Author Archives: carl

>*$(%*& School!!!

>By M’s standards, he had a good week. Unitl 2:30 pm on Friday afternoon. He rolled his pencil away and said he didn’t want to. School ends at 3:10. Couldn’t we just let it go.

Nope.

Got a call at 2:50 that the sheriff was at the school for M.

Seems that after M said no, someone who doesn’t work with him, got involved and leaned on the table using her fists to hold herself up. (which some would consider a threatening position.) To quote the teacher who is working with M, he vacated which is the term that we use to describe what happens to him when he has a manic episode. It took two people to restrain him, and one person got bit in the process. The person who got bit was the person who doesn’t work with him and who helped (in my view) escalate the whole process.

The school followed the IEP in that they called me, couldn’t reach me, so called the sheriff. Reports were files, and now M has another assault charge pending.

I asked for a copy of the report since M is a minor. Was told that one of the teachers who wrote a report was uncomfortable with me having a copy of the report.

I have been in touch with a number of people and agencies since this happened.
I have been in touch with Protection and Advocacy. I have been in touch with the Sheriffs office to get a copy of the report. As a parent of the person charged, who is a minor, I feel I should have a right to receive the statements. I have been in touch with M’s probation officer. I have been in touch with the psychiatrist.

I even tried to get in touch with the superintendent of the school.

M has mental health issues that the school knows about. Someone approached him in a manner that he saw as confrontational. (even unconsciously) He is not innocent. I am not say that he is.

M is on three days of out of school suspension.

Early next week, we will be demanding meetings with the superintendent, we are hoping to bring protection and advocacy. We are hoping and planning for M to be reinstated.

For the record, the probation officer (PO) gave me her opinion. She doesn’t think that the school is doing enough for him. I explained to the PO that we hadn’t her from Partnerships yet. I also explained who all I talked with as a result of this incident.

>manic episode behavior

>Another thing M likes to do when he is having a manic episode is throw himself around. I have seen him throw himself at the wall, or bring himself from a standing position to a horizontal position in mid air, then letting himself fall to the floor. I have seen him land on his head. Then if he knows no one but you saw him do it, he will accuse you of hurting him.

We used to think that his brothers and sisters were beating on him, until we saw him do that.

>manic episodes

>At least once a day M has a manic episode that causes him to explode in anger.

I am trying to teach myself how to defuse these episodes. It starts by not allowing him to push buttons. Walking away or listening to an mp3 helps.

The theory being that if I don’t feed the episode he can’t explode. Started just letting him have things that he takes. Will deal with the consequences of his actions later. Far better to avoid the confrontation now then to have the stress of the extreme blow out now. He hates it when I do that, but it also seems to be helping with the problem. Once I am certain that he is past the blow out stage, then we deal with the consequences of taking things that don’t belong to him.

M is a master at manipulating the environment to suit his emotional needs. Seems like if he wants a confrontation bad enough, there is no getting away from it. Once he has it, everything is fine.