Death by Meteorite Strike

[ray]

Some of you may remember the recent problems Alex (son, 17, AS) has been facing with fear of dying, and many of you helped out recently with hints and tips, and we saw his GP, and eventually its faded. Yesterday at college a prat of a classroom assistant blithely told Alex that the world could end at anytime as it could get hit by a meteor, we'd all die, and know nothing about it.

 

As you can imagine, when Alex got in last night he was a complete mess of anxiety and fear over dying again. When he finally explained why, I was furious, tried to phone college (no answer), so sent a stinging email suggesting (not too gently) that this person needed re-training, and that someone needs to explain to Alex that this wont happen (even if they believe its conceivably possible).

 

Am I overeacting? He's in a Learning Disabilities class, with other ASD kids, and others with different challenges. I'm still pretty cross this morning.

 

ray

[lindy-lou]

how insensitive can you get!!poor lad,you did the right thing in sending that email,im not sure what you can do to help alex with his fear,maybe a book or video explaining life cycles?its not like you can say that no ones going to die is it,because then if anything happened to anyone he loves it would make matters worse,a tough situation for you and poor alex must be terrified,wish i could be of more help. <'>

 

lynda x

[CarerQuie]

I too would be hopping mad if anyone took this tack with Rh.I do not think that an E mail was out of place.I hope that you get a satisfactory response today.xx

[oracle]

I had this problem in my own house. David is into all of these programmes even though he is totally obsessed with death himself. He however then feels the need to talk about them to everyone, including Matthew Now as David is autistic himself it is difficult to find a way round it. He can't see why I am making a fuss because as far as he is concerned what he has seen is factual, and even if that kick starts his own fears then if it's a fact - it's a fact - David tells me you can not run away from facts So you can see what I am up against. In the meantime we have Matthew stressed and distressed for days.

 

Life is always testing in here but then David has autism himself. The classroom assistant should know better. I would be asking how much training, in any, this person has had?

 

Carole

[madmooch]

That ###### class assistant, I'd knock his head off and use it as a meteorite

As if our kids have'nt got enough problems

Hope you get it all sorted Ray <'>

 

Madmooch

[Tylers-mum]

Some people can be soooo bl**dy STUPID!!!

 

I would have sent the email, called them AND paid them a stinky visit on top!!

Hope the college sorts this out and I further hope that this idiot of an assistant gets an ear bashing or two too!

[ray]

Just want to say thanks for the input everyone. Had an email back from one of the senior guys in the dept who apologised and said that the teaching assistant in question was new and that they would talk to him about the incident to ensure he chooses his words more carefully in future. And also that someone would have a sit down with Alex and explain that the world wasn't about to end in a cosmic fireball. Just hope its enough.

 

Once again, thanks, and have a cool yule.

 

Ray

[mandyque]

I don't think you over reacted at all, telling someone who has a fear of death that we could all die any minute is bound to cause untold stress and trauma to the poor lad! Maybe you could find out if this assistant is phobic of anything and dump their worst fear on them like that! (joke!)

[Corcaigh]

That ###### class assistant, I'd knock his head off and use it as a meteorite

I doubt it'll do any damage: it looks like it's empty.

 

[neda]

I'm sure you must feel like you would like to explain this to classroom assistant to make sure he gets the point. I'd have been absolutely fuming. I can't believe this new assistant has been allowed to work with the kids if he is unaware of how offhand comments can really affect them. Glad they are trying to sort it although it will be difficult.

[Valiant_Skylark]

Just for your interest (don't know if the link will work)

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...9642&query_hl=1

 

VS xx