Had the conference first thing this morning, and it turns out the hair pulling wasn't even the main thing. They're more concerned that he's really not talking at school and only interacting with the teachers, not the other kids. (I'm slightly miffed that they didn't mention this when setting up the meeting and instead were focusing on the hair, but that may just be displacement on my end.)
DH and I were really surprised, because the kid they described is so different from the kid we see at home. They said that he only says two words at school, and I can't even list all the ones he says at home. And he loves doing stuff with us at home, so we didn't really know that he doesn't participate with the other kids. They suggested that the hair pulling was possibly a combo of frustration at not being able to say what he wants to, and maybe a tactile/sensory thing, and they also think that's why he's kind of withdrawn at school.
They have a speech therapist and an OT who come to school on a set schedule, so they're going to have both of them evaluate him in the next week or so, and then we'll see what their recommendation is.
Y'all, I know this is not a big deal. It's a Thing, but it's not like he has one of those life-threatening childhood diseases you read about. I get that in the grand scheme of childrearing, this is really nothing to panic about. They'll evaluate him, they'll determine if he needs speech therapy and/or OT, and if he does, then we'll get started. He's 18 months, so I imagine if he ends up doing therapy, we should see progress pretty quick.
I know all this, but I still kind of want to go home and have a good cry, even though I don't think this really entitles me to one. Also, I picked the worst possible time to start doing Weight Watchers online again, because I totally want to stress eat right now. I have a banana, which is a nutritious and whatever (and zero points), but what I really want is chocolate.
ETF words
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