Victory in the Lunchroom

There have been some issues brewing at Jonathan's school. It came to a place that it needed some Mommy intervention. I prepared visual supports and updated a stagnant token system to help my son become motivated to participate and cooperate. I went to the school  to share the new plan with the teacher. I ended up staying until noon, helping Jonathan to get back on track with our expectations.

The new supports helped Jonathan to change some of his behaviors and attitudes, and the morning went amazingly well. I was so proud of him!

One challenge he has had all year has been the lunchroom. He gets easily overwhelmed with the noise level and smells, and he would often have strange and unusual behaviors! The Resource Teacher decided to let Jonathan pick 2 friends each day to have lunch with, and eat at a smaller table. Since that decision was implemented, things have been peachy! (All I knew was that there were no longer bad reports about the cafeteria, but did not know the new strategy.)

As the children were lining up for lunch, the teacher reminded Jonathan to pick 2 friends. ALL, not a few or some, but ALL the children raised their hands and exuberantly asked Jonathan to pick them to sit with.

"Pick me!!! Pick me!!!!" they all begged. Jonathan picked 2 boys for Monday, 2 different boys for Tuesday and then said, "I guess I need to give some girls a chance Wednesday." HA!!

It was so comforting to me to see that all the children clamoring to spend time with my son! And I think it helps Jonathan's self esteem to know that all the children want to be his friend.

While we were at lunch, Jonathan interacted appropriately. Laughed, listened, asked questions of his friends and stayed on topic, even when it was a subject he wasn't so interested in. I was impressed at his ability to interact and converse in a much more sophisticated way than I've observed in the past.

It was a very good day!