Baby Huey

I was working as an educational director for a behavioral program with students that had psychiatric and/or behavioral issues. Many of these students were hard to deal with, and I was intimidated by them, although I would never let them know. As time passed, however, I began to get a much better understanding of what made some of them tick.

There was one student in particular. He was HUGE! He FILLED the doorway, and he was still a fairly young high school student. There were some occasions when his frustration would spill into rage and we would have to call the police for help. Whenever we called the police and mentioned the name of this student, they would always send at least two patrol cars. As upset as he would get, he still had a desire to do right.

One day he was in a particularly foul mood. I knew it was only a matter of time, and before the hour was up he became very aggressive. We are trained in methods of restraining students in these extreme cases. There were four of us trying to restrain him while waiting for the police to arrive. As the director I normally don't get involved physically and I dress more professionally. As we were trying to restrain him, I said quietly in his ear, "Please _____, settle down. I just bought this shirt." He said, "Oh, sorry Ms. Melissa." and layed still! He did not move until the police arrived, then calmly went with them. I learned a valuable lesson that day.