Psychoeducation: Preschool

This hand written letter (which I have copied word for word) predates my entry into Orchard Dale Elementary by two years. It appears to be penned by my maternal grandmother, Allene. It paints a clearer picture of my childhood emotional state. I previously assumed the problems to have begun in elementary school. In fact, my wave of destruction began much sooner. For example, I drove a car into my grandmother’s house at the age of two.

Psychoeducation: The Diagnostic Center

In January of 1991, I began attending The Diagnostic Center in Los Angeles, and thus, the Rossier School chapter came to a close. I wrote at length about this time in my life for Nintendo Rhapsody. It may not have been my first encounter with Nintendo, but it was certainly quite impressionable. When given the opportunity to spend time with the NES in the recreation room, I could easily find myself so entranced I would, for a brief moment, forget I was living away from home. My memory of the actual school environment at The Diagnostic Center remains a bit fuzzy, but some of the reports I have discovered may shed some light on the subject. This is a very much abridged version, by the way. There are twenty pages of mostly boring, deeply versed statistics. "This thing reads like stereo instructions!"

Psychoeducation: The Second First Grade

In May of 1989, my time at Orchard Dale Elementary came to an abrupt end. I was placed in a non-public school known as Rossier. My memory of this school is also a bit fuzzy, but I do remember some things here and there. I remember carrying a float back from an event in the gymnasium, the wind blowing it from my arms, and trying desperately to retrieve the scattered pieces from the field where I was suddenly ambushed by a group of students on the playground. I curled into a ball and they proceeded to kick at me until they grew tired of this activity. I then walked back to class, empty handed. I also remember stretching my arms backward while sitting at my desk one day, pencil in hand, when I managed to stab the teaching assistant. Until this very day, I feel as though it was an accident, but they took it very seriously. Below are a set of generalized reports from April 30th, 1990. At present, there do not appear to be any specific incident reports from Rossier.

Psychoeducation: The First Grade

I recently discovered my IEP papers from elementary school and was quite shocked by some of the things I found. I was always a relatively average child according to everyone I knew and spoke to, but as I entered Kindergarten and then Grade 1, I began to exhibit serious emotional problems. I have very few memories from this time, but I do recall being reminded by my parents of a few incidents. One of which left a custodian hospitalized. The following stories come from the staff of Orchard Dale Elementary the month of and month following Easter, 1989. I was six years old. I must warn everyone, it is quite intense!

I am sharing these stories in an effort to show I have nothing to hide. I made some serious mistakes as a child, more severe than most children, but I am certainly not the only one who ever gave in to impulsive actions or judged others before they knew all the facts. If we are to truly become better people, we need to focus on the strengths of others, not their weaknesses. I wish I could comfort the people in these stories. Chances are, however, they would not remember me. It was twenty-seven years ago, after all.