Skippy

I've worked with the same Special Ed teacher for the past 6 years. We work really well together and share memories and laughs about some of our special kids from the past. We have our own list of "best" students--you know--those kids who benchmark the wrong behaviors: "Best Cheater", "Best Fighter", "Best Whiner". Until this year, the child who was, hands down, the "Best Example of Off-the-Charts ADHD" was George, even though he was only with us for a month. He would literally spin on his head in his seat and had absolutely no attention span. Poor George--he had a terrible homelife and the fact that he couldn't function because his ADHD was so severe didn't faze his mom--no support from her at all. Finally, his father found out where he was living (in appalling conditions--mom was more stressed about her boyfriend leaving than worried about George's needs) and took him back to his home (a place far away).

Well, I think I have finally found a new benchmark for "Best Example of Off-the-Charts ADHD". Let's call him "Skippy". Skippy is brilliant--high test scores even though most instruction takes place when he's out of his seat because he's never actually in his seat. I've said, "Skippy, SIT DOWN" so often that I probably say it in my sleep. Today was one of his really bad days--he was constantly looking for a reason to be out of his seat and I was constantly redirecting him and trying to get him to complete a simple reading worksheet. Finally, when he dismantled his pencil sharpener and tried to insert the very sharp blade into the plastic casing (to stick straight out, like a scalpel), I had had enough and sent him to the office. It was 10:00. He had driven me to distraction in an hour and forty minutes. He has already been written up once for threatening to cut the throat of a classmate (3 days ago), so I had to send him for making something weapon-like. Truthfully, I can handle the typical ADHD behaviors, but being ADHD does not make you threaten others or put your hands around a clasmate's throat to choke. And that's what I'm dealing with everyday with him.

So, after a record-breaking year of behavior issues (12 behavior problems last year. TWELVE.), this year I've got Skippy. And another handful of ADHD kids, but Skippy is the newly crowned "Best". It's going to be an interesting year.