Today I should like to pass on a handy hint that worked for one of my son’s and might just help someone else. [I hope?]

My youngest is a somewhat explosive person and lives his life on a hair trigger. I don’t wish to get bogged down with the ‘why’s and wherefores.’

We are fortunate to have him in a class at school where the teachers and aides are professional, intuitive, flexible and open to parental input. [amongst many other positive elements] The scaffolding of supports at home and at school assists him in his efforts to struggle through the average day.

At the beginning of the new school year, as part of his BIP [Behavioural Intervention Plan] the staff were collating information, which included the number and severity of his explosions.

I discussed the dire statistics with my speech delayed son, to try and gain a better understanding of how he felt about his school day. Amongst the snippets of feedback, one element stood out = nobody noticed the number of meltdowns that he himself avoided, managed to suppress, conquer.

Did I figure this out myself?

No.

Now that he has ‘words,’ he was kind enough to tell me.

Fortunately both my boys are numerate, rarely cheat, very keen on numbers and counting. I picked up a couple of golfing counters, small items that can fit discreetly in a pocket. We agreed that it was grossly unfair that his ability to ‘keep it together’ went unmarked. We decided that each time he met with a situation where he managed to keep control of himself, he would be able to ‘count or mark’ the occasion by moving one of the counting beads. At the end of the day when he returned home we would then be able to see how many times he had conquered and celebrate his achievement together.

We do a lot of celebrating these days.

"Cheers dears"