The wire, the ugly wire

Ah, the end of the school year! That happy day when all the action comes to an end, when finals are taken, grades submitted and hopefully the new knowledge is banked and generating a little interest. Or not. I titled this post "the ugly wire" because with the ending of any semester many kids, whether or not they have disabilities are faced with the following choices:
1) Recognize that the time has come to perform at least some of the unpleasant tasks one has been successfully avoiding up until now.
2) Study for exams.
3) Recognize that the failure to perform the either of the above will likely result in parental disappointment, emotional discomfort and possibly loss of privileges such as video game time.

The end of the school year further compounds the ugliness because of the messy problems of credits and state standards, and the very real possibility of having to repeat a course which was difficult the first time through. While many kids find themselves in this corner, I think the kids I work with have a particularly agonizing week because there is so much stress and anxiety in having to face and make these decisions. There is also the sense of panic for parents of graduating seniors, especially those whose children have rejected special ed support throughout high school and are now taking diplomas, which effectively ends their eligibility for transition programs.
There are various reactions to the wire, and I would like to explore a couple of these. First is the classic exploration of moving the wire, pushing it out a little further in hopes that another weekend, a couple of days, a few more hours might be just what enough time to make up for six weeks of not turning in any homework. This is when teachers must just say "No."
Another is to turn in shoddy or hastily completed work in hopes the teacher will not notice somehow. Also generally not successful.
Another strategy I observed last week in many kids was the idea that a firmly held belief in one's abilities, absent any actual preparation, would be enough to pull one through a semester final exam. I find this most curious. Many teachers allow, actually encourage students to make note sheets or note cards which they are allowed to bring into exams as long as they conform to the teachers' predetermined parameters. For example a math or science teacher might allow formulas and algebraic examples, definitions etc. written on a 4x6 notecard. Kid after kid I work with failed to come in with one of these sheets. They would say "I know it all." Even when they were given specific instructions to make a sheet, or examples to copy they refused. Knowing that not having a sheet in would likely result in failure still was not enough motivation to actually do this work. It was only when I refused to even give an exam paper to several of these kids without seeing a note sheet that any of them complied, dragging a blank piece of paper out and groaning "What should I put on it?"
After taking the tests several kids were able to acknowledge that it had been helpful to have the notesheet. So they could see that. But why not choose to invest any time up front? I don't think it is coincidence, this was too many really pretty low performing kids. Maybe they were just checked out, resigned to get whatever they got. They just didn't want to risk putting effort out and then failing. Better to fail with no effort. Is there any way to alter this mindset?

One more ugly story. On the theory that experiencing some bullying in high school helps prepare you for the real world (and I am incredibly flattered that JER commented on my last post) another kid got a big dose of preparation on the last day of school. We are always on a sort of high security alert in the last week of school, trying to head off any sort of senior prank. There was a wave of school destruction a few years ago, so this isn't just paranoia. This year there was an incident on Monday of our final week which ended with the arrest of a senior, he is being charged with two felonies related to his brandishing a fake but realistic pistol at another kid. So all week there were extra police officers in the halls in addition to our usual security team and teachers posted in hallways for finals. Daniel, a sophmore on the spectrum, was in the common area waiting to take his English final. Another sophmore began verbally harrassing him. Apparently this other kid has been pulling this kind of stunt for a couple of years but we didn't know anything about it. Anyway Daniel rose to the bait and got angry. His verbal processing failed him and he lashed out, shoving this other kid. This has happened before, in our room. Daniel has a short fuse sometimes and he has hit other kids. He has been told many times that this is not acceptable behavior in high school, and would eventually get him into trouble. Well trouble happened this time. Since he was in the commons a police officer saw the whole thing, including the harrassment. As soon an Daniel shoved this kid she, the officer, grabbed his sweatshirt at the back of his neck. He was so shocked he didn't know what to do. The officer couldn't "read" his reaction because reacting properly IS the disability. Since she had no idea what he might do she handcuffed him and brought him and the other kid to the office. Daniel went home sobbing and had to come in Monday and finish his two finals. I have no idea what happened to the other kid, but I have never seen my boss so angry. We were all very upset, but had to continue with our day in order to help everyone else finish up. I was really upset until I ran into Daniel the next day at a graduation party for a mutual friend. he gave me a big hug and a smile and seemed fine, really fine. Maybe it really did help. I hope so.