Parents as Non-Authority: 5150s and Bathroom Privileges
A couple weeks ago, I admitted my worries about kidnapping, as a child and now as a parent. If cars slowed down while I walked home from school, or if unexpected vehicles showed up on our court, my heart would pound faster. I particularly recall a yellow VW using our driveway to turn around, and this was right after a local cheerleader had been murdered by someone in a yellow car.
So sure, I’m worried about “stranger danger” but I’m more concerned about the completely legal ways to hold someone against their will.
My son was diagnosed with PDD-nos when he was a toddler. Ever since, I’ve immersed myself in various local groups that discuss resources, schools, and therapists. It has been valuable to have a “heads up” for certain difficult transition points, and advice for how to approach problems. Unfortunately, it is through these groups that I also get a taste for what my son’s future might be like.
I recognize that those on the spectrum are truly on a spectrum, and they are individual kids after all, so nothing is set in stone. I know that my son has unique strengths, even if his weaknesses may elicit knowing nods from other “spectrum parents.” I know that he might not have as much trouble navigating junior high as another child, or he may have more.
Last week was a perfect storm of elements to feed my worry. My son had two incidents on a field trip; a third “incident” this school year will automatically set off a functional behavioral analysis to examine his current placement. I love his current school. I love his current teacher. I don’t want him to end up having to switch rooms or schools. Meanwhile, I learned from two of my local “autism group” members of problems they had as well: one teenager was denied the use of the restroom, so ended up having an embarrassing accident; the other was put on a 5150 hold.
I remember the restroom problem in junior high. We were allowed to go during between class, but not during class. Ironically enough, these “period breaks” were absolutely not enough time to deal with going to the bathroom, much less dealing with one’s “period.” Girls typically start to menstruate for the first time during junior high, and yet this is when their bathroom breaks are curtailed severely: change your pad and be late to class, or arrive on time but with the risk that you might have a mark on your backside.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati