Me?
I helped to make her sentences simpler and easier to present. And Lauren was so good - she took in our comments, was willing to present so many times just to get her words, her action all right.
On Monday, she presented her A2 poster and talk about the natural disaster to the whole class. She had to keep the audience interested for her 3-6 mins presentation. She scored an 'A' for it. A great morning for her.
Then came big break at school.
A couple of kids were playing handball and Lauren accidentally got hit by a bouncing ball.
She exploded!!!
She reacted by shouting that she was going to 'hurt' them (not sure what the actual words were) and threw her book and pen to the ground. Her pen broke as a result, which made things worse.
Sally, her Special Education -SEU - teacher heard her from the office and came to get her. Sally calmed her down. And another girl gave her pen - which was similar but not 100% the same - to Lauren to make her feel better.
How do we help Lauren when she has an explosive outburst?
Can we prevent it?
Lauren felt really bad. We know because she tells us what she should have not done and what she should have done.
After talking to Dr Johann about this, we are reminded that we must continue to run the scenarios and practise appropriate actions with Lauren, and practise them, and practise them and practise them until they become a habit.
We are also reminded that our frontal lobes, which control rational behaviour and reasoning, do not mature until we are about 25 years old! And we are also assured that new neural pathways can form for newly learned habits…
So while we have a long long journey ahead of us, and it won’t be a bed of roses, we can take time to smell the roses and know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Know that the enjoying the journey is as important as reaching the end.
On Monday, she presented her A2 poster and talk about the natural disaster to the whole class. She had to keep the audience interested for her 3-6 mins presentation. She scored an 'A' for it. A great morning for her.
 |
| Nov 2014: Lauren's "A" Project |
Then came big break at school.
A couple of kids were playing handball and Lauren accidentally got hit by a bouncing ball.
She exploded!!!
She reacted by shouting that she was going to 'hurt' them (not sure what the actual words were) and threw her book and pen to the ground. Her pen broke as a result, which made things worse.
Sally, her Special Education -SEU - teacher heard her from the office and came to get her. Sally calmed her down. And another girl gave her pen - which was similar but not 100% the same - to Lauren to make her feel better.
How do we help Lauren when she has an explosive outburst?
Can we prevent it?
Lauren felt really bad. We know because she tells us what she should have not done and what she should have done.
After talking to Dr Johann about this, we are reminded that we must continue to run the scenarios and practise appropriate actions with Lauren, and practise them, and practise them and practise them until they become a habit.
We are also reminded that our frontal lobes, which control rational behaviour and reasoning, do not mature until we are about 25 years old! And we are also assured that new neural pathways can form for newly learned habits…
So while we have a long long journey ahead of us, and it won’t be a bed of roses, we can take time to smell the roses and know there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Know that the enjoying the journey is as important as reaching the end.
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