Dad reports:
I wrote the teacher notes (I’ll have to scan this one in) with the assignments Tommy completed highlighted in green and the incomplete assignments highlighted in yellow. I further went to write in red the word “completed” with arrows pointing at the completed work on the assignment sheet; I wrote notes for “completed but needs to be checked” and “incomplete” on the yellow highlighted work. I added a paragraph describing the status of the science work. The teacher brings the stack of paper with the assignment sheet on top and flips to the middle then says “now, what has he completed? and was is incomplete?” I had to pause to keep my composure then I turned to the top paper on the stack and pointed to my notes on the assignment sheet “as it says here….”
Tommy describes his day to me (with much prompting to get the “real story”):
-Had trouble settling into his seat on the bus.
-Got to school but no longer goes to homeroom because he can go to his special ed class room and play StarCraft online (that is, he’s chatting with other people unsupervised). He claims he played for 10 minutes and that it’s a “reward” for a good bus ride. No mention of reward for a good bus ride has ever been written into an IEP or verbally discussed.
-Refused to go to Reading so instead he was permitted to nap for 30 minutes
-Math class. Took a test on the material that he hasn’t completed and I am certain he doesn’t understand. He says “I did great!”
-Gym class which Tommy complained was hot. He says he tried to play basketball but couldn’t find anyone. I asked if anyone was mean to him and he said “someone threw a basketball at me” I waited and he said “of course, I threw the ball first.” I think Tommy “asks for it” knowing he will get the attention albeit negative attention.
-Lunch: Tommy’s teacher brough him lunch in the classroom since he wasn’t behaving well enough to be trusted in the cafeterria. After lunch he got to play more StarCraft
-Science class came next where they were having discussion on the current work: Stars. Tommy started to pretend like he was being an active participant then conceded he was just reading in class. I checked him out during science class.