The Plan B Classroom 265of the classroom. If we should happen to run into an un-
predictable frustration, I think we need a place for Casey
to go to calm down if your initial efforts to calm him
down don’t do the trick. I don’t think he’s at the point
yet where he’s able to talk things through when he’s
frustrated, although we’re working on it. Luckily, he’s
pretty good at calming down on his own if we leave him
alone for a while. We have to find ways to let him do that
while still making sure he’s safe. So for now, our top pri-
ority is to keep explosions to a minimum, even at the ex-
pense of his learning. It’s the explosions that are getting
in the way of Casey’s learning anyway.”
Things went quite well for Casey for the last few
months of that school year. At the beginning of the
next school year the group reassembled, including his
old and new teachers, reviewed what worked and what
didn’t the previous school year, and agreed to try to do
more of the same, while focusing on helping Casey
complete more schoolwork. Although we expected
some rough moments as Casey adjusted to his new
teachers and classmates, it wasn’t until two months
into the school year that he had his first series of ex-
plosions. The special education coordinator hastily
called a meeting.
“We think Casey has regressed,” the principal said.
“He looks as bad as he did last school year.”
“Actually, we think he looks a lot better than he did