Just another day

It's amazing what a 6 year old can do to a classroom all because I asked him to write the number "3" in math class. He said he was finished working for the day; I said not quite; he threw his pencil on the floor; I said pick it up; he overturned 6 desks, 6 chairs, threw a bin of Legos, snapped a pencil in half then threw it at me, erased my dry erase board with work on it, broke the metal window blinds, dumped out the bins of crayons and markers, shoved a desk into the hallway, peeled drywall off the wall, and threw a large toy airplane at my head. This was with 30 minutes until the end of the school day. I stood in the doorway of the room ignoring his fit until it subsided, then told him he could not go home until everything was returned to its place and his math work was complete. 1 hour later, he picked everything up, sat down and wrote the number 3, and I let him go home to his dad patiently waiting in the school parking lot. The beautiful thing about autistic kids is that he gave me a hug before leaving, told me I was the best teacher, and I told him I was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow...and I meant it :)