strangers on the internet. I wanted to put this update up in case it's helpful to anyone else reading.
