Gavin has his 2nd day of home instruction at the library today. He’s actually there right now and Lizze is reporting that he’s already having problems.
He’s frustrated because he doesn’t understand the clichés in the book he just read this week. I wouldn’t expect him to understand clichés much like I wouldn’t expect him to understand sarcasm.
The problem is the way he reacts. He has a physical reaction. His body gets really tense and like Bruce Banner turns into the Incredible Hulk, Gavin gets violent and aggressive. We’ve been working with him on better coping skills for many years but he retains very little.
It’s frustrating all around. Hopefully, he’ll pull it together and finish.
My son really doesn't understand his own emotions. Anxiety, fear, sadness, lonlines..they mostly come out as anger…he becomes and acts like the Beast or Hulk, and like Gavin, you can watch the transformation. I laugh because his teacher once told me he was telling her he was "pissed". He was, but he was saying he was the "Beast". Once I understood this, I started telling him he isn't the Beast, he is mad. Then we can talk about why better. It's a SLOW process and we work with an OT who endorses a Dr. Greenspan's floortime model to try and broaden his emotional development.