Another First and Success!

I have a feeling that this year is going to be full of firsts for my Fragile X Man. For the first time in his life, Joshua had to study for a written spelling test. In years past, he has had spelling homework and tests, but they were never written tests.

When he brought the homework home at the beginning of the week he was completely freaked out. He showed me his list of words and cried and cried. Honestly, I kind of wanted to cry too. He struggles so badly with writing in general and also with anxiety about not doing things "right" so I was very worried that he would not succeed in this task. I never want to hold him back from all he is capable of, but I also worry about pushing him so hard that he fails and stops trying. It's a tough balancing act. Of course we all want Joshua to be able to read and write. These are such important life skills, but they seem so far off no matter how we work on them.

As much as I wanted to freak out with my little guy, I decided that remaining calm would be the more grown up way to deal with the issue! (Sometimes being a grown up is REALLY hard!) We sat down at the table and worked for over an hour on writing his spelling words (the & and) 10 times each. He worked his little heart out. Everyday for the entire week we spent over an hour working on this task in order to get ready for the big test, which was going to be on Friday morning.

Come Friday, Joshua was beyond anxious about his test. He told me "I not goin' today. I knowed school. I done now." I explained to him that he needed to go and attempted to avoid a total meltdown using some of our go-to techniques. After he cried a little, he put on his super important Hulk shirt, ate his anti-meltdown breakfast (2 hardboiled eggs and a banana), combed his own hair with his special hair gel, and put on his special watch. I realize that all of these things may sound trivial. To most people they would be, but to him they help ease his anxieties. Anyway, he got on the bus without a single tear! I was beyond proud of him.

To my complete surprise and amazement, he brought this home with him that afternoon.

 

 

Not only did he make it through his test, he wrote his full name, the month AND his spelling words! Color me proud! This is a huge accomplishment and a great success for my little man. Onward and upward sweet Joshua. The sky is the limit!