Jeremy Royse

Jeremy Royse obviously had problems at home. An emotional hyperactive five-year-old boy had no business being involved in his divorced parents' disputes. Some days he'd come to school and be especially defiant and emotional, and almost always, he'd respond to the question of "Is daddy at your house right now?" with sobs that racked his little body. He would refuse to do work, cry over the littlest things, and keep repeating, "It's all my fault! I give up!" Knowing that his worst days were when his father was back in the house caused a bit of anger and resentment on my part.

This was a bright, humorous, amazing little boy. He proved to have adequate reasoning skills for his grade level, could read, write with lots of encouragement, and count well. Often times, he would refuse to finish a worksheet, blaming people around him for his not being able to concentrate and cry when he it was time to come in from recess. We knew that he was especially sensitive when his dad was in the house, and knew that his parents we re divorced, but what exactly do you do with a situation like this? Talking to the parents would most likely present more problems and hostility from their side of the firing line, and what parents want to be told that their bickering and divorce is tearing apart their son?

As weeks passed, Jeremy's behavior fluctuated between hypersensitive to fairly normal. During an IEP meeting, his teacher asked Mrs. Royse if their address had changed. She commented that it was the same--for now. When asked what she meant by this, and if she planned to move, Mrs. Royse shrugged her shoulders and looked concerned. There had been talk earlier in the year of moving Jeremy to another school because his behavior at home was getting worse and they laid blame on the school. We knew that it wasn't class, students, or staff that was causing Jeremy's apathy and tearful outbursts, but of course, blaming the parents would only cause more tension and more of a reason for them to remove Jeremy from our school.

After waiting out the storm for a while and trying new techniques to control and reinforce Jeremy's better behavior, we were at a crossroads. Although his behaviors had improved tremendously since the beginning of the year, he still had his days when he would throw tantrums--and again, he told us that his dad was staying with him and his mom on his bad days when we asked. So what would