Matty, Mom and the Law

INVESTIGATION
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In the morning, the supervisor called and asked how the work with Matti had gone the day before. What we did with him.

"Everything was  as usual. Matti ate after school, then we went to the library and took a walk in the park. I took him home. That is all

-Nothing special happened?

- No, nothing special. What's going on?

- Matti's mother accuses you of hitting him. The supervisor paused as if he were waiting for something. I heard him breathing.

I started recalling the previous day

-The only thing that happened was Matti tripped on the sidewalk and I held his arm. Could have squeezed too hard and left a mark

-"He's got a palm mark on his chest. The investigation has already begun. I'll let you know  the result,-supervisor hang up.

MATTI and HIS OFFICIAL IMAGE

Matty was the first autistic kid I worked with. An agency described a six-year-old child who could bite, kick, fight and scream. He's also running away child. I said yes. It was interesting.

I didn't know much about autism back then. In college, the student who made the presentation told her impressions of visiting the house where children with autism lived. She described these children had no feelings and they used people as furniture

It was a little scary when I went to school to meet Matty for the first . He was there one little boy in the class The rest of the students were girls much older than Matty. He behaved calmly, listened attentively to the teacher and even answered something. In a break the teacher suggested us to go for a walk. I had to have the courage to agree. If at first the boy frowned, looked down and tried to break out, but when  we returned to school we were already friends. Matty had a lovely smile.

The supervisor suggested to work with Matti away from  house, as his mother has nerve problems. The boy used to pass her with his head down. So mostly we worked at my place. Matty befriended my parrot. He used to bring  him water, fed him seeds. Like many children with autism, he was great with puzzles. And he helped me a lot as well. If something did not work, he came up and momentarily spotted and fixed the problem. Matti began to talk to me with short jerky sentences- just the essence. Communication has become more complete.

At the entertainment center, he liked to change rides and running from one to the other and seeing me he ran up for hug. As ordinary children do! Of course, Matti had all sorts of moods, and unusual behavior, but neither aggressiveness, nor desire to bite or hit  never arose.

His mother, however, behaved strangely, as if she had provoked me into something by her actions. Supervisor warned to be careful, as mom wants to "get money from the agency for herself "
When the investigation began, I recalled that one of the previous days Matti began to do something he had never done. He started flipping furniture over in my apartment. He repeatedly throwed a chair and looked at me . I calmly lifted the chair. He's throwing something else and waiting for my reaction. It was very strange. Now it's all got in the whole picture. I was very sorry for Matty. And it was very hard to wait for result of investigation.

THE LAW is THE LAW
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In three long days the supervisor called. He said the handprint was the same size as the mother's. I asked what was going to happen to  mom. He said it wasn't my concern. He also said I would not work  with Matty any longer. They didn't give me different child to work with. I was missing Matti terribly
One day we met with the supervisor on the street. He was a psychologist by training, and I told him I was at a loss why he wasn't answering my calls and didn't give me  work. He said he wouldn't give me another child, because I couldn't work with kids like that. This caused even more bewilderment, as before the incident he wrote a great characteristic of my work

By chance, I found out the reason for the strange and incomprehensible behavior of the supervisor.  According to the unwritten law, a person who got under investigation, no longer gets any job as he consider unreliable and suspicious individual, even if he did nothing wrong
Strange law, however.

Shortly after the incident, I met  Mother and Matti on the bus. Mom apologized for what happened, but hope for supervisor apology remained hopeless

THE LAW and THE FRAUD
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A few years later, it happened that I again turned to this agency for a job for the position of working in a residence for children with autism. Remembering the unwritten law, I wrote in the questionnaire that I had never worked there before. My new manager knew about that. I told him the whole story. He confirmed that such a law exists, explaining it that information could be spread by somebody in community. Still it didn't make much of sense
I worked there for 17 years and there was a little fear inside of  me that the former supervisor would expose that old story  as now he held a position of a quality assurance person in the agency and I'll be in trouble. Also as I did a good job  I still had a tiny hope that he would apologize for that story, but my hope of course would more as a dream, a fantasy.

SOLUTION for MATTY
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We met  again with Matty a few years later through another agency. There's not much left of the boy with a cute smile. Now it was an aggressive teenager, who could take off his clothes completely  right on the street. At home, he would throw himself on the floor if something wasn't his way . His parents divorced, and he was now in the care of his mother. He was attached to his father, but his father was no longer available. I've worked with him a little bit and could handle his behavior. But  mother wanted to get from the agency a care for her child as many hours as possible. I certainly didn't agree, because it meant  Matty and Mother.

Then I found out that Matti was placed to a residence. Although that residence didn't have good reputation, I believe it was still a better solution for him.

In my memory I don't remember Matty a teenager  at all. He remains as a six-year-old boy with a cute smile, who could easily solve a problem with a puzzle or ran up joyful and happy to hug me in between rides or greeting my parrot with "Hi Bird!" and feeding him seeds. I remember all the kids I worked with