Distractions in the classroom

Over the past week or so, there’s been an increase in disruptive behaviour in the class.

One boy often takes the erasers from the tables of his friends while they’re doing exercises in their workbook, much to the annoyance of his friends. He also has thumped the hands of some kids thinking it’s a funny game. He’d also turn the page of some kids’ workbooks, or talk to them instead of doing his own work. During circle time, he’d be moving around, blocking the view of the students, messing about with something, or crawling over or in between the students, making the kids lose focus.

Another boy might be playing with the hair of other kids, but mostly, he’ll quietly entertain himself elsewhere in the class (arrange the kids tupperwares, play by himself).

During play time or in between activities, one girl has been provoking others (name calling, snatching) and often results in pushing, shoving or pinching.

The out of the box girl seems to have an increase in the frequency of her tantrums, which then requires teacher to counsel her.

So when teacher is dealing with those kids on a one to one basis (or talking briefly to me or to another teacher who walks in), sometimes, the other normally well behaved kids push the boundaries by playing chasing, or get carried away by talking louder and louder or get overly excited in play.

The teacher has a really tough job having 4 special needs kids (out of which 3 have social/behavioural issues) and that’s before counting my son. It would be ideal if all teachers were trained on managing “today’s kids”.

I’m thankful that my son has settled in fairly well into what’s expected of him in a classroom. He doesn’t run around or scream like he used to. He’s able to sit with the rest during circle time. He pays attention most of the time (not all the time). He’s been helpful in pushing in the chairs, collecting pencils and erasers from the tables or floor and putting them in the basket at the back of the class (he loves doing that). He’s happy to attend kindergarten.

But with the recent increase in noise level and disruptiveness, he’s getting caught up in it too. During circle time, if a friend next to him starts to play with him, he responds by playing with him or her too. Or if the boy is within his viewing range, and does something he’s not supposed to (eg. leave the class/play with the door/play with duster etc), my son will point him out to the teacher (Tattle tale is something he copied from other kids). If during play time the boy gets into my son’s personal space, then my son’s volume goes way up (I’ve been teaching him to use his words to say “Stop! Go away/Dont disturb me, but he’s not using it yet). In between activities, sometimes the boy invites my son to chase him around the class, which my son happily does.

Last Friday, teacher was absent. The old teacher’s aide was substituting, so there was a lot of negativeness in the air (shouting, scolding, threatening). One girl was so scared when she was called to the teacher’s table (just to check the work done) that she vomited.

The Mandarin teacher is also having an increasingly difficult time managing the class. Last Friday, only about 5 kids were paying attention. Every few minutes she’d be reprimanding someone. My son was hardly paying attention. When he went for a toilet break during Mandarin lesson, I asked him why he wasn’t paying attention. He replied that it’s because he doesn’t understand. I believe most of the kids didn’t understand too.

I’m finding it hard to help my son stay calm and grounded amongst all these happenings. In the first place, I myself find it hard to not let these things affect me. It tends to drain me out. I believe it tires my son out too.

That’s one reason I’m considering attending that Brain Gym course. Perhaps I can learn strategies to help my son cope among all the classroom stress...but I think it’s more likely to be strategies to cope with his disabilities rather than with distractions.

Today during music class, teacher taught us about staying focused/concentrating. For me, it was a very timely lesson! I very much agree with him that it’s a very important skill nowadays for kids to learn cos I’m experiencing it first hand – teacher unable to effectively deal with hyperactive/disruptive kids; teacher sometimes unable to capture kids attention; and that disruptive behaviour is getting more common nowadays.

So I will certainly try what he suggested – slowly introducing intentional distractions to the child. Since I’ve the privilege of being with him in class, I’m also going to start intervening when my son gets distracted (e.g. gently reminding him, or asking him to change his sitting place). I’ll also remind him to use his words when other kids do things that he doesn’t really like to him (e.g. squeeze his cheeks, puts their face an inch away from my son’s face). I simply have to teach him strategies to cope while I have the chance. I hope these are enough to empower him.