Hunter: A First Grade Update

It's already the end of October and in a few short weeks, I'll have a 7 year old. Yikes! He's been planning his party for close to a year.

This school year started off pretty good. We were glad to hear Hunter's teacher this year was going to be a male. Hunter really likes him too. The first couple weeks of school Hunter insisted on wearing a tie, you know because dad wears one everyday, so I ended up making him a few. They turned out really cute too! He thinks it's just the best that his teacher wears ties too!

Last year in Kindergarten we ran into a couple problems with Hunter. The most recent one I've blogged about landed him a few weeks of counseling. As I mentioned at the end of that post, Perry and I have been wondering if he might have ADHD since he really has a hard time sitting and focusing, among other concerns. We spoke with the counselor and the school psychologist, and took a couple tests. We went over the results with his teacher and the counselor. His teacher's answers had put him in an average category, Perry's put him in an above average category, and mine were in the extreme category. I was trying to be conservative too... The only helpful thing taken from that was that they could see why we were concerned with his behavior, otherwise they had no reason to believe he has ADHD.

Fast forward to this fall....Where to begin? Robin finished up grad school in May and is working in the Occupational Therapy field. Because she's currently working in the field, she has reason to believe Hunter might have a sensory processing disorder. There is a wide range of symptoms, but she feels he'll benefit from a little bit of OT. This has been in the back of my mind for a while but I've been putting off making an appointment for him to see the doctor to get referred there. I was going to ask about it when I take him in for his 7 year well-child exam.

Plans changed a lot the other week when his teacher called me after school. He didn't see it happen, but at the lunch recess, Hunter choked a kid on the playground. Hunter had a very serious conversation with his teacher following the incident when he came in from recess and then was overly defiant the rest of day. Hunter spent the last half hour or so of the day in the principal's office. Robin and I discussed this a little bit and I decided to move his appointment up a few weeks. I then called our insurance company to see if they covered OT, which they don't. Robin suggested I check to see if the school has one. I emailed the school counselor and let her know my concerns. I was a little relieved to hear there is an OT who travels between school, but he still would need a referral.

A week and a half goes by (which was last week) and I get a call from the school principal around noon. Hunter choked another kid at recess, and since this is his second offense, he was suspended from school for the rest of the day. I was a wreck after I hung up the phone with her. Hunter and I came home and curled up together on his bed to talk. He was really struggling to remember what exactly happened leading up to him choking someone. Perry came home right as Hunter and I were finishing our talk. Hunter told him a different story so Perry called the school on his way back to work to hear the actual story. His story matched closer to the one he told me.

The school counselor called me the following day to check in. She was much more helpful than the principal was. She was going to talk with the PE teacher about getting Hunter into one of his PE groups at recess. These groups help to teach kids how to play with each other. I think his "play group" starts up this week.

By the end of last week, Hunter started his "check-in/check-out" program. He was doing this last spring and would be responsible for carrying it around all day to have his different teachers fill it out based on his behavior. At the end of the day he is scored. It's helpful to see where and what time of the day most problems are happening. Last spring Perry made a deal with him that if he could bring home 5 96% and higher in a row, he would give him a speaker for his iPod. That came and went. In his first grade classroom they have a colored clip chart. Everyday they start in the middle on green. When they make good decisions they can clip up on the chart and bad decisions clip down. At the end of the day they color their final color on their homework card to take home. We made a deal with Hunter - if he could bring home 5 positive day colors, he could have his speaker. He has gotten so close a couple times. He did it this week though! He was so proud too!

I think that's what makes his behavior so frustrating. I know he's a good kid. I just don't understand these acts of violence from him. I don't know that I should even call them violence. (We also got a letter saying he kicked someone in the groin.) When I've talked to him about his actions, he doesn't seem to understand it's hurtful to others. I'm just hoping that next week at his appointment we can get some answers. I'm probably going to be a wreck...