And In This Corner.....

Sometimes I SWEAR I am on Candid Camera! I just got a call from the school. It wasn't to tell me one of my kids felt ill and needed to come home, it wasn't Mason asking me to bring in her math book she forgot, and it wasn't the cafeteria letting me know the kids lunch money was low. No, it wasn't any of these normal, run-of-the-mill kinds of phone calls every parent gets now and then. It was the behavior specialist calling about, you guessed it, Camryn and how because her pinching and scratching has gotten out of hand and all attempts to curb this behavior have failed they have decided that from now on Camryn will have to wear gloves at school! I didn't know whether to burst out laughing or crying! Gloves? GLOVES?!
Now I have to admit, Brad and I have pondered this solution as well. But we have never taken this approach because we figured all she would do is take them off anyway. We even joked about getting her boxing gloves that lace up, but figured that could present a whole other array of problems. And Mason suggested handcuffs,seriously thinking in her nine year old mind that she had come up with a way to solve this problem. We are perfectly aware that her five fingered assaults are on the rise and we have the scabs to prove it. And we also knew that she was doing this at school, but have had no idea how to stop it.
I have had to call the office several times to let them know that Camryn needs an adult waiting for her as soon as I pull into the car circle in the morning because the safety patrols are getting attacked when they open the door to let Cam out. And despite the abuse, they all fight over which patrol gets to walk Camryn to class, as they can't help but love her, even if she leaves them bloody and wounded. And while I think it's great to see other kids accepting and loving my daughter, as a mother, if that were my patrol coming home with scratches, I wouldn't care if the kid was autistic or not, I wouldn't want my child in charge of walking her anywhere. And then, once Cam gets in her classroom, her classmates run for their lives. She has gotten them all, but has taken a liking (or maybe disliking) to one little guy in particular and pinches and scratches the heck out of him. Thank God his mother understands the obvious situation, but her son deserves to go to school and be in a safe environment and if you are in a class with Cam, there is nothing safe about it!
So, like I said, I have called the school several times to discuss this issue and FINALLY a woman from the office is coming to meet Camryn in the morning and walk her to class. BUT, in the afternoon, it's a different story. Up until now, the way dismissal has been handled is Mason leaves class five minutes earlier than her classmates and walks to Cams room. She waits there with Cams and listens to Cams classmates tell her how her sister hurts them until the bell rings and then walks Cam to the car circle, where they wait with the other kids. For the most part, I guess you could say Camryn has done well. She has been pinching and scratching but, and I know this sounds horrible, at least they are fifth graders and not as vulnerable as the little guys. However, she did get a little kindergartner a few weeks back, hooking the side of her mouth with her finger. She steals other kids food if they happen to have crackers or something while they wait, but again, nothing horrible. Lately though it has been getting worse and if that isn't bad enough, the worst thing is that when she sees me pull up, because she has no sense of danger, she runs into the parking lot towards our car with only Mason to hold her back, which may as well  be a feather tied to a lead balloon. I was so upset at the latest incident of this and let the school know again an adult MUST be with Camryn at all times when she is outside.
So, we got that straightened out and the girls were sitting away from the other kids at pick up time, close enough where Mason could still talk to her friends, but far enough away that other kids weren't within Cams reach. Well, when I got the phone call about the gloves, I was also told that dismissal was going to be handled differently with Cam as well. Instead of Mace picking Cams up and taking her to car circle, now Mace picks Cam up and they walk to the front office and wait in the conference room till Mace sees me pull in and they walk out to the car. I felt so bad for Mason when I heard this because car circle is a social time for her and she enjoyed sitting out with her friends talking till I came. Even though Cams caused problems that Mason was unfortunately left to handle, she liked being outside. Now she is forced to be different AGAIN and wait alone with Camryn. She told me yesterday that Camryn discovered the school phone in the conference room and ran over and was trying to use it until Mason wrangled it out of her hands. Although the office staff is right outside the door, Mason is still basically in charge of Camryn and it makes me so mad. Mace says she wishes she were back outside, but she will do whatever works for Cam. But it's not her problem and I plan on letting the school know that we need to come up with another plan, a plan that would have to be put in place if Camryn didn't have a regular ed sibling at school. If Mason wasn't there, then what? Unfortunatley, kids like Mace, brothers and sisters of special needs kids, often end up taking the role of an adult when they are still little themselves. I realize that in some respect, Mason will never totally be able to escape this responsibility, as this is the hand she has been dealt. And she handles it with such maturity and grace most of the time. But she is a little girl, with her own friends, her own ideas and agendas and I don't want her sisters Autism to overshadow thoses things.
I have a meeting with the school tomorrow, and I will be addressing this situation. But for today, I guess I will wait and see how the gloves thing is working out. Everytime the phone rings, I am sure it is the school calling to let me know the gloves aren't staying on and Cam will be getting fitted for a straight jacket. And if they do I will tell them to wait for me to be there, not so I can hold my daughters hand, but so I can get fitted for one too!