Sophie's Throughway by Jules Smith Page A

know what you mean…”
    â€œDo you not see this as quite outrageous to be punished this often?” she asked.
    â€œNot really, I don’t always think I should have a detention, not for the little things that I don’t think are bad.” He continued shredding his paper more ferociously.
    â€œAnd what about the comments you make to teachers? Do you not think they’re inappropriate?”
    â€œI’m only saying what I think.”
    â€œWell let me tell you what I think: I think you are a rude and defiant young man who is discrediting this school. You are lucky to be getting an education and good teachers and all you seem to be doing is making a mockery of it all with your outlandish and difficult behaviour.’
    I saw Mr. Fothergill nod in agreement. I wanted to smack him in the face. Before either Karl or I could interject Brendon spoke up for himself.
    â€œLook, I don’t know what it is you don’t get but I don’t see detentions as bad. Like, they don’t bother me. Iget them all the time because no one understands me and even if I try to explain it to teachers they say ‘ I’m arguing ’ and I just get another one. I mean, do you really think I WANT to be like this?” He actually did look her directly in the eye when he said that. “Do you think I want to have Aspergers? I want to be like every other kid and be able to sit still and get on with work and understand people but I can’t and I can’t change it.”
    My heart melted and I wanted to gather him in my arms and take him far, far away from this nightmare situation. I saw empathy in the eyes of the other two governors but not of the old shrew. She remained staunchly hard faced.
    â€œBrendon,” said Mr. Smith, “thanks for telling us that and we will take that on board, of course. Now if we can move over to Mr. & Ms. Rhodes and have their thoughts.” He smiled warmly in our direction.
    Karl looked over at me to see if I wanted to go first. I looked down at my notes…hmm…they weren’t much help. “Well,” I started, trying to run events through my mind, “obviously I’m concerned and upset that Brendon has been moved onto this level of report but I am well aware that the computer incident is totally unacceptable and I have spoken to Brendon about this. As for the other incidents, well, I don’t think some of them are relevant like ‘horse play’ with your friends. That’s just normal, teenage boy behaviour, surely?” I looked for agreement in the sea of faces but didn’t find it. “The inappropriate responses, well, that’s part and parcel of the condition butsomething both Mrs. Armitage and I are dealing with together. I do come in to school regularly to meet up with the SEN team and working as a united front seems to help.” It was weak but I wanted them to understand that I was doing my level best to keep him walking within the walls of acceptance.
    â€œWell it doesn’t appear to be helping very well Ms. Rhodes,” Mrs. Johnstone replied with a condescending smirk on her face.
    I felt like a berated school child and coloured slightly at her remark.
    â€œAre you aware of how difficult this is for me?” I asked looking at her and around the room at the others. “You talk to me as though I’m not making any effort. I leave my job early or get in late so that I can get to this school and help out and I try my hardest to support the teachers as well as my son in the education system. I don’t know if you’re aware but I have two children in this school. My daughter is a model student, certainly not discrediting, and has an exemplary record. She is in all the top sets, is polite, and very popular with both her peers and her teachers. Now, the interesting thing is, both my son and daughter have been parented in exactly the same way. I know how to bring my children up properly with