Janna
New Member
I have a few issues - I'm hoping maybe the pros can give me some advice. I'm sure you know, we're still (stilllllllllll) talking about Dylan :crazy:
Here's the major issues I need help with at the moment:
Head banging. He still continues to bang his head. I caught him, twice, over the weekend playing the Playstation II, getting angry, banging the joystick HARD on his head. Needless to say, that's an immediate shut down. He knows it. Caught him one time with the hand held Game Boy doing the same thing. Obviously, the video games are a HUGE issue for him BUT, they are also a HUGE help for me with quiet time, because it's the ONLY thing that settles him (until he loses, gets mad, and slams the stick on his head, that is). Now, I dropped him off at the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) Sat. night, he had no bruising on his head. Today during our hourly phone session, the therapist brought to my attention that Sunday the nurse noticed significant bruising on his head, which means some time from Sat night when I dropped him off to Sun evening, he was banging it around. He claims he doesn't remember, doesn't know why, knows nothing. That's nothing new. He will also bang his chin. What I mean is, when he gets frustrated or angry, he will take the palm of his hand, face it upward, and hit the bottom of his chin VERY hard, multiple times, almost like some type of stress releaser or something. When we asked him today if his head banging or chin banging felt good, he replied no. When he was asked by the therapist why he did it, he rambled on something about me tickling him and him falling to the floor, totally off topic, again typical Dylan, ignoring the question and going off into another world until the subject IS changed (which is what he wanted LOL). I dunno why he's banging his head and his chin. Why? I also think he's scratching his face. Not alot, but tiny bits when he's frustrated. He says no, but he continually shows up with scratches with no recollection as to how they got there.
School. Get this. I get an email from the teacher today. They had to make him a cubicle in class to keep him out of eyesight of EVERYONE because his peers annoy him to the point that he cannot do one iota of work. BUT, he is often kept after school to finish work, and when everyone else is gone (peers), he's fine LOL! LOL! What the ?!?!?!?!?!? This is what the teacher emailed to me:
"We recently constructed a small cubicle area for him in hopes to deter him from being distracted by his peers, as well as to deter him from distracting his peers. This seems to be helping. He continues, however to complete limited work. Typically, I require Dylan to remain after school in order to complete the work that he does not complete during the school day. The interesting thing about this is that he will sit and do his work without any problems at the end of the day. I do not know what the difference is during the school day and after school, other than it is quieter and his peers are not present. At times, there will be at least one or two other students in the classroom after-school as well who are serving detention. I feel that his attention has improved somewhat, yet he is still easily distracted. He is often just sitting at his desk not doing any work, trying to color or draw, making distracting noises, etc. "
The peers bother him this bad that he cannot maintain in school. That's the bottom line of it, pretty much. How is he supposed to function in school? LOL! He won't be in this Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) forever. The chances of them "curing", "fixing", or "easing" the school issues, to me, seem slim to none. I could be very wrong, but geez, what am I to do?
So, I think, maybe a 1:1. What, exactly, is the criteria for Dylan being approved for a 1:1 aide? Does anyone know? I have asked, and am continuously turned down with no good reasoning, but have no good support behind me to get him one. Maybe I need an advocate.
I was talking to him on the phone last night and he was telling me about another boy in the residence that was nagging him to watch tv with him. "Can I watch it?" the boy kept asking, over and over, no matter how long Dylan ignored him. Dylan said to me "stupid Autistic boy" (apparantley the boy uses his Autism as an excuse for alot of things and Dylan's got it the boy is Autistic). I said Dylan, you are Autistic. Silence :rofl:
His inability to express himself is a huge problem. Today there was an issue, at school. His side of the story was that his lip was bothering him (chapped), they were standing in line to leave the class, he raised his hand, the teacher asked him what he wanted, he said his lip was bothering him and asked to go to the nurse, the teacher sent him out to the lobby for blurting out.
Now, why would she do that if he raised his hand and she responded? Waiting on the teachers side from the therapist.
Anyway - Dylan fell to the floor, started crawling around, crying. Couldn't get anyone to get him to talk (there goes that flat affect again, GOOD, IM GLAD THEY ARE SEEING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and it took forever to get him redirected and back to class (2 hours).
I don't know how to get him to communicate LOL! And obviously, neither does the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) :sad:
The therapist gave him a stress ball. He CLAIMS it works, but yet, I never see him with it. I found some cute Sponge Bob ones on Ebay, we'll see.
I need help. I could go on and on and on and on.....
Thanks ahead :smile:
Here's the major issues I need help with at the moment:
Head banging. He still continues to bang his head. I caught him, twice, over the weekend playing the Playstation II, getting angry, banging the joystick HARD on his head. Needless to say, that's an immediate shut down. He knows it. Caught him one time with the hand held Game Boy doing the same thing. Obviously, the video games are a HUGE issue for him BUT, they are also a HUGE help for me with quiet time, because it's the ONLY thing that settles him (until he loses, gets mad, and slams the stick on his head, that is). Now, I dropped him off at the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) Sat. night, he had no bruising on his head. Today during our hourly phone session, the therapist brought to my attention that Sunday the nurse noticed significant bruising on his head, which means some time from Sat night when I dropped him off to Sun evening, he was banging it around. He claims he doesn't remember, doesn't know why, knows nothing. That's nothing new. He will also bang his chin. What I mean is, when he gets frustrated or angry, he will take the palm of his hand, face it upward, and hit the bottom of his chin VERY hard, multiple times, almost like some type of stress releaser or something. When we asked him today if his head banging or chin banging felt good, he replied no. When he was asked by the therapist why he did it, he rambled on something about me tickling him and him falling to the floor, totally off topic, again typical Dylan, ignoring the question and going off into another world until the subject IS changed (which is what he wanted LOL). I dunno why he's banging his head and his chin. Why? I also think he's scratching his face. Not alot, but tiny bits when he's frustrated. He says no, but he continually shows up with scratches with no recollection as to how they got there.
School. Get this. I get an email from the teacher today. They had to make him a cubicle in class to keep him out of eyesight of EVERYONE because his peers annoy him to the point that he cannot do one iota of work. BUT, he is often kept after school to finish work, and when everyone else is gone (peers), he's fine LOL! LOL! What the ?!?!?!?!?!? This is what the teacher emailed to me:
"We recently constructed a small cubicle area for him in hopes to deter him from being distracted by his peers, as well as to deter him from distracting his peers. This seems to be helping. He continues, however to complete limited work. Typically, I require Dylan to remain after school in order to complete the work that he does not complete during the school day. The interesting thing about this is that he will sit and do his work without any problems at the end of the day. I do not know what the difference is during the school day and after school, other than it is quieter and his peers are not present. At times, there will be at least one or two other students in the classroom after-school as well who are serving detention. I feel that his attention has improved somewhat, yet he is still easily distracted. He is often just sitting at his desk not doing any work, trying to color or draw, making distracting noises, etc. "
The peers bother him this bad that he cannot maintain in school. That's the bottom line of it, pretty much. How is he supposed to function in school? LOL! He won't be in this Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) forever. The chances of them "curing", "fixing", or "easing" the school issues, to me, seem slim to none. I could be very wrong, but geez, what am I to do?
So, I think, maybe a 1:1. What, exactly, is the criteria for Dylan being approved for a 1:1 aide? Does anyone know? I have asked, and am continuously turned down with no good reasoning, but have no good support behind me to get him one. Maybe I need an advocate.
I was talking to him on the phone last night and he was telling me about another boy in the residence that was nagging him to watch tv with him. "Can I watch it?" the boy kept asking, over and over, no matter how long Dylan ignored him. Dylan said to me "stupid Autistic boy" (apparantley the boy uses his Autism as an excuse for alot of things and Dylan's got it the boy is Autistic). I said Dylan, you are Autistic. Silence :rofl:
His inability to express himself is a huge problem. Today there was an issue, at school. His side of the story was that his lip was bothering him (chapped), they were standing in line to leave the class, he raised his hand, the teacher asked him what he wanted, he said his lip was bothering him and asked to go to the nurse, the teacher sent him out to the lobby for blurting out.
Now, why would she do that if he raised his hand and she responded? Waiting on the teachers side from the therapist.
Anyway - Dylan fell to the floor, started crawling around, crying. Couldn't get anyone to get him to talk (there goes that flat affect again, GOOD, IM GLAD THEY ARE SEEING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and it took forever to get him redirected and back to class (2 hours).
I don't know how to get him to communicate LOL! And obviously, neither does the Residential Treatment Facility (RTF) :sad:
The therapist gave him a stress ball. He CLAIMS it works, but yet, I never see him with it. I found some cute Sponge Bob ones on Ebay, we'll see.
I need help. I could go on and on and on and on.....
Thanks ahead :smile: