Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion behavior problems in school

Hi,
So sorry you're having this problem--unfortunately (as usual) I don't have anything too helpful to add, but your son sounds a lot like my nephew who is 7 and the family's solution was to pull him out and homeschool. Actually he was doing more of the hitting stuff and overreacting to other kids' breaking the rules than the other things you describe (although he did that crawling under the table thing once or twice), but it seems pretty similar to me. I guess he just has trouble controlling his emotions when other people aren't following the rules, plus sometimes he really wants people to play a game a certain way and they aren't interested, and again he overreacts. He tests HG+ but hasn't (hadn't) really complained about the pace of the work, but then again he was in 1st grade so you might not expect that. They're going to try social skills group and also interacting with other homeschoolers for social skills practice and hope he grows out of it in a year or two--which they think he will, since my sister did (she says--I really can't remember). They had also gotten an independent evaluation from a (private) psychologist basically saying just that (that he would grow out of it, and making specific suggestions about how the school might help him--seating near the teacher, standing near the teacher in line, maybe special work if he was bored) but the vice-principal who was the point person was getting pressure from other parents (about the hitting, even though nobody was actually hurt) and the new school district psychologist said she didn't believe the independent report. It seems like maybe the school district can't just do that (legally), but anyway the upshot was the parents thought their efforts were better put into homeschooling since they have that option (rather than fighting the school district, etc.). This just happened so I don't have any useful information about what did or didn't work--sorry. But good luck, and please post if you figure anything out. A number of people with more experience suggested that the parents get him an IEP, in which case apparently he could not be kicked out for behavior corresponding to his disability. But I'm not sure how they would have addressed his disability--my sister was afraid they would isolate him and that that would have been even worse. Maybe you should see what happens with the report you're expecting, and what they suggest--although hopefully he doesn't get in more trouble in the meantime. Best of luck; I'm really sorry you're all having this problem.