Chapter 31

In this chapter all seems to be going well until Boo has a huge meltdown. Torey had been outside with the children and Claudia had taken Boo inside to go to the bathroom. Suddenly Claudia comes running out the door and tells Torey to come help. When they all get inside, Boo is inside their normal classroom. This was because on the way back from the bathroom Claudia wanted to grab her sweater. There had been some early start on construction in the school for the summer, and since Torey's classroom was empty they must have decided to store things in there. There was a huge sheet of fiberglass insulation leaning against the cupboard. The side facing Boo was the shiny Mylar covering. Boo's body was trembling and his head was moving back and forth. He would flap his arms, and when he stopped he would grab his upper arms and "rake his fingernails down them". This created long/deep scratch marks in his arms. He even started to do this to his face until it bled, and started to pull out chunks of his hair. Torey and Tomaso worked together to get him into a corner, as he had been running around the room when they initially tried to get him under control. Once Torey got to him, he scratched her cheek and even bit her. Finally she got him into a position where he could not move his arms or bite her, and waited for him to calm down.

Claudia felt terrible about the situation, and repeatedly said that it was her fault for bringing him by the classroom. Torey told Claudia that it was definitely not her fault and that she could have never known that something like that was going to happen. Claudia started asking Torey if Boo will ever get better, and asked about the other children that come to their classroom. She tells Torey that her father told her it was a class for crazy kids before they have to be locked up as adults. She says, "I always thought crazy people were bad. Like Jack the Ripper or Son of Sam. I was scared to even think about them. But that isn't the way it really is, is it? Boo isn't bad. Or Tom or Lori." (pg. 302). They then go on to discuss whether or not people are good or bad, and Torey tells Claudia that no one is good or bad, and that those are just words.

Claudia responds, "No one's really any different, are they? We're all just pretty much the same." (302).

I thought this chapter was fairly interesting. Boo has made so much progress throughout this book, and he hadn't had a real meltdown in quite some time. It just goes to show that no matter how much progress one has made with a student there are still going to be some unexpected situations. I feel like he had this outburst because of the construction materials that had been placed in the room that were way out of the norm. Aside from that, I would have no idea why he resorted to hurting himself in the process. It's pretty scary to think about being in a situation like that, and I don't think anything besides a similar experience could really prepare anyone for handling it. I just hope that I have the right tools, support systems, and instincts to handle the situation in a safe way for everyone involved.