Curious George has a great sense of humor. It's frequently included as one of his strengths from school and reports from specialists. But other times his observations show maturity beyond his years. And those can be fascinating, yet sad.
November/December 2010
"It's like the words can't get up the ladder to my mouth. And then the noise jumps on the ladder" - This was what he finally told one of his teachers after a shutdown at school. A shutdown for him can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to 3-4 hours. Obviously this was after a monster shutdown. I was in disbelief that he said this - not that this was what was happening with him, but that he could articulate it. For years I had felt that he would get so upset and overwhelmed that he physically could not speak. This confirmed it. His teacher told me later that when they would try to get him to talk after an shutdown one of the strategies they used was drawing. He had been drawing ladders for a couple of weeks, however it didn't make sense until now.
Spring 2011
"My body wanted to be mad, but my brain wouldn't let it" - I almost fell on the ground when he said this after a baseball practice. He wanted to join in with the boys, but then he was worried with things like we were late (we weren't; the boys were just warming up), that he stinks at baseball (his words; not mine). He completely disengaged. He didn't look mad. So while I watched this external pull back and forth with him it blows my mind what the interal pull was; in him working so hard to control his behavior.
School has shared that he has been using a replacement behavior at school - instead of turtling and hitting/kicking others he has been hitting his head. Either with his own hand or banging his head on his desk, the wall, etc. You know what he told his Aid - "At least I'm not hurting you any more". When I heard this, I started weeping at the meeting at school.
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