Ugh. How frustrating.

So, I picked Owen up from school today (his 4th day). As soon as I walk in the room the aide motions me over and says "we need to talk". Great. Turns out Owen and another kid in his room (who also has autism) were playing near each other. Owen wanted the car the other kid was playing with but that kid wouldn't give it up. So Owen grabbed it (yes, we're working on that but nothing I do seems to help it). The other kid bit Owen on the arm (nasty mark but didn't cut the skin... he's just got a circle of teeth marks). So Owen bit the other kid (Owen is NOT a biter at all so this is a new one for him). So the other kid clawed at Owen's face. Apparently they seperated the kids at this point. I also talked to his teacher about it who told me the same thing. I have no idea how bad of a bite mark Owen left on the other kid. The claw mark on Owen's face broke the skin, but isn't horrible.

And, the question of the day.... where the heck was his aide at this time?!? I didn't get a chance to ask that, I was a bit in shock at the time. I didn't expect to hear that when I picked him up. I was also in a hurry to get to work. Now that I've had a chance to process it, I'll talk with them more about it tomorrow. But seriously- how frustrating. WHY were the two kids in the class who have autism ever left alone without the aide/teacher/assistant near them in the first place? There should have been an adult watching over them.

That in itself is frustrating. Even moreso, though, is when I try talking to Owen about it. He refuses to answer my questions about it and just keeps saying that if a kid bites him again he'll bite back. I keep telling him no, we don't bite. If someone bites you, you tell the teacher. But he keeps insisting he's going to bite back, and I don't doubt he will. I just hope he's not going to become "the biter" who bites first now. I seriously am stuck. He doesn't bite. He pinches cheeks, but he doesn't bite.

He also had a hard time on the playground today. They play on the playground right at the end of school and then they go inside, read a story/sing a song/whatever while drinking some water and then they go home. So after I get there I can sit in my car and watch them on the playground. When it was time to go in the teacher announced that to the kids, who all ran over to the fence to grab the rope (they hold a rope to get to/from the playground). Except Owen, who was laying on top of the tunnel. So the teacher brought him down and started walking towards the fence. She let go of his hand for a split second so he ran back to the tunnel and climbed on top. So she went back to get him, brought him down and was walking with him to the fence. He decided to do his "go limp" game and dropped to the ground, refusing to move. She did eventually get him inside, and I'm proud of myself for not intervening ;)

So, the positive to all that.... the first 3 days of school when I picked him up all 3 of the adults raved about how good Owen is, how well behaved he is, how he never causes them any trouble and he never tries to escape. I was beginning to wonder if we were talking about the same kid ;) LOL! But NOW Owen is getting more comfortable there and, well, now they'll see the real Owen. I am actually glad of this in a way because we have a meeting with the school on Friday. The last thing I wanted was for them to insist Owen was doing well and didn't need any special accomodations only for him to take a downward spiral in a week.