Having a special needs child you find yourself dealing with things that most people take for granted. You find yourself in situations that most people would never think of as being an issue.
My son has a fear of stickers.............yes stickers. This fear started early on with him. He likes to play with stickers but you don't dare put a sticker on that child because he panics, his anxiety goes through the roof and he gets uncontrollably upset.
Yesterday was the Pre-K class field trip to a pumpkin farm just across the state line into our neighboring state of Tennessee. Sammy has talked about it for 2 weeks and was so excited because he loves the Pumpkin farm that we usually attend every year about this time.
Everyone who deals with Sammy KNOWS his fear of stickers. A lot of times if there is a PTA meeting or something special going on at the school it is announced on a sticker stuck to our children's clothing. The aids and teacher in Sammy's class all know the drill, and when he sits down on the computer or in his chair they pat him on the back and that's where I find the sticker. I'm totally okay with that because Sammy doesn't know it's there and I get the message.
So yesterday my dad and I followed the bus and chaperoned the field trip. Nearing the end of the trip it was story time and the kids sat on hay bales and listened to a story and learned about Johnny Appleseed and growing pumpkins.
The other Pre-K teacher at the school is wonderful and was voted teacher of the year last year for her work with Autistic children.
The lady who read the stories gave that particular teacher a load of stickers to put on each child. She goes to put one on Sammy and I was shaking my head and telling her NO multiple times. Well Sammy realized it was a sticker he then started panicking and crying. Instead of listening to me and the other aid that works in Sammy's class she attempted again to put the sticker on him and succeeded. I looked at her and told her that he does NOT like stickers and she says, "I know". By this time Sammy is flipping out and his anxiety was just through the roof. He ran to me and buried his head in my chest and I rocked him and told him that it was okay that the teacher just didn't know. The aid looked at me and said, "oh she knows about him and stickers, she just did it to get a rise out of him". I was livid. Even if she did not know, just the fact that I said NO 3-4 times and was shaking my head should have been enough for her. By this time Sammy had shut down. What was a fun outing was no longer fun for him and he was ready to leave. We took a group picture and then we took him home. Once something sets him off it just ruins it for him and he shuts down and doesn't want any part of the activity anymore.
I know she is praised for her work with Autistic children and she is a wonderful teacher but she really shouldn't have put that sticker on him especially seeing him panicking and struggling to get away from her and get to me. Telling her NO should have been more than enough. I just don't understand why she would try to get a rise out of him knowing that he has this irrational fear of stickers. I was so angry and hurt for Sammy that he couldn't even enjoy the last hour of his trip and wanted to leave.
I find that more children are accepting to special needs children more so than adults. This teacher has spent her life working with Autistic children so she of all people should know what it's like for them.
Instead she wanted to get a reaction out of him that she knew would be negative which made it hard on him. I just don't understand peoples logic sometimes. We are working with him on the whole sticker thing but at the same time I'm NOT going to force it on him either. A fear is a fear no matter how petty it may seem to someone else.
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| Our Sweet Little Sammy |
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