Rough Days

Today was a ROUGH one.  It began with a student throwing a 4 hour tantrum in which I got head butted, kicked, punched in the face, scratched, and bitten.  It ended with a visit to the doctor for a refresher tetanus shot, antibiotics and an antibiotic cream.  In between these things was a lot of time where I supervised the student having difficulty and very little time where I worked with other kiddos.  I hate this type of day.  I feel terrible for the student who had the episode.  When a tantrum of this magnitude happens, you know there must be an underlying issue other than just not wanting to perform a task.  I feel terrible for the other students who did not get to follow any of their typical schedule or receive their typical daily instruction.  I feel terrible for my support staff that had to give up their breaks and lunches and instead had to run around finding ways to keep students who are supposed to be at teacher time busy with other activities.  I feel terrible for myself and my co-teacher for not being able to prevent the event and for feeling like we failed all the students in one day.

Anyway, as special education teachers, we all have these types of days.  In the end, the episode subsided and the student continued on with his day.  In the end, I typed up all the reports, doctored up all the injuries, and tried to salvage any instruction I could for the day.  In the end, I came home, had an adult beverage, a hot shower and cried.  At the end of the day, I am going to bed exhausted but knowing that tomorrow will be better.

Peace out. . .