As of today, my son's situation is much better. And I'm even giggling a little.
We are pulling him from school for two weeks of district assisted at-home instruction. (A teacher will come to the house for an hour a day.) After that respite of about two weeks, we'll examine where to place him.
What we know right now is that he's never going back to the class he just came out of.
After I wrote yesterday's post, I went to school to volunteer at the book fair. While I was there, the psychologist came running through the library saying, "There's an emergency in your son's room." Eh. OK.
My son walked out with the psychologist, calm and quiet, and asked me if he could go home.
"Yeah, sure, kid." The psychologist went back to class to get his backpack--when she returned she told me that he had gotten upset, had tried to leave class so that he could go to the office. (Which is what He's SUPPOSED TO DO!!) The teacher stood in the doorway, so he headbutted her in the belly. The psychologist said the teacher was really upset.
Ok, whatever, I really couldn't care at this point. Let's just go home.
Last night I had two phone calls show up on my caller ID which were from the teacher's home number--I didn't get to them before the answering machine and there were no messages left. Hmm. Wonder what she wants.
This morning I discovered (because I'm a board member, not because I'm a parent, and the District did try to prevent me from finding out, but someone said something odd on another phone call so I asked the Superintendent what he meant) that the teacher has claimed that my son assaulted her. WTF?
The Superintendent then called her a dingbat.
The Superintendent told me that she's not filing a formal claim, but that the District has to investigate anyway. Then the Superintendent called her an idiot.
I shouldn't laugh, but man, there's a certain relief which comes from someone in authority calling someone you're angry at names. (Heh Heh. Dingbat. Heh. Heh.)
And I also found out who's going to be coming to the house to teach my son. HAPPY DANCE!!! My daughter's beloved, best-teacher-ever, fantastically talented, Tinkerbell collecting, former third grade teacher. We love her. We get her presents from Disneyland whenever we go. My daughter still visits her class from time to time to get chocolate kisses from the "I'm A Great Student" basket.
Today it rained for the first time this season, but the sun is shining in my house.
8 comments:
YAY!
You must be SO relieved.
For what it's worth, I meant to tell you yesterday that I think you did exactly the right thing pulling him out and going to the beach that day and now I'm so happy you're found a workable compromise until you can sort things out better. Neither one of you needs to be under that type of stress.
I am SO glad things are working out better for you and your son. How frustrating it must be to go by the guidelines only to have a "dingbat" screw around with them!!!
Great!
What a RELIEF.
That teacher sounds like something out of Stephen King. I mean with the singing and whispering--gives you flashes Annie Wilkes from Misery.
Megan--yes!! Yay!!
Bev--Thanks. I can't tell you how much this kid's demeanor has changed in one week of not being in that class. He's smiling again. He's walking with a straight spine--not all slumped over. He's sleeping better. He's back to cuddling with us and giving hugs, rather than leaping at my neck with a stranglehold. The difference from Monday/Tuesday to Saturday is night and day. (And he's making fart jokes again. Somehow I didn't miss those...)
Kristie--dingbat, dingbat, dingbat. It's my new soothing mantra.
Marianne--:)
Kate--You know, Annie Wilkes isn't too far off. I met with the Director of Special Ed to get some forms signed and she started throwing phrases around that curled my hair: "torturing kids", "cruel idiot", and my favorite observation, "It's easy to be a great teacher when you have a classroom of eager, well-prepared kids. These guys don't understand that you can't torture a kid into participating in the lesson plan you came up with on your couch. A great teacher teaches every kid who walks in the door--or asks for help with the ones that baffle them."
Phew!! I'm so glad he is away from that twit.
Assault. What a moron!!
I hope that you guys can find a solution that helps your son excel. My Godson is fighting an uphill battle and really the diagnosis for him is so multi-layered that when Sue said to the school board, 'surely you have dealt with something similar before' her answer was 'uh, no.' We know there is ADHD, anxiety (now both are medicated) and then there is a processing thing. His brain intreprets things differently.
CindyS
Cindy, your godson sounds a lot like Saul. Mine's got all sorts of things going on, the greatest of which is that he's really smart, and he's gotten into the habit of refusing to do things he doesn't want to do.
So is he refusing because the thing messes with the way he processes the world? Or is he unable to figure out the best way to do something because of the way he processes the world, so then he refuses? Or is he refusing to do something because he doesn't want to, and he's using the behaviors which have worked well for him in the past?
Those are all three different situations, and none of us can quite figure out which it is.
Sigh.
(I think he's going to start some anti-anxiety medications soon which should help overall.)
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