If this has been talked to death, I apologize. I'm not entirely sure that this is GT related or not. It seems to have a slant that way though.
If you recall, our DS5 (almost 6 now) went into first grade this year. It wasn't a perfect fit, but we thought it was better choice for him. Initially the only problems we had were around the fact that full day school would tire him out. Some days, after school, he would have classical melt downs. We managed this a variety of ways, including having a "brain break" after school. By November we seems to have generally worked through those issues.
Since about December-ish, though, we have started seeing some very negative behavior at home. A lot of testing of boundaries (talking back, ignoring, etc) and some hitting/kicking too. Even "Santa is watching" didn't work and we had a few pretty rough days leading up to Christmas. For his age (not quite 6) he was being very defiant. He'll find any gap in logic and attempt to use it to justify doing (or not doing) some task.
Now it's starting to happen at school. This is really what is concerning. And what is strange is that it's frequently happening during activities he likes (art class or reading time or during lunch). For example, he ignored an aide when told to go in a particular line. Later he told me "I know what the difference between needs and wants it. She wanted me to go to that line, but she didn't need me go to that line." (Stop laughing... I know you want to as did I
).
We're meeting with the teacher to talk about this recent behavior change and to understand if this is recent at school. We haven't yet been able to implement changes (the GIEP isn't complete) so I can't think that is the issue. Or maybe not having change is the issue. Or maybe he's going through something else not GT related.
We're a bit concerned as it's very challenging with him. We're not push over parents (in fact we can be rather strict). He's a good kid. Not sure if he fits into the "Spirited" category.
Any suggestions or comments appreciated. Again, not sure it's related to GTness...
Thanks.
JB
