F
flutterbee
Guest
I can definitely tell school is out. difficult child is almost easy child. She hasn't been sick in 4 weeks. No meltdowns, no screaming fests, very little stomping...although that is her favorite thing to do so she can't give that one up entirely.
When we take the crippling anxiety away, I can see the other issues much more clearly. Mainly, the executive function stuff. The rest of the year the anxiety completely overshadows everything else.
I can't always tell, though, how much is related to the executive function disorders and how much is just her dependency on me. For example, she could tie her shoes at the babysitter's for a year before she could tie them at home.
She was making cookies the other night and it called for 1/2 cup of butter flavored shortening. I have the sticks of shortening that are individually wrapped and sealed in a plastic tub. She made a big deal out of not knowing what to do about it (rather loudly and in that shrill tone that makes my head want to come off). I told her to take the foil seal off the top. She did and then made a big deal over not being able to cut the stick because it's in the tub and she doesn't know how to get it out (you have to envision a highly intelligent and even more dramatic child and all the body language...not just the hands...she puts her whole body into it). I walked over, picked up the tub and turned it upside down. Voila, the foil wrapped stick of shortening fell right out. She got this rather bemused look on her face and I said, "Now, don't you feel silly.", at which point she laughed and said I was mean. (She's lived with me 12 years and she's just now figuring that out?! :wink: )
So, how can one be able to follow the directions and put all the ingredients together, preheat the oven, and bake cookies but be unable to get a stick of shortening out of the tub? I'm pretty sure had I not been in the room, she would have figured it out. I mean, the kid taught herself how to knit for crying out loud. I'm very confident that the tub of shortening would not have outsmarted her.
When we take the crippling anxiety away, I can see the other issues much more clearly. Mainly, the executive function stuff. The rest of the year the anxiety completely overshadows everything else.
I can't always tell, though, how much is related to the executive function disorders and how much is just her dependency on me. For example, she could tie her shoes at the babysitter's for a year before she could tie them at home.
She was making cookies the other night and it called for 1/2 cup of butter flavored shortening. I have the sticks of shortening that are individually wrapped and sealed in a plastic tub. She made a big deal out of not knowing what to do about it (rather loudly and in that shrill tone that makes my head want to come off). I told her to take the foil seal off the top. She did and then made a big deal over not being able to cut the stick because it's in the tub and she doesn't know how to get it out (you have to envision a highly intelligent and even more dramatic child and all the body language...not just the hands...she puts her whole body into it). I walked over, picked up the tub and turned it upside down. Voila, the foil wrapped stick of shortening fell right out. She got this rather bemused look on her face and I said, "Now, don't you feel silly.", at which point she laughed and said I was mean. (She's lived with me 12 years and she's just now figuring that out?! :wink: )
So, how can one be able to follow the directions and put all the ingredients together, preheat the oven, and bake cookies but be unable to get a stick of shortening out of the tub? I'm pretty sure had I not been in the room, she would have figured it out. I mean, the kid taught herself how to knit for crying out loud. I'm very confident that the tub of shortening would not have outsmarted her.