THE Phone Call

Yesterday was interesting.  Son 1 was so sick that we had been at the hospital for the second morning in a row.  Worry combined with sleep deprivation had been working together to devour my sunny disposition and were nibbling at my sanity.  My cell phone rings just before noon, and since it is chiming out the Imperial Death March, there is no doubt who is calling.  I say a few choice words before I answer, knowing that I'm not likely to enjoy this conversation.  "SuperMom, this is Mrs. Principal."  Yes, THAT call.  The one that every autism parent lives in fear of.  "Son 2 has had a rough morning, and well, we've tried working with him and talking to him but he's still pretty upset, so I just wonder if it would be better to remove him from the building and send him home."  The grace I mustered was hand delivered by God at that very moment, I can assure you, as my reply was much more subdued than what I was thinking. "No, no I'm not on board with that."  "Excuse me?  Well, here's what happened....(insert a play-by-play of less than desirable behavior here, complete with teacher reiterating said sequence)."  So I again launch into the mini-training that I find myself giving to whomever the new principal happens to be.  This happens nearly every year, with last year being the glorious exception.  Perhaps I should just make a recording.  "If I pick him up, that is what he wants.  I am not willing to pick him up for behavior because if his pitching a fit gets him sent home, we are going to see nothing but a long downward spiral of worsening behavior.  We've seen it before."  "Well, SuperMom, do you have any suggestions on how we should handle the situation?"   Gee whiz, since I brought up a few months ago that his behavior plan doesn't have a good crisis plan, and you guys all reassured me at the time that there was expertise in the building to deal with this situation should it arise.... "Well, what I do at home isn't necessarily appropriate or effective at school.  I think it's a very good thing that we have a case conference scheduled next week."  "Well I CERTAINLY hope this is an isolated situation."  Good luck with that.....and guess what?  He pulled it out and had a decent afternoon.  Ta-da!!