Gavin’s been in a really good mood today. He’s usually a good mood kind of person but today was a bit different.

I’ve been working with Gavin for years on being able to goof around. He’s so serious all the time, and if you try to joke around or tease him a little, he tends to freak out.

We’ve been practicing making stupid jokes and some harmless, good-natured teasing.

The idea behind this is that Gavin can loosen up a bit and better understand the difference between goofing around and being made fun of. Gavin tends to take everything personally, and that’s not always the appropriate response.

It’s similar to knowing the difference between someone laughing with you and someone laughing at you.

Anyway, this morning, I made a joke and Gavin sort of played off of it. We ended up going back and forth for a few minutes, and he did awesomely. It was pretty straight forward but seemed to enjoy the exchange. I could tell when he grew tired of it because he started getting upset, but progress is progress.

I guess the whole point is to help Gavin better read the room around him. I want him to understand better if someone is joking around with him and be able to have fun with it. I also want him to identify better when someone is actually making fun of him or being mean so that he can remove himself from the situation…

These are just somewhat random things we work on with him to help him better navigate life and those around him.