My 9 yr old is one of those kids that has a personality that demands as much control over his own life as possible. So much so that there are many times he has meltdowns if he doesn’t get to choose his own food for meals. We had a schedule change at the Y a couple weeks ago and he had a big ol meltdown the day of gymnastics. He gets confused when there is a schedule change and doesn’t know how to handle it or what to do. He was so upset and couldn’t figure out if he should go to gymnastics or work out with me (I gave him the choice, since I knew how hard changes are on him and he needs to have some degree of control). He refused to change out of his jean overalls- NOT a good outfit for gymnastics or working out. He finally decided he’d just sit and do nothing. I told him that even if he did nothing, he still had to change. I picked out his favorite comfy elastic pants. He changed, but was very upset. He had been in overalls for the past 5 days (he alternates between 2 pairs). It doesn’t take much for him to get in a rut and to be very comfortable in his rut and not want to change. I knew he needed to change his clothes because the longer we waited the harder it would be. After he changed I left him alone and he decided to partake in gymnastics eventually. (I have sensory integrations, too, and know what he is going through)

     I know he can’t always be in control, but I also know that he needs to have control. His sensory integration causes every day life to be frustrating and life often feels totally out of control, which is frustrating and scary for anyone, le alone a little kid. (again, I speak from my own personal experience with my SID)

 So I give him as much control as I can and teach him how to handle control and make good choices and how to organize things in a way that makes life easier.

     One thing we have done recently is make a chart for him for his school work. I used my pocket strip chart with sentences strip cut into pieces large enough for a couple words. About 6”. There is a card for each school subject; Bible, Copy work, Math, Reading, Science, Explode the Code, history, geography, lunch and a few extras Ki enjoys like his Second Grade Scholar, Mind Benders, cursive writing and I think there is another one. I put Bible and copywork up daily and a couple others sometimes. Then he chooses cards and puts them up where he wants to do them. Today I put Bible, History/Geo ( I should combine these cards into Social Studies) and copywork and cursive. He then choose cards from the two lists of cards (one is daily required things one is items he enjoys) and he added the following in this order:

READ

LUNCH

WORD CARDS

EXPLODE THE CODE

SECOND GRADE SCHOLAR

MIND BENDERS.

When he is finished with something, he goes and flips his cards over. He is now excited about getting his school done and when he’s done he checks to see what’s next. He also schedules breaks for himself. Today they were ‘art breaks’ according to him. He was drawing pictures of a lizard army for a lizard war. Different colored lizards had different functions.  He knows when he needs a break and takes a short break doing something fun, then gets back to his school work. He is doing so well with his school now. He looks forward to scheduling his day and he always includes everything required and makes good substitutions. Like for math today he choose Second Grade Scholar instead of his Miquon. He likes to choose what he does for subjects too, when he can. No more taking 30 minutes for a 2 minute math page. Me. I want him to do one math book, one page after the other, to build on concepts and be nice and neat in orderly. That’s because I have my own control issues. I guess this as close to unschooling as I’m going to get with a kid with multiple Learning Differences, LOL. It’s fun to watch him learn to organize to fit things into his life that he needs.

The boys have a Morning Routine chart. I made a chart using clip art on WORD. Ki wanted his own chart with hand drawings so the bed looks like his bed and the PJs look like his PJs. So he drew all the pictures for his own chart.