Hi everyone.
I got a little ticked off yesterday because of something that happened to Ryan at school. (Ryan is my nine year old who falls somewhere on the spectrum. He's the sweetest boy, shy, quiet, no behavioral problems. His biggest hurdle is his language comprehension, and because of this, he seems very simple minded compared to his same age peers. I hate to say it, but a really good example would be Forrest Gump......Ryan is pretty much just like Forrest Gump.)
Anyway, Ryan has been telling us about some mean girls at school who tell him to shut up, or get away from them, or they hide his shoes, or whatever. I just figured most of it was typical kid stuff......mean girl stuff......because lets face it, girls can be mean. And Ryan is an easy target.
Yesterday he came home with a dollar. We asked him where he got the dollar, and he told us that one of the "nice" girls in his class gave it to him in the cafeteria......she told him that she would pay him a dollar if he would go away and sit somewhere else. He took the dollar, told her thank you (because he doesn't realize that she's being mean; he thinks she's being nice by giving him a dollar) and then moved down the bench away from her.
I just think that's so mean! It was shocking for me that a little girl in the third grade would do something like that......you don't like a kid because he's "dumb", so you pay him a dollar so he won't sit close to you in the cafeteria?!
His class has to sit together at the same table in the cafeteria. They can sit next to whoever they want to within their class, but they have to all stay together as a class. He can't move that far away for crying out loud! Poor guy.....he doesn't have any friends in his class because he's "slow", but unfortunately for his classmates, some unlucky soul is going to end up sitting next to him during lunch time.
I sent his teacher an email about it. I don't know what can be done, but jeesh, it still breaks my heart.