We have meetings with Alex's school and our behaviour therapist later this week. These were arranged over a month ago, so have nothing to do with Alex's bad day last week. However, I'm wondering if the incident will bring up more concerns.
The school had been talking about a partial integration, allowing Alex to take a class with his neurotypical peers. Their concerns have been his compliance level and his toileting progress. He's made good progress on both. But will the offer be off the table if there are concerns about Alex having violent outbursts?
This is one thing I want to speak with the behavioural therapist about. She's followed a lot of kids into adulthood and seen the range from independent and high-functioning to group homes to institutionalized. Alex's violent outbursts are rare, no question. But the rarity makes dealing with them behaviourally a challenge.
As a society, we don't care too much about how frequently violent outbursts happen. If someone beats his wife, we don't dismiss it because it only happens once in a while. If someone gets into a bar fight, we don't say ah well, it only happens once every couple of years. The level of punishment might be mitigated by such circumstances but we don't dismiss violence easily. (And we shouldn't.)
This is the question preying on my mind: how will this limit his opportunities and chances for independence?
And I'll have to wait to find out the answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment