Josh/2008-06-19

This account so far is entirely from Nick's memory; the caregiver's name has been abbreviated because I didn't know if she was comfortable having her name included in this account.

This was T's first day with Josh, and was expected to be the beginning of Josh's daily developmental therapy.

On arrival, T said she had a stomach ache and was generally feeling poorly. She began working with him in the living room, and seemed to have established a good rapport with him -- she was able to get him to sit up on request and to indicate a choice; it seemed like a good start.

After maybe half an hour, she said she was planning to take him for a walk. I asked if she was sure that she could keep up with him, as he could be a fast walker; she replied with something to the effect that her three sons were of a similar height to Josh, and she was used to keeping up with them. I asked if she had our home phone number in case she needed any help with Josh; she said she didn't have it, so I wrote it on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

It came up at about this point that T also needed to move her car from the driveway before going anywhere, as Sandy needed to get out to go to a monthly meeting. Josh was already dressed and heading out the door at that point, so I offered to stand outside with him while T moved her car -- explaining that if she put him in the car to move it, he might be reluctant to get out again. She thought about it and said that it would be fine because she would take him for a drive.

At this point, I was unclear on what the plan was -- I thought I heard her say she would be taking him for a drive instead of taking him for a walk, but this later turned out not to be the case. At the time, I think I mumbled something about how a drive seemed like a better idea, since she wasn't feeling well.

T and Josh drove off at this point. I don't remember for sure, but I'm pretty sure she didn't just drive out of the driveway and re-park in front of the house; I don't know where they went or where she finally parked. Sandy also left at about this time.

What apparently happened during this time was this: after they were done driving, T took Josh for a walk down to the western end of Pinecrest, where it crosses Academy (hwy 751), and then tried to turn him around to come back. He resisted her attempts to turn him around; she had to stand out in the middle of the road and physically block his way to stop him from continuing. He hit her in the stomach and on the head.

Sometime later (maybe half an hour?), I heard the driveway door close because Josh had come back in. He went through his usual "I'm done now" routine of taking off his shoes and pants, without any apparent agitation.

I went outside to see what had happened to T -- there was no sign of her car or of her. I came to the conclusion that she had let him out of the car, seen that he had gone inside, and (possibly feeling worse than before) had gone home. This seemed irregular, but I didn't know what else to think.

Perhaps 5 minutes later, T herself showed up. I let her in the house and we spoke for a few minutes. At this point she told me what had happened at the bottom of Pinecrest (though some of the details only came out later in emails with Maxim) and said that she didn't feel that she could handle Josh.

I apologized repeatedly and said that it was very unusual for Josh to hit someone in these circumstances (i.e. outside, being taken for a walk); I explained about the walking path where we often take Josh just across Academy Road and also the fact that he doesn't like being turned around; we spoke for a few more minutes and then she left.