When Teeth Are Bared

So phone call number 3 from the principal this school year begins: "Do you have a few moments to talk about a behavioral issue?"

Talk about an offer you can't refuse.

Nic may perseverate, and it's clear where he gets it when mom says repeatedly "I don't believe he bit. He may have swung, but he never bit--not even as a toddler."

We finish the phone call with me telling the principal that I need his aide to call me. I have no contact with her--just primary autism support--and the troubling whisperings I am hearing tell me it's time I have a chat with the person who spends the most amount of time with Nic during the day.

So she calls. We talk. I wonder why she hasn't called me sooner with some of the things she is telling me and am doubly thankful I demanded the phone call. And handily, the behavior person is there, would I like to speak with her?

Oh. Yes.

So the picture emerging is that Nic is headed full steam toward a complete blowout, and as things were, it seems like everyone was waiting for it to happen before calling me in and telling me to help fix it.

I just finished my written request for what I hope will head it off before it happens and a team meeting.

I have learned--the hard way--that you don't wait until the blowouts happen. No news is not necessarily good news. Sometimes, they are just waiting for whatever it is to blow over.

But more often than not, it blows up.

I'm hoping he can hold it together while I get everything he needs in place.