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Friday, July 6, 2012

Special Education Can Be Painful!

The more comfortable Billy gets at school, the more "good" moments he has. For instance, today he participated at Calendar by putting his name up on the attendance chart, and saying the date with the others. He "wrote" in his journal by pointing to pictures for me to cut out, and then pasting them on a page, he sat with the others for most of speech therapy and answered the questions the therapist asked him, and he sat with us before reading and read some site words that the teacher showed him. (He still wore his backpack all day, and kept on snatching the "HOME" symbol from the schedule, though.)
However, the more comfortable he gets, the more painful his "bad" moments get. 
By painful, I mean painful for me. Billy likes to pinch when he's angry. Apparently he saves this for those he knows and loves. Before, all he would do is slap me, which didn't hurt, and he would stop when I told him, "Quiet hands, please." I miss those days!
This is what happened yesterday when I tried to stop Billy from knocking everything off the top of a file cabinet because he didn't want to do math. 




And this is what happened today when I told him it wasn't time for a computer break yet! 


That boy pinches hard! Its actually like an Indian burn, where he grabs your arm and twists your skin. He's strong, too, for an 8-year-old. He's about chest-height to me, and he's husky.
When my dad saw, he looked alarmed and said, "You should quit that job." When my mom saw, she said, "Did you tell the principal about this?" They can't imagine working somewhere where people pinch you! I tried to explain to them that this is actually pretty common. I haven't worked with children who pinch this hard since back in the days when I worked with preschoolers with Reactive Attachment Disorder... they would also spit in your face and throw chairs at your head... but I've known plenty of other people who work with kids whose arms are always bruised up. 1:1 aides seem to get it the worst! 
Anyway, I'm kinda proud of my bruises. They're like battle scars.
I'm just glad he doesn't bite! (Knock on wood!)



4 comments:

  1. I'm always surprised at how much pinching hurts!! I have a kiddo who pinches (and bites and scratches and hits and spits...) and the pinches can be so sneaky. I've gotten pretty good at moving out of the way, but a lot of times it's definitely unavoidable.

    Kara
    Spedventures

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW! Billy's a tough kid! I have felt your pain! I am a special education teacher and have been bit, hit, scratched, pinched, kicked, and even pee'd on once!! And I still love my job!! Good luck! I'm also giving you the "ONE LOVELY BLOG" award while I'm here! Head on over to http://thebendersbunch.blogspot.com/2012/07/and-nominees-are.html to pick it up!!

    Congrats and good luck with Billy!!!

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  3. Oh Angel Read BE CAREFUL! You should not get hurt. It is not alright to hurt the teacher. Please, please speak to his planning team and make sure that there is appropriate protocol for dealing with his aggression. You should not be hurt and the only way he can survive in the world on any level is to learn there are limits. You don't want him ending up in jail.

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  4. Hi! I'm a new follower! Found you on another blog I just found.

    MrsMc
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