Another day of preschool came and went yesterday. The good news: Jude is improving every day. That’s the positive news to which I’m clinging.
The preschool teacher downgraded the fits to outbursts. She said there were still a few but they quickly fizzled out.
Great! So off we went happily, Jett and I had walked to pick Jude up, so we all headed toward home. All of a sudden, Jude stopped and said he had to go to the bathroom. We were still in the church parking lot, so we ran back inside. He made it in time.
The parents and children had all left preschool and only his teacher and helpers remained. We got to talking a little more about Jude and his behavior. She said that he’s constantly improving – again, that’s great news – but she told me that he’s the only child in class that doesn’t sit still. Like, ever. And not that they’re made to sit for any great lengths of time, but even so, for one story or a few minutes of puppet time, he won’t do it.
She has no doubt that if she were to ask him to pick out a story for her to read to him one-on-one, that he would be perfectly fine being still and attentive. But in the classroom dynamic so far, nada.
And she doesn’t think that it’s because he can’t pay attention, it’s because he doesn’t want to. She also mentioned that he’s redirected easily and that he doesn’t take the redirection personally (no hurt feelings). That is not a shocker.
{The whole time we were talking, the boys are running circles around us, not ever slowing down or stopping. I guess Jett did slow down enough to hang on the coat hangers – and broke one of them off. Urgh.}
I don’t know if it’s the newness of preschool and a schedule or if not doing what he’s told in class is his way of being defiant. I highly doubt that it’s because he doesn’t have the ability to focus on what the class is doing.
Bottom line, I think it’s too early to tell right now. We’ll watch it and keep talking about it. I don’t know how to work on these missing skills at home or if it’s even something that needs to be worked on. It’s very interesting to me… I expected him to be very "into" preschool activities with his peers. And don’t get me wrong – he LOVES it and gets very excited about going – but maybe he only likes craft time and playing outside and would rather throw story time and puppet time out the window?
Can anyone relate?