Gage had an awesome week. I mean, he had a day and a half that weren’t so good, but for Gage, trust me, he had a good week.

Remember the “He only tripped a deaf child” comment some years ago. That is the statement we use when we are trying to figure out if it was a good day for Gage, or just a good day for any kid. Mostly it’s a good day for Gage.

Tuesday we had Gage’s annual IEP  meeting and as usual the school has idea about how to help and manage Gage. They/We have tightened the reins, encouarged more positive feedback for Gage from the teachers, and working on getting the good messages to us when they do happen. So often, it’s hard to swing the pendulum back to talking about the good behavior.

A few weeks ago I confided with Gage’s play therapist that I was struggling with the PE teacher because Gage was really acting up in his class and I wasn’t getting any feedback from him. Turns out he wasn’t getting my bulleted lists and questions about how we might be able to change things. But the therapist pointed out that the relationship needed to change and that the teacher really needed to head that. So we made some recommendations and they seem to be working. At the end of each week, Gage is helping the teacher after school. Organizing, cleaning, generally helping. This is giving the teacher some additional to praise Gage for and it is helping re-build their relationship. He is also praising more in class and trying to ignore the bad stuff (if possible) instead of playing into Gage’s (very tiring) way of getting attention. In fact on Gage’s one not so great day this week, he only got a star for PE. When I told the teacher that he replied, “well, that works for me.” That made me laugh because I so understand it.

So, the increased meds and therapy and positive reienforcement, and management of the boy, the situation is moving from crisis to guarded. Because we know, at any minute it change.

But for today, there is enough in the good column.