I’m SO ready for this break. Not that it’s really a break…..what with kids home from school and then this little thing called Christmas. But this fall has been a busy one and it’s not been easy. I’m ready to jus step off the crazy train for a moment and just BE with my family.
Today was a tough day for Siah. Any day that’s off schedule and out of the norm is tough, but this last week of school before winter break has been one filled with assemblies and parties and treats and crafts and singing…..
While that sounds fun, for Josiah, it’s overwhelming. To make it even worse, his Principal is retiring and today was her last day. He LOVES her and in a lot of ways, she has been his lifeline at the school. While teachers, friends and classrooms changed, she was always there…..caring for, championing and encouraging him.
He’s mentioned a few things that have made me wonder how much anxiety he was carrying over her retiring, but I think he’s internalized a lot more than he’s let on.
I’ve brought it up a number of times, to remind him and to allow for opportunity to process. He understands from a conscious level but I think that he’s been struggling to process the feelings and emotions.
There was an incident at school today and I don’t have all the facts, but I heard another student looking for “Siah’s mom” and when I left the assembly to see why I was needed. I was informed that they were just going to try and call me because Siah was very upset.
I found him in the stairwell, clutching the Lego creation that he associates with his Principal and acting quite belligerent.
I was almost 100% certain that his actions were entirel because he was overwhelmed with feeling and emotion and unable to process those feelings without help.
He was refusing to go back to the assembly and quite upset that people were “forcing him” to go back. The part in all this that’s so tough for me, is that this is a little boy who doesn’t quite understand or speak the same social/emotional language that the rest of us Neurotyoical People do. He looks like he should and some times, he knows enough to fake it…..but really, he’s lost and has no clue. So here he is and he’s run headfirst into an extreme emotional scenario (a retirement assembly) but add into that, that he feels devastated that she’s leaving and terrified of what the new year/new principal will bring.
Now demand that that child, who doesn’t understand the language, his feelings or the situation……demand that he face his fear and do it NOw, in the language that he doesn’t understand.
He says that someone told him they were really disappointed with him. That is brutal for a parent to hear. I don’t know that’s exactly what someone said or if it was inferred. What I do know is that what Siah received and he felt shamed because of it.
When I found him in the stairwell, he was so on edge and definitely in fight/flight mode. He was refusing to go back to the assembly and I knew that there was a bigger issue. He’s been walking around our house singing “what a wonderful world” for the past 2 weeks….and commenting about how it’s the principals favourite song and that they were going to sing it for her.
I tried to see if he would come with me but no dice. Then I asked him if he was sad and feeling upset because the principal was leaving. At that point, tears started to run down his cheeks. I asked if I could give him a hug and he put aside the Lego and allowed me to comfort him while the tears fell. I tried to convince him to come back to the assembly but he was scared and refused. I told him we could sit in the office but when we got there, it was locked. So I suggested we sit in the hallway. He agreed to that. I pulled him into my lap and talked to him a bit more about how this moment would never come again and that he would be so sad if he couldn’t sing the special song. We heard them start the song and he agreed to come inside the gym, while holding my hand, if I stood with him.
So we sang with the rest of the students. I let him keep the Lego creation. The main issues in my mind were calming him down, haveing him be apart of this very special celebration and recognizing & understanding his emotions while acknowledging that it was ok to feel sad and overwhelmed.
He told me that he was told he couldn’t have the Lego as fidget and while I understand that it’s neither discrete nor small……it’s definitely tied into today’s bigger issues.
I may come back and post some more about this more tomorrow but for tonight, I’m going to head to sleep because I’m falling asleep on my phone.
Any thoughts? Questions? Comments???