Thank you so much for the kind words. I'm at work now, but had to check to see if anyone had time to offer up some of those! Just what I needed. Thanks guys!
I wasn't home when son picked out the easy book. I had run the 2 year old to daycare. Who cried and had to be pulled off my leg <sigh>. It was my husband who had that exchange with son while I was gone. Had I been there, I would have said, fine, lets read this one then get another. Although I was actually thinking we'd clean up his room a little before doing any "academics." My husband takes a different approach with him and son responds quite differently with dad. Typical I suppose of any kid. But I hadn't really thought about how he might have picked something he really liked (the one he chose used to be a read over and over book)that would have been relaxing and enjoyable. After his emotional meltdown, that makes perfect sense.
It is hard to know how much of his "I don't want to do that homework" is truly boredom and how much is just wanting to do other things. But then I think the other things he wants to do are generally more cognitively stimulating. Even the cartoons he likes are more stimulating than the math homework he brings home! How do you sort out if it is just manipulation to get out of doing anything he doesn't want to do?
This is ironic, because I am always telling parents of kids with SI disorder that little kids this age aren't typically trying to manipulate in the bad sense of the word. I always see behavior as the child trying to meet their own needs that they cannot articulate. Isn't it odd that I am having a hard time realizing that with my own son? I suppose it is because these are needs that I've not dealt with before. Unlike kids with SI problems, I really don't understand my own son's needs. They aren't SI related. I really need to work harder to apply what I know as an OT to my own son.
Thanks for sharing and the insight you've provided. Helpful as always. Now off to do some "real" work.
