Part 3: The New Route

On Monday, Ms. Alvarez met the class at the door with a photograph of the alternate route. She described each part: the wide sidewalk, the crossing guard, the entrance to the library. The children had a chance to ask questions before leaving the classroom.

Theo raised his hand. “What if the cat is there?”

“What cat?” Ms. Alvarez asked.

June held up his drawing. She had added a striped cat at the corner. “The map cat.”

“If we see a cat,” Ms. Alvarez said, “we'll give it space and tell an adult.”

The class accepted this as a serious answer. Theo walked beside June, carrying the drawing in a clear folder. When they reached the library, the librarian gave each child a card showing where to return books. Theo studied the little arrows and asked whether he could take the card home.

After school he told me about the walk in pieces. June had worn a yellow raincoat. The crossing guard had a whistle. The library had a book about bridges. I wrote the details on a sheet of paper because Theo wanted to remember them for his next map.

At our meeting with Principal Reed, we talked about more than the interrupted phone call. Ms. Alvarez described how she used pictures alongside spoken directions for the whole class. Theo's support teacher explained that he sometimes needed a little extra time to answer, especially when a room was noisy. We asked the school to let him finish before someone supplied an answer for him.

“We should do that for every child,” Principal Reed said.

The support teacher smiled. “It helps many children. Theo has told us it helps him.”

We also discussed the playground. Theo liked the swings but had not joined a group game. I had been tempted to ask the school to make sure he was included. The support teacher suggested a different starting point: ask Theo which games he wanted to try and give him a way to invite someone.

At dinner I asked him. “Do you want to play a game with anyone?”

“June likes the ball game. I don't know the rules.”

Sam suggested they practice rolling a ball back and forth in the yard. Theo agreed, provided Sam did not call it practice. “It's the backyard game,” he said.

The next afternoon Ms. Alvarez sent a photograph of a sign the class had made for the temporary route. Each child drew one landmark. Theo drew the library, June drew a cat, and another student drew the crossing guard's bright vest. The teacher had checked the signs with the children and explained that they did not replace official road signs.

At the bottom of the photograph, Theo's hand held a second sheet. Two stars were drawn beside a bench.

“What's that?” I asked when he came home.

“That's where you can wait,” he said. “If someone needs a quiet place.”

I thought of the busy cafeteria and the noise that had made him cover his ears on Tuesday. He had not mentioned it then. Now he was showing us a place he thought might help. I asked whether he wanted me to tell Ms. Alvarez, and he said yes.