Update: School Woes

I spoke to the school counselor, the school psychologist, and the assistant principal with regard to the two separate incidents that happened at Corbin's school yesterday.

With regard to the teacher who said she was going to stalk the students and make them do 100 push ups in class if they didn't do their work, they agreed that it wasn't the best approach on how to relay a message to their students.  The counselor spoke with Corbin and explained to him that the teacher didn't really mean it literally, and that nobody was going to be forced to do 100 pushups in front of the class if they didn't get their work done.  Corbin said that he guesses that he knew that she didn't mean him personally, but that "her face was so angry and serious".  I am proud of him for trying to take social cues from her facial expressions.  This is something that he needs therapy for and the process has been slow on getting him any sort of help.

With regard to the student that was slapped by an "assistant":  Yesterday Corbin was in a combined class due to his normal teacher not being available for that period.  There was a student who was being disruptive in class, and the substitute teacher (not his normal teacher) put his hands on the misbehaving student's shoulders and sat him in the chair behind the teacher's desk.  The student over exaggerated his movements and pushed the chair back, to make it appear that the substitute teacher was using excessive force.

The "assistant" that Corbin referred to was actually an 8th grade student that was in the 6th grade classroom helping the substitute teacher.  The 8th grade helper student became upset with the misbehaving 6th grade student and there was a verbal altercation.  The misbehaving student left the classroom and "made a gesture" to the 8th grade student, which upset the 8th grade student even more, and a physical altercation ensued. 

I advised the assistant principal that Corbin has autism and he is high functioning.  The principal was unaware that Corbin has autism and was surprised to hear it.  I told him that Corbin has a kind heart, would give anyone the shirt off his back, and that he is not a liar.  The principal told me that he didn't say Corbin was lying and, in a politically correct sort of way, confirmed that what Corbin was describing was accurate.

The thing that surprised me about all of this is that NONE of Corbin's teachers are aware that he has autism and that he can sometimes take things literally.  I was led to believe that because the school psychologist, who was provided with a copy of Corbin's official diagnosis from the MN psychologist and supporting diagnosis from the MN speech pathologist, had previously shared this information with his teachers.  It turns out that she had not, and is now in the process of emailing all of his teachers so they are aware that he can sometimes take things out of context.  It isn't Corbin's fault that he has this condition, so any accommodations that they can make to him with regard to this is going to be helpful.

Luckily, next week is spring break here in Texas, so Corbin can have a little breather from school.  I am hoping that things will get better for him soon.