I Hate Mondays

Nathan had another meltdown yesterday. Sounds like he never even made it to class. He got inside his locker, was growling, and wouldn't come out. When he finally came out, he came out swinging (his backpack). They dragged him off to the Principal's office (literally), and restrained him there.

In speaking with the principal, she said we must find a way to stop the Monday Meltdowns. I said that I thought this might have happened because they changed Nathan's seating arrangements. (Now, they didn't just switch things around and not tell him. He was well prepared for the change in advance, and they went to great pains to make sure Nathan was comfortable with it, and ended up sitting where he wanted to, and even put a boy at his table that is a friend of his. It should have gone smoothly, in theory.) But perhaps we didn't time the switch well. Mondays are always hard for him, and perhaps this was just a little too much to expect from him on a Monday...? Change is always difficult for him, plus the difficulty he has transitioning between home and school on Mondays, plus the early morning chaos that goes along with getting off the bus and the ringing of the bell and the push and shove of kids getting to class... Maybe it was too much for him to handle.

The principal responded that Nathan was just going to have to learn to deal with change. Change is a part of every day life, and he'll just have to cope with it.

I was thinking to myself, if he could "deal with change" he wouldn't have a disability, now would he? Sigh.

Later on, in talking to Nathan about why all this happened yesterday, he did tell me something interesting. He said that a boy was kicking him, after they got off the bus, while they were waiting to go into school.

Now this was interesting for a couple reasons. For one, no one told me anything about this, when they were talking about Nathan's 'unexplained' meltdown. They knew - he told his para (aide) about it. Seems to me, if he's getting picked on and kicked first thing in the morning, and immediately afterward crawls into a locker and won't come out, that this could be, um, significant. Don't ya think?

For two, what was he doing 'waiting to go into school'? According to his IEP, he is supposed to go into school 10 to 15 minutes early, to avoid the mad dash of kids going into class, to avoid the noise and the hustle bustle, to avoid the pushing and shoving. It's also supposed to give him time to adjust to being there, calmly, and help with the transition from home to school. He is supposed to meet with his para (aide) and go over his schedule, and be given the opportunity to ask any questions he might have about classwork or homework.

This apparently isn't being done.

(Doesn't anyone actually read the IEP anymore?)