In my class there is one kid who tends to be a bit lazy, we’re not sure entirely why, but he doesn’t have any motivation, and even sometimes gets mad about having to do his work.
I got paired with this kid, and they warned me not to get to close to him because of behaviors, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of doing this, it’s not to show fear in the face of behaviors, kids pick up on that. So yeah, he hits, pinches, and bites, but I’m not scared of that, I’ve been through it before and I know how to deal with it.
We have an hour where we leave the classroom and go to a different class for Adaptive PE, which is just a smaller version of what regular kids would do for PE. They even have actual fitness goals as well as motor goals such as throwing and agility. These goals get measured each month and written down just to see if kids are making progress or not, but of course it depends on what kind of day the kid is having.
This kid, let’s call him O, doesn’t like to do his work. So, I’ve found that if I am active with him he will do it, it’s a simple change that has helped him a lot, but there are still some bad days. One of the dangers as I already know of getting close to him is possibly getting hurt, but he knows better. In this particular situation he is entirely non-verbal, so it can’t be as easy as ‘use your words’ because he doesn’t have any at his disposal.
One day we were just walking our normal laps around the classroom for PE, and I was making him just get up and walk, just like everyone else, but he was not having it. He hauled off and hit me in the arm as hard as he could and screamed. In any normal situation the reaction would probably be to retaliate, or at least get mad, but in this situation, neither is a good option because he’s already mad, and I don’t need to get hit anymore. I stood my ground and said “You don’t hit me.” He seemed to get it because he quickly went back to walking, and did his work for the rest of the day with little complaint.
Sometimes they just need to let out a little frustration, and while I know that’s not what I’m here for, I’m always glad to see an at least happier kid once they get over it.
Work and Spirituality 