Hi everyone,
We have good friends who are having some issues with their daughter. I thought some of you might be able to offer some helpful information for them.
Their daughter is now 7 years old. She became their foster child when she was 5 1/2 and they adopted her shortly after she turned 6. She has now been with them nearly two years. There have been some behavioral issues from the beginning and they are not resolving. They are working with a family therapist, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist and are starting various types of testing.
When daughter first came to live with them, she was very, very loving...almost excessively so. From day one, she told them that she loves them. But, after a while, the parents felt like her expressions of affection seemed more like an act than real emotion. She shared very little information with them and said the same expressions of emotion every day in a kind of rote way.
She started first grade shorty after the adoption became final and, for the first time, behavioral issues started to crop up at school. She was fine in the classroom, but on the playground became aggressive, sometimes hitting kids and one time throwing a kid on the ground and choking him. She appears to have no memory of the choking incident.
At home, she goes between hot and cold. Some days, she is bubbly and happy. Most days, she barely speaks to her parents or older brother. Again, her expressions of emotion are in a monotone and are the same words every day (such as at bedtime).
The parents are now getting a complete evaluation for daughter. Preliminarily, their team of people suspects ADHD, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Dissociative Disorder, and possibly more. The parents received very little information about daughter before they adopted her, but there seems to have been some abuse from the relatives who initially were her foster parents.
So, my friends are wondering, is there hope? They are heartbroken that daughter is going through so much and that they can't connect with her. She is a very bright kid, excels academically, but can't sustain friendships and generally seems very detached from her life.
I'm also going to post a question for these friends in the Sp Ed section.
Thanks.
We have good friends who are having some issues with their daughter. I thought some of you might be able to offer some helpful information for them.
Their daughter is now 7 years old. She became their foster child when she was 5 1/2 and they adopted her shortly after she turned 6. She has now been with them nearly two years. There have been some behavioral issues from the beginning and they are not resolving. They are working with a family therapist, a psychologist, and a psychiatrist and are starting various types of testing.
When daughter first came to live with them, she was very, very loving...almost excessively so. From day one, she told them that she loves them. But, after a while, the parents felt like her expressions of affection seemed more like an act than real emotion. She shared very little information with them and said the same expressions of emotion every day in a kind of rote way.
She started first grade shorty after the adoption became final and, for the first time, behavioral issues started to crop up at school. She was fine in the classroom, but on the playground became aggressive, sometimes hitting kids and one time throwing a kid on the ground and choking him. She appears to have no memory of the choking incident.
At home, she goes between hot and cold. Some days, she is bubbly and happy. Most days, she barely speaks to her parents or older brother. Again, her expressions of emotion are in a monotone and are the same words every day (such as at bedtime).
The parents are now getting a complete evaluation for daughter. Preliminarily, their team of people suspects ADHD, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Dissociative Disorder, and possibly more. The parents received very little information about daughter before they adopted her, but there seems to have been some abuse from the relatives who initially were her foster parents.
So, my friends are wondering, is there hope? They are heartbroken that daughter is going through so much and that they can't connect with her. She is a very bright kid, excels academically, but can't sustain friendships and generally seems very detached from her life.
I'm also going to post a question for these friends in the Sp Ed section.
Thanks.