Touching base

I should have never programmed her number into my cell phone.

Every time John's special needs teacher comes up on my caller ID the world stops. The seconds between the first ring and the second are filled with a million thoughts about what he did this time.

I think about what could be the problem and then I think about how I totally thought today was going to be a good day... we had a great morning, he had no problem getting into the school, he was looking forward to the lunch menu, what could have changed?

I quickly decide to answer the call to find out the truth.

Luckily today she was calling to "touch base on a few supports for the upcoming field trip."

Ok, what does that mean? Essentially they don't want a repeat performance of the last field trip where the ride home on the noisy bus got to be more than he could bare. Not to mention the kid sitting behind him unrelentlessly kicking his seat. I guess he ended up blowing a fuse.

But the thing is, I only got a very watered down version of the story from the teachers. I didn't realize that the episode was so extreme as to warrant a whole new approach to field trips for John.

The SN (special needs) teacher suggested having a bag of sensory activities for him to use as needed, as well as some ear plugs to reduce the noise level.

"That sounds fine with me, but you know the upcoming field trip is a walking trip to the library and police station... I thought his problem last time was from the noisy, confined quarters of the bus."

"Yes. We just want to be prepared to support him if he needs it. The police station may be crowded and noisy. We were also thinking about an alternative in case he needs to be picked up during the field trip for any reason and brought back to school, how do you feel about that?"

"Fine I guess."

But later (as is always the case) I wasn't fine with the needing to be picked up part of it. I felt a little bit like they were expecting him to fail. I guess it's good to have all the bases covered, but really, someone to pick him up? I think that might cause more of a problem than not.

I know they have asked me not to come on these things, but really? He just needs one adult to be responsible for him and be his friend so he won't act up. If they can't provide that, shouldn't I be able to be that person?