Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Does hyperlexia influence behaviors? And a story about my day.

I was walking Andrew to class this morning, he stopped to drink from the fountain but ended up puking in it. We turned around to go to the nurses office. The office was just in sight and he puked all over the lobby floor (and onto my pants). As we walked into the room the nurse was trying to stop a kid from bleeding all over the floor when Andrew projectile vomited in the nurses direction. I sent him to lay down on a cot and he just kept saying "sorry for being throw up". He is such a sweet heart. I sat with him for an hour and a half, convincing him that it is okay to be sick sometimes and that the best thing to do is rest, (he wanted to go learn with his friends) until his dad came to get him. Finally I got into the class room and Jane was crying because she did not understand the directions, I got her straight on the directions (she needs an incredible amount of positive reinforcement to do anything) and it was my lunch break already. During my lunch Mahesh was running around his classroom screaming and arguing with his teacher so he had to be pulled into the special ed room. After my lunch, I went to take Mahesh to lunch. He cannot go alone anymore because he hurts other kids at his table. His teacher told me that he drew all over another kids lunch box. So he lost his privilege of eating with other children. While walking his cupcake feel into his pile of cheese and I explained to him how bad things happen to people who make bad choices. ( I am a true believer in karma, I wish he was). He ate his lunch alone then filled out a behavior sheet and I sent him to class. I then go to Jane's class and learn that she was scribbling and screaming so she was sent back to the special ed room. I went there got her to do her work by making simple demands and ignoring the things she was saying to me like "are you squawky?" We made it back to the classroom in time for a math assessment. She refused to start it, she just started laughing hysterically then yelling some nonsense. I took her into the study area and gave her the assessment privately. She cried and screamed at first, then I just told her "write the number" she wrote the wrong number every time for the first section (she does not understand this particular concept) and got everything else correct. We then talked about how she needs to ask for help when she doesn't understand stuff instead of screaming and crying. With coaching, she decided that she needed to write her teachers sorry notes. Finally we get back into the regular ed room and my supervisor comes to the door and tells me they need my help with Mahesh again. When I get into his room, he is running around the room scribbling on kids papers and laughing. His teacher and the math assistant and running after him telling him no and to stop. I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him from the room. We went to the stairwell and he filled out a behavior sheet. When I came to read what he wrote he ran out the exit towards the parking lot. I ran after him and caught him. I held his arm and brought him straight to the principals office (since we had to walk around the entire building because only the main entrance is unlocked during school hours). The principal told him that if he left the school alone, he could get killed by a car in the parking lot or taken by a stranger. Mahesh really didn't care. The principal told him that he would lose recess and told him to make good choices from now on. UGH thanks principal. Since Mahesh was not responding to any punishment, I took him to the counselor's office. She pretty much repeated what the principal said but scheduled an appointment for him tomorrow. I figure there is some emotional drive to these behaviors. We'll see what happens with that. There was about a half hour left of school and Mahesh was still being completely defiant (No I will not make good choices, laughing and refusing to follow demands) he could not go to regular ed and I could not find his special ed teacher. So he had to march in place, after a few minutes he refused to march so I made him do jumping jacks, after a few minutes he refused to do jumping jacks, so I took him to the stairs and made him walk up and down the stairs. He did this about 7 times and he was worn out. Finally he had no energy to be defiant and it was time to send him home. After school, his mother read the note I sent home about his behavior, she called the special ed teacher and told her that all of these behaviors were her fault. The night before, she had read him a story in which the child made everyone of those bad choices that he made today!

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