Flunking Band on Purpose

I don't have any musical instrument ability.It kinda ranks up there with my math skills after the add,subtract,multiply,divide portion at least. Algebra PLEASE it is sooooooo overrated. So back to the title of this blog.

My son .. the one with ASD is a drummer in school. He is not officially in any kind of marching band .. just the regular run of the mill school band class.
This boy has rhythm. He gets drums. He gets A's. Woooo hoo right ??

Today I had to call the guidance counselor and request that he be pulled from band.
Request may be understated a tad .. but nonetheless that was the bulk of the conversation.

Anyone with a child on the ASD spectrum knows these kids have a great deficit in social skills. This is not even earth shattering information to folks that don't have a child on the ASD spectrum.. after all it is one of the main indicators to an Autism diagnosis.

While I struggle yearly,daily sometimes minute by minute with the school district to "get it" (ya know those folks with special ed degrees and administrator behind their names) the bullies seem to pick up on it just fine.
Heck they can spot a social skills deficit clear across a crowded lunch room, band stage .. or in this case both.

After 2 years of watching my son deal with this nonsense and 2 years of very clever bullying (seriously would you really be a bully right in FRONT of a teacher ?) I did what I consider was my only option, pull him from band.

Is it the right solution ? Nope
Will my son be ticked that he will now have to possibly go to art class instead ? Yup
While the boy has rhythm he sorely lacks in artistic drive and creativity.(read HATES art class)

If my son had the skills and resources to deal with the bully I wouldn't pull him. Plain and simple. If there was a program in place in the school years ago to really deal with bullies I wouldn't be in this spot today.
Is it fair to ask a diabetic to handle his diabetes without insulin ? Ok I know that could be a stretch but you get the idea.

Bottom line zero tolerance policies don't work. Waiting for the implosion of a full blown physical altercation on school grounds before acting does not address the issue of bullies. Being proactive rather than reactive is the key.

I can't risk the implosion. I don't want my son to be forced into thinking that is the only way to handle a bully. So out of band he goes .. where too ? Still no clue. If there is no class to go too then he will just have to flunk band for the remainder of the year.

The bully scores again.