Pat yourself on the back

General 

After school today Mrs Parfitt asked to have a quick chat. She said that Elliott had been upset 4 times today and that one time she thought he might have had a mild panic attack. He also had a bump on his cheek by his eye where he'd clashed with Sami at lunch time - but this was an accident. Mrs Parfitt said he'd been upset because Adam, Charlie and Marley were playing a game of Stuck In The Mud and Elliott wanted to play a different game and thought it was his turn. She also said they've been monitoring them taking turns at different games to stop upset, though she didn't seem to know whose turn the game should have been. I told her that we'd heard some talk of game choices and it being unfair. She said that he'd also been a bit restless the day before and was a bit un-engaged doing Maths today but that he'd written a really good story. She said she was going to send home some handwriting practice for the Easter holidays as good as the story was she was still finding it difficult to read. She also said that Mrs Dawson, a new teaching assistant, had walked him around the playground later in the day when he'd been upset and that this was when they wondered if he'd had a mild panic attack as he had got very worked up and was then yawning at the end as he calmed down, which is apparently a sign of regulating oxygen after something like a panic attack. Mrs Parfitt said that they'd been teaching him breathing exercises to help calm down. Afterwards in the car we had a chat and Elliott showed me his breathing exercise and we talked about him being upset and a bit distracted. He seemed totally fine. The final thing Mrs Parfitt told me about was a new initiative called "give yourself a pat on the back", which is a little leaflet they've given Elliott to write each day things that make him proud. This was mentioned in his reading record book, but I must admit I didn't see this at the weekend as I've basically stopped looking in it as there hasn't seemed to be much communication recently through that method. Anyway the leaflet was in his book bag today so we've been having a look at it and talking about good things.    

Activities

Swimming today was the last session of term (and of Stage 1 for Elliott), so they all messed around with floats and balls and had a lot of fun. After we got home he changed in to his Batman suit again and we watched some Batman cartoons before having a look together at the "give yourself a pat on the back" leaflet. Then we had muffins for tea and he did excellent bedtime reading.