Making a Bad Situation Worse

Despite the gloomy title, this one is actually kind of funny. Kind of.

Today was the first day back after finals week - the first day of the second semester. A day of adjusting my hand-made attendance sheets for the new rosters (not too bad, actually) It's also a day that sends the autistic kids (of which I have five in 1st period) into a tizzy, because the schedule is weird, and they've been bounced around with no stability the week before - yadda yadda yadda.

Well, today little Miko had a meltdown in choir. She spent most of 1st semester quietly sitting in her seat, with an aide beside her. Then suddenly the week before finals we notice that she's startin to get a little fidgety - going through other people's stuff, etc. Today she jumped out of her chair, went full prone on the ground and started screaming. Before her aide could get to her, she jumped up and started dashing around the room. The class was paralyzed with shock. Finally the aide got her out of the room.

I've learned that my job in those situations is to try and remain as calm as possible. But once Miko and her aide got out the door, I casually uttered "Thank God for Aides"... only seconds later did I realize that I had just come across like a protest sign for the Westboro Baptist Church. The whole room laughed. I think that Miko and her aide were still in the hallway, and could probably hear that. I'll try and smooth it out tomorrow - explain that we weren't laughing at her, but at what I said.