John does pretty well in group band and group choir performances, even under heavy sensory load.

Opening cocky, then froze. Ms. Melanie coming to re-direct him. There is less structure in a solo performance, and he may have blanked out the previous performers. Working memory is something we continue to build.

Which explains a lot about his motivation, mindfulness, self-regulation and personal choices.

Social-emotional learning (SEL).

Much harder for him to concentrate and care when (boring) daily solo practice at home calls his name.

Pressure is on for his third public piano recital.

He was blowing it off, and my words were going nowhere.

But having a talk with Ms. Melanie about the rapidly-approaching day helped a great deal.

Is he absorbing her words of semi-tough love?

He at least chose to really try with the fingering.

And Yankee Doodle sounded a lot more like Yankee Doodle.

Does he understand the consequences of a poor public performance?

In a group, easier to self-regulate because of peer-modeling and more structure.

Epilogue:

He survived the public recital, doing better in the pre-rehearsal on stage

than he did when the pressure was one.

Funny thing: he opened with cockiness, not shyness.

That surprised me.

And then he sort-of froze.

John doesn’t usually freeze or display cockiness

when he is following neuro-typical peers into the battle of performance.

Because he has a first-class re-direct available:

“Do what the other kids do.”

Listening better to teacher Ms. Melanie. He knows recital is coming.

He and I talk about “matching the other kids”.

We continue to work on his mindfulness of

time,

money,

what he needs to do,

and

Building “spider fingers” neural pathways.

when.

His mindfulness of his peer models

is stronger than his inner compass.

So, we have a lot to keep working on!

And we shall.

Peace be with us, and maybe this helps in your house,

Gayle