DeScepter

I was at work the other day, running around dealing with an 8-year-old who likes to eat poop and wasn’t wearing any pants. Or underwear. Few things in the world will make you feel like a dirty pedophile as frolicking with a half nude little boy. Especially when he decides he wants some Sensory Integration therapy, which involves things like hugs, squeezes, pressure and lifting. I basically have Michael Jackson’s dream job.

When I’m not busy doing my best to avoid molesting my client (“T”),  I also have to deal with his 5-year-old nephew (“J”). This little guy has plenty of issues of his own, not including having an autistic uncle that is only 3 years older than he is. I have the privilege of having J home during the therapy sessions because he is only allowed to go to school for half-days, in the afternoon, because he was punching too many people in his class.

J is actually a cool little guy, but he is desperate for attention and tends to get in the middle of anything I try to accomplish. I usually find ways to include him, and try to help him out in dealing with his own aggression and hyperactivity. It isn’t easy to work with one child that has autism and another that has Conduct disorder at the same time, but I do what I can.

I was giving T a break from therapy when J came up to me and showed me a little white rectangle he had. It turned out to be a handheld electronic version of Battleship. He wanted to show me how it worked, so I sat there and watched him fumble with the game. He wasn’t able to do much more than make it beep at him, but I wasn’t about to tell him how to play the game. I get yelled at enough when he plays LEGO Indiana Jones on his Xbox.

The kids. This photo is intentionally blurry. Also, my phone's camera kind of sucks. You pervert.

After a few minutes of fumbling, he declared victory, and then spiked the game down on the hardwood floor.

“Careful,” I told him “You’re going to break that.”

“No I won’t” He said.

“…uh, yes you will. You shouldn’t just throw it on the ground like that.”

“But it can’t break, it’s made of plastic.”

I’ve noticed that he also slams his Xbox controllers down on the ground when the batteries start to die. He claims this recharges them.

Well, I don’t have much more to say beyond that other than I wish I lived in a magical “Plastic is indestructible and brute force recharges dying batteries” fantasy land and that I generally enjoy my job.