Wrecking Ball

I have the song "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus going around and around in my head. I am not a particular fan of hers or really of pop music, but someone made reference to it on the internets and now here it is, circling my brain.

I was recently hired to work as a para-educator in a self-contained special ed K-2 classroom. These are kids who are so disruptive that they can't be in any other special ed room much less a general ed room. There are 7 little people in this class: 2 with Down's Syndrome, 4 with Autism, and 1 with a variety of diagnosis including cerebral palsy. Although several of them have parents who are actively involved in their educational process, only one of them really has parents who expect their child to be the best they can be, who understand that disability means different ability, not completely incapable. Three of these kids appear to have well-above average intelligence, but it's hard to see that when they're throwing chairs and screaming obscenities. They all hit, kick, spit, throw things, scream, swear, and run. Stay in their chairs? Ha! We're working on them staying in the classroom.

There are 3 of us paras in the classroom in addition to the teacher. Yes, there is a 3:7 ratio, and I'm telling you we could use at least one more. One of our kids is so violent and loud and disruptive that we have to take the other kids out in the hall several times a day to keep them safe or he has to be restrained and taken out of the room. We know that his home life isn't what you'd wish on any kid and that CPS in involved. We know he craves attention of any kind, and those times we can give him pure positive attention are few and far between. We know he is so completely disregulated that his thoughts and actions are chaotic and appear to be fight or flight half the time. When he acts out there is no safe place to hold him, no isolation room to contain him in, even though his action plan says he's to be isolated. After an "action plan" meeting today we're left with changing our goals and expectations for him, at least for the time being. Now our only goal with him is to keep him from escalating to violence.

So yeah. Wrecking ball. Seems a propos.