Wherever I go, I am a magnet for quirky people. Statistically, the probability of engaging in an interaction with a person with behavior disorders is pretty good for any individual. Something like 10% of teenagers in America have a conduct disorder. Something like 90% of my outings into the community involve an interaction with a person (usually a teenager) who has a behavior disorder.
I’m the Pied Piper of naughty children.
This afternoon, I was sitting in the office of a middle school in my district, waiting to meet with a couple of colleagues to go over some behavior data for a student who was headed to my district center program at the high school next fall. In stomps this girl, who proceeds to flop down in the chair immediately to my left, even though there are, quite literally, 12 other open seats from which to choose.
It’s like they can smell the coping skills oozing out of my pores.
The girl proceeds to explain to me the sundry reasons why she…
- Hates school
- Thinks all her teachers are “boring bitches”
- Believes her recent suspension was unjust
- Is NOT going to her hour 6 and hour 7 classes
Seriously. I was just, like, sitting.
So, I listened to her for quite a while. The school secretary looked like she was going to poop her pants with embarrassment. I let the kid vent for a good, long bit.
I suggested that, after several days of out-of-school suspension, she was probably feeling a tad out of the habit of being in school and dealing with the frustrations that come with it. She acquiesced. I suggested that she just go to class (the SRO was already getting annoyed), avoid drawing undue attention to herself, and simply survive the remaining 102 minutes of the day without making her own life harder. She felt that might be acceptable.
We talked for a really long time about her classes. And all the work she missed while suspended. And how she likes to tell teachers what to do. And what’s she’s going to do about all the Fs on her grade report. And whether or not she and her family were moving to Denver.
My colleagues came. The kid went to class, mostly deescalated. We had the meeting about the OTHER kid. The one who’d been talking to me wasn’t even identified as needing a BIP or an IEP.
I was seriously JUST SITTING THERE.
