This morning started out well enough, but deteriorated after I went to bed. The phone rang four times while I was trying to sleep today. Three of those calls were kind of important. The first one was a scam of some kind. The last one kind of ruined the day, though.

Well, that's not totally true.

Thing is, it was Steph's assistant principal. They were having trouble getting her to go to class today. She showed up at his office third period, saying she was upset because we had argued over the weekend. This is true, we did. Because she was having one of her classic meltdowns.

He talked to her for a few minutes and sent her back to class. Only she never got there. The other assistant found her just kind of standing out in the hall.

Her principal (they have two assigned to ninth grade) tried to talk to her some more during lunch, but she wouldn't say much. Later, he found her sitting outside a classroom with an ice pack on her ankle and her inhaler beside her. After talking with her a minute, he told her she needed to get back into class. She said she couldn't. Her ankle hurt and she couldn't get up. Then she said she couldn't because she's "stupid."

We...have...NEVER...called...her...that!! We have purposefully avoided trying to make her feel that way, even though, sometimes, in the heat of one of our many arguments, things are said that are regretable. Nevertheless, we still have never called her stupid, and would never do that.

But she knows that there is something wrong with her and it makes her feel bad about herself sometimes. There have been times where an argument has ended with her saying "I don't want to be autistic."

Bless her heart. We know that. But there is nothing we can do about that, at least not right now. I believe that there are things that can be done for autism. I think that there may eventually be a cure. But I also think that our pediatric association in this country is hindering that process, along with our CDC and FDA.

But that's a different entry. Today, we have to deal with these issues with Stephanie.

I told the assistant principal that her mother and I have been afraid that this sort of thing would happen. I reminded him that she is high-functioning autistic with anxiety disorder. He understand that, and is planning to talk with the case manager tomorrow (remember him?) about putting her in a modified classroom Wednesday, with more one-on-one instruction. They would have her work brought to her and work with her in that setting until she gets more confidence and then try to ease her back into the more traditional setting.

So the phone call may have actually been a good thing.

IT'S JUST THAT I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP, DANG IT!!!

Sigh.

When you're only getting six hours of sleep in a day and the phone rings four times, it seems like it rang eight times.

Gah.

Well, that's it for now. As I close this and head for my nap, the Red Sox are humiliating the Tampon Bay Desperate Housewives, 12-1. IN FLORIDA!!!

Yeehaw!!

TTFN, y'all!

Missed anything?
The Beatles--Abbey Road/Alice Cooper--Killer - July 04, 2012
The Beatles Eponymous Album - June 26, 2012
Autism's False Prophets - February 12, 2011
Santana--Guitar God? - November 11, 2010
Tribute To the Red Sox - September 29, 2010