His parents fought for our company, though, and won, and we started with him again two months ago. His dad cornered me at the Walk for Autism last month. "We were really hoping we'd get you back," ex-marine scary man smiled at me. "But you're not on his team. What are we gonna do about that?"
I smiled and told him I'd asked, I'd been asking, I'd ask again, and then I did just that. When the office manager told me I'd have to give up another baby to teach him again, I told her to do it, and then she worked her magic so I can see him again without losing anyone.
I stepped back into their house today all smiles, the dad and his daughters all smiles to see me, his baby boy crying, "No! No!" at the sight of me. I told his dad and sister, "I'm not sure if he's crying because he does or he doesn't remember me." I've been telling people all week I expected tears when I showed up again--the people on his team now damn sure aren't pushing him like I did, and it's time to crack some skulls.
I told ex-marine dad to expect lots of tantrums and not a lot of work today--that I wanted his kid to be super comfortable before I started running programs with him, and he might not accept me as an authority figure right away. Instead, his kid protested my first command, and then didn't protest again the whole two hours. He followed every instruction I gave and we ripped through every single program with plenty of time to spare. He was all smiles and laughter and compliance and on my way out I hugged the dad.
"Welcome back," he said.
"It's fantastic to be back," I said.