ALERT! VICIOUS TEN YEAR OLD WITH HYPOTONIA SLAPS PARA

Once upon a time, in a public school up the road, a sweet and gentle ten-year-old named Peter slapped his Para.

The Para promptly reported the incident to the wicked witch of the school, Mrs. Meanie, the school Principal. 

After hearing Peter, a ten-year old with hypotonia, language delays, and autism, was the “attacker,” Mrs. Meanie was outraged. Peter and his mother had been a thorn in her side for years. 

Over the years, Mrs. Meanie and Jodie had often dueled about Peter and his school needs.

Mrs. Meanie‘s annoyance and frustration with Peter’s mother boiled over, she threw down the gauntlet, setting the stage for what was about to be.

How dare Peter strike the Para! No frustrated child has EVER slapped a teacher or Para in her school before. Justice must be served!

Wickedly, she cackled to herself. Finally, she had the ammunition to get rid of them.

The police rode in on their horses, armed to the teeth, ready to put the school on lock down to protect all from the vicious ten-year old with low muscle tone.

Luckily, the police realized there was no reasonable cause to arrest little Peter, but the Para could wink, wink… file a civil case.

Mrs. Meanie was elated. “Do it, do it,” she implored the Para.

The Para was suddenly struck by a bolt of common sense and declined.

Mrs. Meanie retreated back to her cave waiting to unleash her fury once again.

This fairy tale is based on a true story.

Unfortunately, I can’t end the story with - and they lived happily ever after.

The battle to find a suitable school where the faculty/staff are properly trained still continues. 

Due to his learning difficulties, Peter had been placed in a self-contained classroom. With budget cuts running rampant in our county, proper ESE training is not on the top of the priority list and/or adequately budgeted for. This leads to a staff ill-equipped to handle potential trouble spots. They are not taught how to implement behavior modification programs within the classroom. 

A well qualified Para should have been able to see the warning signs that Peter was becoming agitated and defuse the situation.

It is my belief that children with autism hit for three reasons: physical pain, they are having difficulty expressing their thoughts and become frustrated because their needs are not being understood, or they are experiencing sensory overload. If the staff at schools are not trained to help children with autism deal with these issues in a better way, then we will end up with jails full of ten-year old boys with autism.

I have known this family for almost four years and Peter is not a violent child. He has no history of violence against the other students or school employees.

How Mrs. Meanie could have seriously considered or suggested filing battery charges against a scrawny ten-year old (who is afraid of his own shadow) is beyond my comprehension. 

Stay tuned – the saga of Peter and Jodie will be continued in an upcoming post…

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