The Hell We're Living With Greenwood Elementary

When my son, Eric, was 3 1/2 years old we received a diagnosis that shook our family. He was diagnosed with Severe Autism Disorder. When we received this diagnosis the first thing that I said is, "How can I help him succeed in life?" The doctor told me to treat the symptoms and continue to love and support Eric. The first thing I did was get him signed up for help. I went to Fort Knox, KY where I live and asked for help. I quickly received the help that I needed.

I got Eric involved with the Special Education system and got him enrolled with the DODEA school district. Things at home were wonderful. Eric was loving school, he went every day, and I had no complaints. Eric was the perfect little boy in the school. At home he was learning through the therapy and being medicated. It was a hard choice for me to medicate him, but in the end he learned how to use the bathroom, speak, control his outbursts, and was working better with the therapy sessions.

Then we moved to Joint Base Lewis McChord and that is where the hell began with the school district. This post was the best post for Autistic children so they said. The medical teams are wonderful to him, he has the awesome medical doctors that handle everything. He is still receiving ABA Therapy at home. BUT the biggest problem we faced is Clover Park School District.

On Fort Knox, Eric went to school everyday for half day. Here we were told he would go to school one day a week. Then he didn't start school till the end of the year so he had six days total. We didn't understand, but we accepted. Last year they decided to main stream him into Greenwood Elementary school. The school year started really well and ended beyond being shitty.

In January I got called to the school, I went to the school as fast as possible. I received the news that Eric choked himself till he turned purple. After attacking the teacher. When I went to talk to the teacher her whole story did not make sense!! She told me that Eric started to attack her and then just stopped. Then he went and sat down at his special desk where he started to choke himself. She didn't call the principal until he was turning purple! The principal told me that he removed his hands from his throat and then he started to bite himself. I ended taking Eric home for the rest of the day.

In February I went to pick Eric up from his kindergarten class and found him biting himself. He had bitten himself so badly that both arms were marked with teeth marks some bruised and some bleeding! When I demanded why I wasn't notified the teacher said that she couldn't make him stop and she didn't think it was bad enough to notify me and have me come down.

In April things got worse but we had a premature baby and she was in the hospital trying to survive so my time was spent at her bedside. But things at the school got better. So we didn't think nothing of it.

In May things went pretty much the same. Eric had his good days and his bad days. But that is when the finger pointing started. I was told that because of the new baby I made Eric have more bad days at school. When I tried to explain that this behavior was only happening at school, I was told because I let him get away with the behavior at home so I didn't have to deal with it. Apparently they have never been in my home.

In June things took a dramatic turn for the worst. He ran away from the school three times. He got suspended twice in one week. Once for biting the principal and the other for stabbing another student with a pencil. When I asked about the behavior plan which on his IEP says he needs one the resource teacher, Mrs. Trejo said "His behavior is not bad enough to need one". Yet on his IEP it says that he has on in every subject.

Through the summer his improvement was growing leaps and bounds. We still had our bad days. But when my family came through to visit he was a changed boy. We even forgot his medication one day and we only noticed slight changes. My family was very impressed by this! All summer long he wanted to go back to school and kept asking why it was taking so long for school to start. When we went to get the school supplies he was a wonderful help in picking out the things that he needed.

But then school started and my nightmare began.

The first day of school, I forgot somethings that needed to be turned in so I ran to the school to drop them off. I was told that Eric was roaming the halls. I quickly decided to let the school handle it so I tried to leave and Eric ran into me madder than mad. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that the nurse was going to call the cops on him! When I finally got him calmed down the principal said for me to take him back to class and I had the baby with me. So I walked him back into the class room and tried to leave. He decided that he wasn't going to stay in class unless I stayed with him. So I had the office call my husband to come and get the baby. Then the nurse Ms. Williams, came up and triggered him again by stating that she in fact told him she was going to call the cops because he wasn't sitting at his desk! Really?? I asked why she wasn't going to notify us that she was going to call the cops and she said she didn't have to notify the parents.

Day 2 I decided to meet with the principal and see what we could do to help. I was told that by bringing the baby into the class room I created a potentially dangerous situation. When he was the one who told me to get Eric to his class in the first place! Then I was told how Eric ran away from the school today and it took six teachers to get him back into the school. Once again I received no call from the school.

Day 3 they had to empty the classroom because of his outburts.

Day 4 He had a bad day whatever that means.

Day 5 he made himself throw up so he didn't have to go to school.

Day 6 I had to go to the school to pick him up. When I got to the school I could hear Eric screaming outside to where I was parked. When I got to the office the office clerk pointed where he was at. When I got into the room I noticed the principal, the nurse, and the resource teacher had him cornered. He was biting and kicking them and he was being given a wedgie by the principal. Minute I saw this I quickly intervened and got him calmed down. When I got him calmed down they quickly started to touch him. Minute that happened he escalated right away. It took me 45 minutes when it would have taken me 5 minutes to get him to my car if they would have left him alone.

Day 7 he had a half day and missed due to a dental appointment. When I talked to the teacher she told me that he is not Autistic he is psychotic. That it is my fault that he acts like he does. All she did was point fingers at me. She also said that I needed to have him committed because he was a harm to himself and to others. When I made an appointment with his medication, the doctor said that because it is not happening at home it is environmental and his medication does not to be increased. She said it was probably over stimulation that was making him act this way.

I have been calling with concerns to the school district and nothing yet has been changed. I have tried to call Child Protective Services on the school and still getting no where.

Today I was told Eric was outside of the school with no adult supervision for around 45 minutes. He could have been kidnapped, ran away, gotten hurt, or anything else and no one would have known! They don't even call me to tell me that he is outside. This is not the first me we have been aware of this. If I treated my child like his being treated then I would be in jail and loose custody of my children! I don't get how this is legal for the school to treat him like they are!

Every day I hear how bad he was and how he was being bad. I never hear what a wonderful day he had or how wonderful he is being. I only hear the negative and nothing else. When I go to talk to the teacher she always has some excuse to not meet with me. I have so much support at home to help me deal with his diagnosis and the other children that I have. No one sees what the school sees at my home. But at home we are structured and are on routines. He doesn't want to do anything then he goes to cool down and he still needs to do it. By the end of the day every one of his chores are always complete. He looses privileges when he does not obey the rules. For everything he does there is a consequence whether it is a good or bad consequence it is up to him. Mostly it is good. I just don't get what they are doing to piss him off so badly.

Even my neighbors don't understand because they don't even see the Eric that school sees. The worst part is I don't know where to go for help or who to turn to. I do know that if we lived in Kentucky still this problem would not exist. They would be willing to help him in whatever he needed help. Here they don't care. Here they only point their fingers at me.

As I type this, Eric is sitting at my neighbors house playing on my cell phone just as quiet as can be. He asks me what I am typing and then goes right back to sitting next  to me. The only problems I have are when I have to pick him up from school.

They have taught him that through his behavior he gets to go home and be with me. Or that I come and talk to him and that is what he wants. He wants positive feedback not the bad that he hears every day. Even when I know he has acted up at school, I sit and talk to him about it and never once tell him he has been bad. I ask him what happened and what he should have done. And he will tell me. Then we get up and go home and it is like another child all together.

The only support we have are the ones that we have had before he has been in the school. This school only see another child they don't see Eric. Eric is the most wonderful and loving child. The PE teacher is the only teacher in the school that sees the true Eric and is the only teacher that tells me what a wonderful child he is. If he is so good with her then what is she doing that is so different than the other teachers? I hate this school more and more each day. And I don't know how to help or to stop the abuse they are doing with my son.

It is abuse both emotional, physical, and neglectful. Yet no one will tell me how to make it stop.