Let's call her Mary Poppins.

She's a daycare provider you don't know.

One of thousands and thousands who toil day after day, taking care of other people's children before and after school and trying to make sure that's exactly what she does... care.

One of the children Mary has in her group this year isn't a happy little addition. His presence is... jarring.

He's very physical, but not in a vicious sort of way... it's more a normal way of behaving for him... pushing kids away or smacking them.

He has a short attention span, which is typical for many children, only his is even shorter.

Mary will try to get him to focus, "Michael, look here.." and point to the bridge of her nose.

Michael looks at Mary, but by the time she gets three words out, he's looking off somewhere else. She tries to gently get his attention again, sometimes phrasing things in a funny or odd way to distract him from the constant stream of sensory input he seems to be seeking.

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The times it does work encourage Mary to keep trying. She feels good when she gets through, although his answers are usually monosyllabic and not really productive, they are at least answers.

Michael has aggravated several of the other kids. He hits (not hard, and not to hurt... he just can't seem to help it) he makes noises in people's faces, and even though they ask him to stop, he doesn't seem to get it. The words come at him, and he knows what they mean, but seems unable to process it to apply to himself.

Mary tries really hard to keep an eye on him, realizing that what he needs is "extra". Extra vigilance to keep him from losing his temper, extra attention so that he knows he's cared about, extra everything.

It's easy to write a Michael off, one need only document enough 'bad' behavior. But Mary sees something in him that needs nurturing. So Mary is taking the unusual (for her) step of talking to some other professionals for clues on how to best take care of Michael. Being part of Team Michael... instead of putting a black mark on his record.

Mary can admit when a child is out of her league, but she's not easily deterred and doesn't want to give up without a BIG fight.

So wish Mary luck, she wants to do a good job for this child the same as with the other children in her care.