PIxie dust please, and a little venting on my part

[handmaidenofprincesses]

My 14 y/o cousin is now in a lock-down unit of a psychiatric hospital. Yea, not good.

He has Asperger's syndrome (a form of Autism) and he's a nice kid, but he was failing out of high school. So, he got called down to see his guidance counselor. The counselor berated him (or at least that's what my cousin felt the counselor was doing) and my cousin made a sarcastic comment about how he should "just kill himself." Next thing you know, he's in an ambulance being carted off to the hospital. Then the hospital sent him away (they don't treat "trouble teens") so he had to get back in the ambulance and be brought oer to where he is now.

They put him on an anti-depressant and he was doing really well. They even released him and sent him back to school. But then one of the idiotic jocks had to pick on him... Apparently this kid said "Hey, want to be my friend?," inviting my cousin to have lunch with him, and my cousin eagerly accepted. But when he arrived in the cafeteria, this jock and his buddies started harassing my cousin and making fun of him. And now he's back in the psych ward.

I hate teenagers... I really do... (No offense to anyone who is or has a teen... but I even hated teens when I was a teen... just, teens in general)

Anyway... now I'm done venting. Prayers and pixie dust for my cousin and his parents are most appreciated.

[alphamommy]

Prayers and for your cousin and his family.

I know what you mean about teenagers. I never liked them much when I was one, either. I'm dreading the day when DD9 becomes one.

Good luck!

[crazypoohbear]

Sending lots of pixie dust for your cousin.
I don't blame you for hating those teens right now.
If I were the mother I would go in to the principal of the school and speak to them about this bullying immediately.
and that is just what it is bullying. INCLUDING what the guidance councilor did!
I won't even go into how I feel about guidance councilors in general but I pretty much feel the same way about them as you do about teens!
Keep us posted and keep the school on notice about the bullying. Most schools have anti bullying in writing so keep them honest and good luck

[merlinmagic4]

I am so sorry I hate to hear stories like that Unfortunately, it's arrogance that leads people to do things like that and it doesn't always go away when the teen years end. I've met a few arrogant grown-ups in my life who have probably done things like that. I'm just so sorry.

[WishingStar2006]

Prayers and for your cousin, his parents and you for being such a loving cousin.

The counselor is at the root of this (and the school principal and system) as he/she is supposed to be a professional and certainly they know that your cousin has Asbergers and has to be spoken to and worked with in a specific manner. It's not his fault. Obviously he is in a school that does inclusion for children with special needs but where was his special ed advocate or teacher? There are people responsible here and it's not your cousin. This experience is detrimental to him and his development. If I were the parents I would not let this go.

However, the most important thing here is your cousin. I will add him to my prayers and wish only good things for his future. Children with Asbergers are special and have loving hearts.

[BedknobsandBroomsticks]

More parents just don't try. My brother has learning disabilities and I can tell you that when he was growing up the kids (young ones and teenagers) were unmerciless with him. He did have one friend Kevin who always stood up for him and encouraged him. Kevin was an athlete and senior class president and very popular. You can not imagine how wonderful it was to see someone with such courage at such a young age. He would tell his popular friends "he's a nice guy, you don't know him" and they would leave him alone. My brother told me years later that Kevin's friendship help him make it through the tough times. We are raising our kids that way. Our daughter is a cheerleader and A student and she is the only one in her class who stands up for a boy who is learning disabled. She invites him to be in her groups and her friends follow her lead. This behavior has to be taught and commended. It doesn't happen on it's own. The opposite behavior must not be tolerated, our kids know there are reprecussions for any unkind behavior.

[BrerGnat]

I'm so sorry that your cousin and your family are dealing with this.

My son who is almost 5 years old has high functioning autism, and this is my biggest fear for his future. He wants so badly to "have friends" and he tries so hard to play with other kids, and it KILLS me to see kids (even little ones are jerks these days) be mean to him.

Just yesterday, we were at the park and he was riding his Razor scooter. There was a group of 3 other kids riding them too (around his age, no older). He started to follow them. This is a HUGE development for him, as he typically just ignores other kids and plays on his own. After about 3 minutes, though, the "head of the gang" turned around and yelled "Stop following us. We DON'T want to play with you, stupid boy!" I felt so sad, and these were 5 YEAR OLD boys. I couldn't believe how mean they were being. Broke my heart. It was totally uncalled for. They were just jerks. Luckily, my son is sort of oblivious to what "stupid" means. He just found another boy who was happy to ride with him.

I swear, I don't understand what's wrong with PARENTS these days sometimes. I wouldn't tolerate my child behaving like that, whether at 5 years old or 15. It's just a reflection of who the parents are...and this little boy's mom (from the park yesterday) was over chatting it up with a bunch of other moms, all dressed in her designer clothes, too busy to even notice what her kid was even doing.

I hope your cousin can find some good friends who really appreciate who he is and what he has to offer, and hopefully those friends will keep him away from the loser bullies (or at least have his back when the bullies try their stuff on him). It's sad when people pick on those who can't really defend themselves, or don't really understand what's being done/said to them. It so hard for Asperger's kids to understand stuff like sarcasm so they take everything literally. It's just mean for bullies to use this to their advantage...

[pink]

My 12-year-old brother has Asperger's syndrome and we went through a similar situation with him a few years ago. He started to throw a fit in his classroom because his teacher told him something uncalled for and they called my mom to inform her that they were calling an ambulance, to strap my brother up in a straight jacket to bring him to the pyscho. ward. Needless to say, she threatened them not to do so and we picked him up.

Like your cousins guidance counselor, some of my brother's faculty seems to be unaware of how to deal with children who have circumstances different from other children there age, they don't seem equiped to be able to handle it.

In regards to the jocks who picked on your cousin, what ever happened to them. Tell your cousins mother or father to speak to the school adminstrators and inform them of this event.

You have to wonder what type of parents raise children who pick on others who have disabilities.

However, not all teens are that way. I should know I am one.