Update on Little Prince

I had a meeting with Little Prince's teacher yesterday morning, which went very well. She likes Little Prince and wants to do her best for him, and it probably helps that out of the three boys who are having behavioural issues in her class at the moment, Little Prince has involved parents who are supportive of what school is trying to do!! Anyway I explained about Little Prince panicking that I have gone to Ethiopia everytime I go anywhere, being unsettled still after our chaotic Christmas, being scared and feeling he has to do what the other child says (ie kick someone or the child will punch Little Prince) and how easily led he is by who he is with. The teacher agreed that she had seen that if he plays with the quieter children he plays quietly, but if he plays with the loud children he plays loudly. We chatted about what the Speech Therapist had observed and the teacher agreed with some of the assessments made, but she also was very reassuring that Little Prince interacts appropriately with his friends and shares his toys, takes turns etc. I felt much better hearing that as it confirms what I feel about her labelling of Little Prince ie he does display autistic-like behaviours, but only when he feels threatened (asked to perform when he's scared of failing) and unsafe (in a totally unfamiliar environment with a non sympathetic adult who didn't try to engage him). At school where he feels safe (after a huge battle but we have finally got there, thankfully) and has sympathetic teachers and staff who he feels like him and can keep him safe, he behaves much more appropriately, most of the time anyway!! His teacher explained a bit more about the behaviour chart, and said she is using it to praise and really concentrate on all the positive behaviour that we know he can be capable of. He responds very well to praise and positive encouragement, so I think this will be a good tool.

Little Prince's teacher is going to chat to me after school most days, so that we both know what is going on and also so that Little Prince is aware that we are talking and both know what goes on! Today's report was mainly positive, he behaved very well during the morning. The class were doing mental maths, and Little Prince had one of the older children helping him - he would tell her his answer and she would write it down for him. However, he did play "the fighting game" during one of the playtimes and had to go inside to write lines, which with his dyspraxia would be an achievement in itself!! I pointed out that autistic children (and attachment disordered children, but she could understand and relate to the former!!) find the unstructured playtimes very hard to handle and that he was going to need a lot more supervision and structured play to be able to get through the playtimes. She explained that the dinner ladies are currently undergoing training in structuring playtimes and that should help him tremendously.