After a promising week and a half ending with a doctor's visit during a school day, the last couple days were downhill quick. Basically he has achieved next level of warning milestone at school within the last two days. Well, the first one was when the teacher said he did not follow directions because he let the folders he was supposed to hand out being grabbed by another kid, and then he felt he was wrongly blamed and threw the chart sheet on the floor. The second is an accumulation effect from a teacher over the week due to that he kept asking a curriculum question (but) not being answered and then talked to other kids during the class. The third one was that he laughed at another kid's joke during the class and got warned of not laughing first; yet the other kid kept doing it, he tried hard not to laugh and even covered his mouth with hand, but of course, it was his bad choice to laugh at the end getting him the "official warning". It is all just what DS has told me and can be just hearsay.
I really need to work hard on him taking criticism well and not throwing a fit. And I have made it clear to him that no matter he is at right or wrong, throwing a fit can only make him wrong in the end. I also have to keep reminding him not to talk to other kids during class. But when he told me the last case, he was crying badly and holding his head as if having a headache. Growing up so far, he has not lied yet, and I know that crying was not fake. I have pointed out in the past right on the spot when he tried to take less responsibility in matters. If he was trying to use today's crying to shift his responsibility, I think he has succeeded.
Oh, he has been forgetting bringing some of the homework home almost every other day, although every day when I picked him up, I asked if he had packed all his homework.
During the first week of school, we signed a pledge to get out of the program if having problems academically and/or behaviorally. At our school beginning class parents-teachers meeting, it was brought up by another parent about GT kids being GT are bound to have some behavior issues, and what are implications. The GT specialist described that they really work hard to not let that happen, especially so far no one has been transitioned out due to just behavior problem yet that (behavior) can impact academic side. The teacher said they understand kids can have behavior issues due to different reasons, but they had taught at Minneapolis school district for many years and seen plenty and they know how to handle. (This school DS is going to now is not in Minneapolis school district.)
But the more I think over the incidents, the more I wonder if he actually is having a social maturity issue as the more prominent problem. It is not like he has just turned evil-minded to have those bad behaviors to disturb other people. At the last school, even with his problem and boredom, the teachers always described him as polite and kind. I control what books he reads and what TV programs he watches, unless the book Brisingr he read last year (for AR) did something to him? Also he is very outgoing and says and acts what is on his mind. Combine that with being an 8yr-old among mostly 9yr-olds, and in a GT-expectation environment, his social skill issue really magnifies, as I see it.
Thank you so much for letting me vent here. I will keep going over the rules and reminding him. So wish I could be a fly on the wall with him at the school.
