I should probably report on the status of my stepson, since you have all been so kind as to offer concern and constructive suggestions.

We had a meeting with the school administration and all the teachers (well, except for one, who was sick...unfortunately, the one who was sick is one of the biggest "look the other way" problems; a real nebish, that one) on Tuesday afternoon.

Basically, they all fell all over themselves to solve the problem in a reasonable, responsible, involved manner. They asked what the boy felt like he needed to be safe, he told them, we all discussed how to make it happen, it was put down in writing, and has been placed into effect. The boy has been back at school for three days now. He's having a bit of psychsomatic symptomology, but pretty minor, and I think that's normal given the anxiety he must be feeling.

I've communicated with everyone from the Superintendent of Schools all the way down, and we've got what we want. Now it just remains to be seen if the solutions are adhered to, and whether or not the boy was so torqued as to not be able to cope at all, even with the changes put in place.

And, on the other side of the equation, he has enthusiastically decided to join the CAP...he's actually looking forward to the mucking part, Wolf.

Things could have worked out worse. I'm sure that this is only one more incident put temporarily to rest, but at least it *is* at rest for the time being. On to the next crisis.

That's great to hear, Els.

But I was kind of looking forward to reading about you in the papers...on Larry King.....OPRAH. :)

Sign the boy up for EMT class too ... amazingly useful. Actually, I guess he's too young for that ... mebbe some first aid to start.

We'll make a wacker out of the boy!

I don't think he needs to be taught, that. :blush:

The holiday crisis is long past...he has hair now, and all has settled down inside his head back to his normal baseline. He has had a few more seizures than was normal in recent months, but I don't think that is unusual given the gravity of what he went through. His backside surgery has also healed up very nicely, but the poor kid had to have two wisdom teeth extracted last week, so he isn't getting more than about six weeks break between physical difficulties ever since last Fall.

Emotionally, he's still a bit rocky. Still rather needy, wanting assistance *right now* with the most trivial of things. He's so isolated, and it is so hard to do much about it. In truth, he needs to live with someone else, but we haven't been able to locate a likely roommate.

Summary...he's doing pretty well, all things considered, but I do wish that we could get him some more activities and, well...friends.

Buy him a Russian bride.:lovers:

And you know it's the truth, Ruth! :haha:

what news?

CAP involvement is going well. He's very into it; even got a military spec haircut. He's slowly accumulating his greens and blues (blues come by mail for the most part, greens they sort of cobble together out of their own stock). They've just started a module on rocketry, so he's gonna build a model rocket (hell, I do that every few years...this will be a good excuse to do it again!).

School is still a problem. The administration has dealt with what they said they would deal with, but the boy is still manifesting some psychosomatic physical symptoms (although some of it may have been undiagnosed migraines...we had him in the ER last night until 1:30 AM with what appeared to be a migraine). He says he *wants* to be in school, and indeed, he has a lot of enthusiasm for his activites there, but his grades are slipping, and some old habits are surfacing again (throwing away homework, not bringing home grade reports, etc).

In short, it is still a work in progress.

Elspode,

Don't you know any of the other kids in his grade? Maybe there's still something going on that they could tell you about.

We do, but apparently, he is internalizing a lot of what is going on for him (either that, or it is primarily inner turmoil to begin with).

No one ever seems to know he's having a problem...not his friends, not his teachers. Believe me, we've asked. Everyone was utterly shocked when he landed in the kids psych hospital, because he is always so cheerful, outgoing, class-clown, helpful, etc.

That's the main reason why his situation is so worrisome...not much outward sign of his inner conflict, and when it does surace, the symptomology and manifestations are so counter to his usual behaviors and attitudes.