My working life (2)

Right now I'm troubled by a six year old who is about to be permanently excluded (expelled) from school. He was excluded from another school when he was four. What is an educational psychologist to do? Running off isn't allowed. I have to try and hold everyone's distress; the school who are coping with staff and children being hurt on a daily basis and the parents who cannot bear the rejection of their little boy. It's really too late. There is a sense of failure and defeat all round. I am the still voice at the centre; I listen, I advise but there is little I can do to prevent this. The school have had much advice from teacher support services, the child has generous support from the local authority and I try to help the school and the parents but the answer lies in getting rid of this child's 'ghosts' from the nursery. Here is a ferocious, angry little boy who has to control everything and everyone around him through verbal and physical aggression. He cannot allow himself to be a child; being little and vulnerable is a terrifying place to be. When he's angry with his mother, his voice becomes hard and cold, he calls her by her first name and says she's 'stupid'. He moves like a tornado and his reach is like quicksilver. I have asked for help from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) but there is a long waiting list. The parents and child need lengthy, quiet, calm work on their relationship. While this happens, the child needs education in a small, nurturing class where he can safely practice the art of childhood. And pigs might fly.