Temper Tantrum

Before I begin, just a few thoughts. One, I'm really going to try to keep my blog postings current. I've given myself a reasonable goal of one new post each week. I'm going to aim for Tuesday. So look out for new posts each Tuesday. On another note, I'll try to use Twitter to give brief updates or thoughts about whatever I'm working on at the moment. I will also use it to follow up on some open cases so that there can be a sense of closure (if anyone cares).

Today my director asked me if I was interested in having an intern. Of course this piqued my interest, but I wasn't sure about who I would want to be my intern. I'll have to conduct some interviews in the coming weeks.

Now onto the main story: My director was in my building to discuss a difficult case. I can't believe I haven't mentioned this case before because it is all-consuming. This child has consumed a lot of our energy so far this year. He's a first-grader, but he has these major temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Screams at the top of his lungs, threatens to run out, cries and turns into a complete mess. This has been going on since September. Well, we're going to put a stop to it.

We met with his therapist (who was clueless about this behavior), met with his mother, and we took what info we gleaned from them and developed a plan. First order of business is to extinguish his behavior that occurs after his tantrums. One would think that the episode is over once he stops crying, but no, he takes it to a new level by grabbing onto the teacher and clinging to her in an over-apologetic manner. It's quite troubling to witness it. We worked on a behavior plan that will focus on some positive behaviors that he can accomplish and will hopefully replace his bad behaviors. His target behaviors are 1) using an inside voice at all times, 2) keeping his hands and feet to himself, and 3) following his teacher's directions. My director advised that we give our new plan 3 weeks to work. We will reconvene and evaluate the results. More to come.

BBC