Not bad all things considered

So yesterday was a bit of a let-down for us. We went to a pool party at a pool we don't normally attend. I was busy with the baby, but was checking in on Harry from time to time. Apparently, the "lifeguard" was a little too watchful of him. I say lifeguard loosely because she isn't really one - more like a rule monitor.

She stalked me down to complain about Harry not going down the slide properly and threatened to ban him. I told her he was Autistic and I would speak to him. She informed me she was a teacher but couldn't have children disobeying the rules. After a few other run-ins, I left with the baby and let my husband take over. She was mean and belligerent with him even calling him honey. He told her his name wasn't "honey", it was Mr. Bulbrook and a little respect on her part would go a long way towards solving the problem. She accused him of being "aggressive" and stalked off.

While I have shortened the narrative, I have detailed it all for her bosses in a letter that I have fired off. My question - although rhetorical at this point is - What is she a teacher of? She certainly didn't act like a teacher that understands Autism. Although, one time I did have one teacher refer to special needs kids as "those kids" when she went on a tirade to me one day (not knowing I was one of those kids moms and he was sitting right there)! Be careful what you say people! I also emailed her boss to let her know what a poor example she was setting for the school's reputation. I didn't tell her I was a special needs parent - that was on a need to know basis and she didn't need to know.

The point is people need to step back and chill out. I was just on a parent panel at TEACCH this week trying to explain what we go through. This was a perfect example. I was polite, but really just wanted to yell at her. That's ok - my letter will get my point across even if no one listens. It was so frustrating for me to watch her stalk my son waiting for any chance to call him out. I didn't interfere to much because he also needs to learn that people can be very serious about the rules. He also needs to develop more social awareness of what people are thinking around him.

On another note, we had a big milestone today. Harry has been saving his money for 6 weeks to buy a Buzz Lightyear toy. Every week we had to count the money and every time we went to Target, we had to visit the toy. Today he had enough money and proudly got to buy that toy. I'm so proud of him. Before he was saving for Buzz, he was saving his money for a wooden Amtrak train set he really wanted.

He is learning some real world skills and patience and I couldn't be more proud of him!