Meltdowns

Today I started the day at Summer School in a GREAT mood. I attended a faculty meeting last night in L.S. and it went really well. While I was exhausted from the long day yesterday, I was in a great mood. Then I was challenged...

My autistic student for the Summer was in a good mood at first. He was the only one in my first group due to the fact the other student was absent. He did very well and stayed on task, since it was just the two of us. I knew things would change when my other students arrived, but I didn't expect what was coming.

About 9:55, he still had two questions on his worksheet to do before he could go to P.E. This is typical, and I usually say "Do those last two and you can go" and he complies. Today, he did not. I followed with "If you don't get it done, you are not going to P.E." That was the WRONG thing to say. He looked at me, and started crying. I turned to help a student and I saw a pencil fly through the air from his direction. I calmly looked at him, and said, "Okay, that's five minutes off of P.E." I turned to help the other student and AGAIN a different pencil flew through the air.

Hum...

I turned and he started sobbing. I sat there and silently prayed. Autistic kids thrive off attention in this case. So, I said, "Okay, you can stay until you're calm. This is in your control, not mine. This isn't MY FAULT, it is yours." He sat and sobbed, threw his glasses (which we retrieved and I held onto) and hollered. We shut the door, stayed inside, and ignored him. At one point the B.D. teacher came in and said, "You want me to take him?" And I said, "Nah, the more attention he gets outta this, the worse it will be." He agreed and left.

The tantrum went on for 30 minutes. He doesn't like it when I pay attention to others. He REALLY doesn't like it when I pay attention to others. So, I kept on working with my other students. He cried, sobbed, tried to talk to me, and I just worked with the other students until he was done.

At 10:30, he said, "I'm ready to go back now." He was calm, and I thought, "Crud, now I gotta tell him P.E. is over."

I looked at him and said, "Okay, let's go back to class." He looked at me and said, "What about P.E."

I looked at him and said, "You had a tantrum through the whole thing. It's over now."

He teared up, but kept it together. He could tell I was done.

After I walked him back to class, I was headed back to class when I thought about it all.

I'm so THANKFUL that God listens to our tantrums and loves us through it. He is never too busy to hear us, and honestly knows me better than I know TantrumKid. While there is a difference, as I don't know what the next moment holds for TantrumKid, and God knows what my little corner of the world has in store for me, I am SO GLAD that God always listens.

He always hear us.
Speaks to us.
And takes care of us all at once.
He's never stressed out by us.
Never disappointed in us.
And loves us unconditionally.
Thank God.

As for me, I am praying TantrumKid is better tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a new day...

Life.
Is.
Good.