The Time-Out Room

My daughter got sent to the time out room at school today.  She got sent there because she has diabetes.

It sounds like the start to a diabetes parent horror story.  It's really not- just a bizarre one.

The 8th grade took a standardized science test today.  It's specific to our state and unrelated to the other standardized tests they took a few weeks ago.

When she took her first standardized tests (2nd grade?), she took them in a room with other kids who had school 504 medical, or individual educational accommodation plans.  This went on through 4th grade, and then in 5th and 6th, she and one other girl with a medical plan were further separated from the rest. Testing in another room allowed her to stop the test and leave the room to treat low or high blood sugars or to use the restroom.  We used this accommodation once for an episode of Nurse's Office Calisthenics.

Come 7th grade, we were told that the rules for the newly introduced test were different and that if she left the room...any room for any reason...she'd have to stop testing and make up the test another day.  Kids with both medical and educational challenges were testing in another room and being allotted extra time, but no accommodation could be made for having to actually leave the room.  So at that point, we chose to have her take the test with the 'general population.' 

Today's test, unbeknownst to us, fell under the older test's rules.  So as she sat in homeroom today, names were read off, followed by the rooms the kids were to go to.  Kids were generally being put in alphabetical order for testing.  Then came her name, followed by, 'You're going to the time-out room.'

Hilarity apparently ensued amongst her friends. The teacher said something along the lines of, 'There's a sentence I never thought I'd have to say!" 

She took the science test, by herself, in the time-out room with a Spanish teacher she didn't know very well.  She was intrigued to experience the room, had plenty of time and peace to read her book as she finished each section, and maintained a good sense of humor about it.  Would a phone call home or a check-in with the student earlier this week have been nice?  Absolutely- it was a strange surprise.  But if nothing else, diabetes surely teaches us to roll with the punches and survive by finding the humor in situations.  This one was really pretty funny.