I hope the teacher gets her certification yanked. There is no excuse for that. I hope another teacher is able to talk to these kids, and emphasize playing together, and that some people have different ways of perceiving the world. That wouldn't even be acceptable for high school kids - never mind 5-year-olds!

I was often picked last, or near last, for playground games like kickball. Did I feel bad? Was I scarred for life? Not really - I knew pretty early on that I was the most likely of all my classmates - okay, me and a couple other kids - the others that were left standing toward the end - to trip on my way up the base path. I knew I'd be first picked for other things that didn't involve running, and that was okay.