The Flu and Clay

The last few days have been very tough and emotional for me. On top of having the flu Clay has had a couple of difficult days in school. They are testing this week (reading) I guess I did not understand that he would not be tested at all. I thought that he would be tested with a one on one situation. He came home from school on Monday in a bad mood and told me that he spent the day with a teacher, he does not even know that well, and they played board games. Okay well I decided not to get too upset about just one day wasted, but when he came home on Tuesday and told me the same thing I was upset. To top that off one leg of his pants (the inside) was covered with blood. Clay is a picker. Not just like normal kids who pick off scabs he picks for the same reason that teens cut. It is a release for him. He can't stop until he is bleeding and he has a very high tolerance for pain.
This morning I decided to keep him home. He was running a really low grade fever (whose to say that is not from the sores he has caused up and down his legs) I emailed his special ed teacher, the school counselor, his case manager and the principle of his school to let them know about the picking. Clay's picking has been very sever at times and until about a little over a year ago I did not realize how serious it was. His teacher email me back, I could tell she was upset with my email, but I appreciated her getting back with me. She told me when he is with her she controls the situation. This is an ongoing problem with Ms. Zenner (his special ed teacher) she can control him and he works great for her and very rarely has problems with her. I am sure you are wondering why this is a problem, well the problem comes when she is not with him. We have been pushing for a behavior plan for a year now and the school is still dragging it's feet. His case manager is so on the same page with us on this. She has talked to Ms Zenner about it a couple of times and gets the same resistance.
Then this afternoon I got a packet in the mail from the SCDDO (Sedgwick County Developmental Disabled Organization). Clay has qualified for long term resources. Even though this is what we want (because we know that we need to have those in place before he is a young adult) it is really hard to read yet again from another independent psychiatrist that your child is labeled as MR/DD (mentally retarded and developmentally delayed).
God grant me the patients, love, mercy and grace to show others that you continue to show me day after day, hour after hour, minute after minute.