We Are Never Doing That Again

It’s been less than a week since the power came back on here, and I think we’re all suffering a little from Tad-induced PTSD after the windstorm and power outage.

Honestly, I can’t think of a rougher start to a school year for these guys.  They each have something new and different and stressful going on, and adding in the freak storm and the stress of the power being out for days just did not help.

Tad, who really really really REALLY hates power outages, is slowly making the transition from his beloved Mrs. S to his new teacher, Mrs. McW.  She is a completely capable teacher, and there are only 7 kids in the class.  Tad is just having to adjust to new routines while craving the comfort of familiar faces.  Mrs. S is right next door, which lets Tad see her every day, but he knows it’s not the same.  The one thing he complained to me about on the very first day was “I don’t have a schedule.”  Now, he does have a schedule – what he doesn’t have is that schedule on his desk, every day, and the ability to bring it home and tell me about his day in a structured way.  I did talk to Mrs. McW and she said that there will be individual daily schedules for the students very soon, just as soon as times for speech and OT/PT are settled.  This will also help Tad, as he will get to spend time with his school speech therapist, Mrs. E, who has known him for the last 3 years.  So, help is on the way for Tad – it just never happens quickly enough to satisfy him.

And then there’s Rerun.  I got a phone call from his teacher, Mrs. L, on Friday afternoon, to let me know that he was coming home with a hickey that he’d given himself on his arm during a time-out/cool-off moment out in the hallway.  That sound you hear is me slamming my head into the keyboard.  Mrs. L tells me that Rerun is coming to school happy and excited each day, but wants to sit in her lap all the time.  “We’re working on it,” she tells me.

You’d think that Ane would have an easier start, but not really.  She had been hoping all summer to be placed with her favorite teacher Mr. R, who she’d had for 5th grade.  He was going to be teaching a 5th/6th split class, and we had applied to let Ane be in the 6th grade part of that class.  The class was canceled ten days before school started, due to a huge enrollment surge at the last minute in the 5th and 6th grades at the school.  So Mr. R’s class was changed to be only 5th grade, and a new 6th grade teacher was hired.  Ane was disappointed to learn that she would have been with Mr. R, and now would be with a brand-new teacher that no one knew.

I met the new teacher, Mrs. N, at the open house.  She seems perfectly nice, but she was also 37 weeks pregnant, and informed us that her due date (with baby #2) was in mid-September.  Cue the mental brakes in my head.  Mrs. N has gone on to assure us that she will have everything planned out for a long-term substitute teacher, and will only be away on maternity leave for six weeks, and hopes to be back at the end of October.  Anyone else suffering from mental whiplash at this one?

Ane tells me that Mrs. N is very, very nice, and her resume indicates that she is an experienced teacher.  It’s just a shame that she’s not going to be around much after this week – and I will actually be surprised if she makes it through this week.  She definitely will not be there next week.

I have little control over the kids’ teachers, and placements, and Rerun being in afternoon kindergarten (which creates a scheduling mess for me on certain days).  So I am going to control what I can.

We are buying a generator, because I’m never going through three nights of a power outage like that again.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2015 at 12:58 am and is filed under Autism Adventures, Children, School Days.
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