A little over a week ago my wife received a phone call from the principal of the school which K attends telling her that K had been in a fight at school. Obviously alarm bells immediately go off as although K is big for his age he is in no way capable of defending himself from a physical attack.
Luckily K was not injured at all. The problem for us arose from the differing reports we received from the school principal. When he phoned my wife he told her that K had retaliated to being sworn at and pushed around. However, when I rang the school I was informed that K had started the "fight" by grabbing a much older boy around the throat and leaving some very serious marks but "not to worry as the other boy's parents do not want to push the matter any further"....two entirely different stories from the very same principal. the man responsible for the welfare and education of my autistic son.
As a result of the fact we couldn't really get to the bottom of the facts as K didn't want to talk about it and from the conflicting stories from the principal we decided best to leave the situation rest. However, we asked the principal to contact us immediately if there were anymore issues or indeed if K's behaviour continued to deteriorate.
As of this morning neither my wife or I had received any calls.
As an aside to all these events K's class had been preparing for a camp to a nearby place where there are dinosaur fossils/tracks. Dinosaurs are K's "autistic obsession" and he was exceedingly excited at the prospect of the camp.
Unfortunately he will not get to experience that camp as his class teacher chose this evening, outside of school hours to phone home and inform us that K could no longer go on camp as his behaviour was so poor that the school could not cater for him on the trip. Strangely enough though the school had told my wife that he would be no problem on the trip and neither her or I have received any phone call from the school in the interim, as promised, outlining any deterioration in behaviour. Therefore we are left to wonder what has happened in these past 7 days that changed their minds??
Now, let me first say that this school has been exceptional to this point in their handling of Keiran and his current teacher the most understanding and helpful of all. We are also well aware of the challenges an autistic child can put on other people. That is why we spoke with the school when the camp was first brought up as we doubted whether it might be suitable for K being away from his family on such a potentially stimulating trip. They assured us he would be fine and they were comfortable with him attending. We gave them every opportunity to take the easy road out and not let him go on the trip. Instead they chose to allow him to get excited and then chop down his dream at the final hurdle.
At times like these there is no reasoning with him though I am so proud of him because in days gone by he would have thrown himself on the floor and banged his head as hard as possible. Tonight he had a little cry and then turned to his Mum and I and said "it's ok".
K is not going to school tomorrow. I have decided for one day at least the school does not deserve to have his presence. It is school holidays next week and K and Dad are off to those very same dinosaur tracks for probably a far better experience than he would have had with the school.
Let's Talk About Autism!!
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