A Challenge With Colin: Down Syndrome Awareness Month (16-17)

As Colin has matured through the years, especially through this past summer, we have noticed that when it comes to compliance, his behavior has significantly improved. If given a direction, especially when it requires him to transition from one task to another, he is much more likely to comply than in the past. For the most part, he is also pretty easy going and goes with the flow from day to day.

However, what we currently find the most challenging with him is when something "sets him off" whether it is because he is tired, not feeling great, hot/cold, or just not how HE wants "it" to go. The way he handles things can be difficult because he is very rigid and set in his ways.

Example #1 (see first picture) - When we were at the pumpkin farm the other day, he got overheated/tired and just became "done". When he was told what the plan was for the rest of the time there, he didn't like it and as you can see, just sat down. He also got a little whiney about what was taking place. While this is pretty typical of kids in general, he is rigid in that it's hard to get him away from what HE has in his head.

Example #2: Tonight he was asked to clean up at bedtime. He was asked several times. He just kept ignoring us because he was set on building a "Hulk" out of the Legos he was playing with. I knew that even if I told him he wasn't going to be able to read a book if he didn't clean up, he would still continue to do what he was doing so I sat down with him and very sternly told him to start cleaning up and was helping; he still ignored me. I raised my voice and then he started to get upset as he started angrily throwing the Legos into the bucket (in a way that actually made me giggle on the inside - it was such a "typical" kid thing to do). Here's my favorite part which speaks to his maturity; in the bathroom he apologized for not listening on his own without ever being prompted to do so. And then, the rest of the night went pretty smoothly.

So while he is difficult at times because of his rigidity, he is also growing up and changing in so many ways. Daily, I am amazed at how far he has come!