[monster]

I'm sort of on the fence on this one, but I think, in the end, I'd make sure that he knew that I knew that it wasn't a miskick, that I also knew that he felt there were very few other options in the circs and that i was proud of his sense of justice if not so much the way he went about getting it. Telling your parents when you get home ain't gonna cut it in that sort of situation -it's too late, and appealing to higher authorities only works if there are there at the time.

That said, there's also the chance that the bully is also in summer school because he also has a few social behaviour "problems". Maybe the teacher knows more about what they are than is obvious to the eyes of the students. One of the most common areas of mental impairment is social functions -the stuff that you learn in school and especially in those self-conscious prepubescent years -what is and isn't appropriate, what is and isn't OK to say. Still doesn't excuse the poor handling of the situation, but if the bully's brain doesn't fire on the normal cylinders, the ball in the nose may have served no purpose other than to make LL feel better -the bully may not learn anything from it, and it's pretty certain that the autistic kid would not understand the "revenge" aspect, abd might not suffer any feelings of loss through being withdrawn from the game.

It is a tough call.

But definitely make sure he understands that you know he did it deliberately, that you understand why he did it, and then tell him why it wasn't the perfect solution. But you need to offer him a "next time this happens" scenario and that's tough. How about "next time, pick up the ball and before taking the kick, ask the teacher why the victim was removed and not the offender"