Playground Rules

One of the only outstanding signs of a low that Brendon shows is aggression.

Brendon handed me a form from school that had marks on it indicating he was not safe, responsible, or respectful.

The teacher in charge of recess wrote that he admitted to pushing players down to the ground during a football game to get to the quarterback.

I asked Brendon why he did this and he said he had to do it to get to the quarterback because he had to push the blockers out of the way. I told him that playing at school is different. At school, he shouldn't look at the game to win, but to just throw, catch, and run because he can get into trouble if he plays too rough as proven by the form that was sent home.

He started getting frustrated with the conversation, but I kept my cool because it would only escalate his temper.

He opened up to me some more and told me the other boys were fighting with him and that he was getting mad at them and wished he banned them from the game. I asked why he didn't tell the teacher. He said he didn't want to. But after talking to him further, it turned out that they weren't listening to his advice about not playing a blocking game. Today was the first day they played a blocking game. Usually they just play pass and run. He said if it's his ball that he brings in everyday, then he should be the one to make the rules.

That is an issue we'll need to deal with and teach him about compromise.

A little light went off in my head and I asked if he thought he was low during recess. He said he didn't know because he was never tested.

In the plan we gave the school, it states that if he shows any form of aggression or frustration, then his glucose is to be tested due to those being, most of the time, the only signs of a low that he exhibits.

I told Brendon that we would talk to the guidance counselor about making sure he gets tested during recess when he starts getting aggressive like that.

So, tomorrow, we're calling the school to go over the provisions in the plan and to make sure that each and every teacher who has to deal with him knows the steps they have to take when they see Brendon misbehaving.

For now, he has to face the consequences because after reviewing his pre-lunch number and his after recess number, there was no way he was low during the recess incident.

He's accepted the punishment and knows he did something wrong. Hopefully in the future he'll be able to finesse the team members a little better.