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Laying on the floor

NAS69965

I have a 6 year old with speech delay and issues with food.

My child refuses to do school work. When he begins his first piece of work at school in the morning he lays on the floor refusing to get up or listen and would say good night even though he's not tired. It's not that he doesn't understand or that the work is too hard because it's not.

The teacher has tried numerous different activities to get him ready for the day such as blowing bubbles, jumping up and down, kicking a ball, wheel barrow walks and after all this again still refuses.

The school possibly thought, maybe something is annoying him within the room. They thought ok maybe he doesn't like sitting beside someone so they gave him a desk on his own and still he refuses. Then they thought maybe a light switch or a noise is annoying him so they tried him on his own in a different room and still nothing.

The school then tried him in a room with no distractions, no lights, no noise, gave him fidget toys and still he refuses. They have tried different seats, cushions, timers, now and next boards, visuals but nothing is working. He won't even do his work sitting on the floor.

However, there are no issues when it comes to playing or physical education. He can follow a 2 part instruction such as hang your coat up and wash your hands.

Why does he do this? What is it? How can I help him manage this?

  • in reply to Peter

    Like take this guy, explosions and fire. He takes chemistry, a subject that makes most people yawn, that conjures up images of men in tweed jacked droning on in a monotone. And people watch him do chemistry for entertainment. Why? Because he’s sarcastic and has funny budget animated graphics and his demonstration incorporate the promised explosions and fire. https://youtu.be/M2YbK7FnESU

    or take this guys history of Japan https://youtu.be/Mh5LY4Mz15o

    this is edutainment. That’s what the teacher needs. To teach lessons that are both educational and entertaining. The kids should come to school every morning thinking what crazy thing will teacher do next.

  • Have they considered the possibility that the lesson plan is boring? A low tolerance for boredom is a rarely spoken about autistic trait but I’ve found it to be true. I mean it’s like he’s inferring the lesson is so boring it’s literally putting him to sleep.

    it sounds like they’ve tried changing everything else, the classroom, the seating, pre class activities. Isn’t changing the way the lesson is taught more sensible.

  • I'm confused by this - sorry. Are you saying ALL school work no matter what? Is there a particular subject he expresses interest in?

    There was a thread on an Autistic Research group on Facebook some time back, and as Autistics we reached the consensus that going to school would've been incredible if we were able to explore 1-2 subjects per week for extremely long stretches of time to just flip into a flow-state and become indulgent in the material. Instead, it's smash cut edits and quick snips of pieces of information without ground up fundamentals in ways that bring the science of things to life. Most of us might realise later in life that if allowed to learn the whole of any given thing we can become quickly attached to the wonder and awe of it and suddenly want to spend an enteral amount of time in the library reading every book on it. This is the autistic way.

    If we're not allowed this kind of learning, it can feel pointless to engage. Like someone putting a plate of food in front of you and once you have a bite, they suddenly steal it away. Imagine if this happened every single day every time you sat down to eat. You wouldn't trust them. Imagine being 6 and this keeps happening. Game over.

    Perhaps it might work if you allow him to excel at just one thing for now. Math or Spelling. We learn different. He might need to 'master' one type of understanding at a time. Is there a way to allow him to play, and let that play lead the way to what he would like to learn next. 

    I happened across this today: https://www.themarginalian.org/2013/06/14/einstein-letter-to-son/?fbclid=IwAR1ArIURNJFddFty47l1OtdHXgnnH4qdnEO5S_LZG8xIgM-iGhMYVaqnBGI

    This psychologist is amazing for all children and might have some valuable insight - www.facebook.com/peter.gray.3572