klmno
Active Member
I'm pretty happy with it, I guess. There are two areas I found particularly interesting. The light-hearted one is difficult child's responses to the "finish the sentence" intrument. I'm relaying these below with difficult child's answers underlined.
The happiest time that I will have is when I am released.
At home, I like school.
I regret doing what I did to be in here.
At bedtime, I usually stay awake.
A mother is a very important person.
I feel pretty good now.
In the lower grades I was a troublemaker.
My nerves are plucked by others occasionally. (I loved that one!)
The future will be better.
I am very glad to be leaving soon.
The only trouble I get into is what I put myself into.
I wish I was home.
The biggest section that sticks out in my mind is the Rorschach Diagnosis (Exner's Comprehensive System). Has anyone else's difficult child had this? This evaluator wasn't one who gives a definite opinion- instead he stated things like "difficult child may be feeling this way" or "if difficult child looks at things this way, it might lead to ABC". Anyway, in this section he says difficult child efforts to focus attention and synthesize aspects of experience fall below normal range. He states difficult child is emotionally imature and may misinterpret actions and intentions of others, but that he has an adaptive capacity to think logically and coherently. Then, he says difficult child "may show a potentially maladaptive style of processing his affect in which he exerts less control over his feelings than most adolescents of his age." Then he says it's not to say that he can't, but that he chooses not to. Then he says difficult child indicates signs of a sense of entitlement, a tendency to externalize blame and responsibility, and narcisicm. But then, he says this inclination may be due to an avoidance to self-focus due to feeling inferior, having limited self-esteem, and a lack of self-confidence. He noted that difficult child directly told him that he distanced himself from others to refrain from negative behaviors. I have summarized his lengthy paragraph on this but it seemed contradictory in a way and I would have liked for him to be a little clearer about which he thought it was- narcisism and a sense of entitlement or a defense mechanism. He ended the paragraph, "thus this type of personality characteristic may be more indicative of a coping skill".
How do you all interpret that assessment? Is it a long way of saying difficult child is socially maladaptive?
He recommended that difficult child stay on an IEP, have positive reinforcement, emotional support, clearly defined expectations with rewards/loss of privileges as consequences, and someone to help him process his own emotions and help with coping skills. And that he get a lot of praise and encouragement when he does well and see a mental health clinician at the first sign of any emotional or behavioral disruption. (I like that a lot better than the sd psychiatric's recommendation in her evaluation that the sd do a threat assessment on difficult child - which she wanted done as soon as he returns to mainstream and could lead to him being in an alternative school right off the batt for the remainder of high school.)
One very good thing that has come from this entire situation is that since difficult child had only lived with me before, as a single parent, and had only been in one school system, it was good that his behavioral counselor on his unit did two of the forms that were identical to forms I completed and although there were some understandable differences (difficult child doesn't dry in there but has cried in front of me)- they identified the same areas of concern, which also matched one of the teacher's form results. These revealed some inattention, easily frustrated, easily annoyed, tendency to be obsessive or a perfectionist, and feeling inferior.
The happiest time that I will have is when I am released.
At home, I like school.
I regret doing what I did to be in here.
At bedtime, I usually stay awake.
A mother is a very important person.
I feel pretty good now.
In the lower grades I was a troublemaker.
My nerves are plucked by others occasionally. (I loved that one!)
The future will be better.
I am very glad to be leaving soon.
The only trouble I get into is what I put myself into.
I wish I was home.
The biggest section that sticks out in my mind is the Rorschach Diagnosis (Exner's Comprehensive System). Has anyone else's difficult child had this? This evaluator wasn't one who gives a definite opinion- instead he stated things like "difficult child may be feeling this way" or "if difficult child looks at things this way, it might lead to ABC". Anyway, in this section he says difficult child efforts to focus attention and synthesize aspects of experience fall below normal range. He states difficult child is emotionally imature and may misinterpret actions and intentions of others, but that he has an adaptive capacity to think logically and coherently. Then, he says difficult child "may show a potentially maladaptive style of processing his affect in which he exerts less control over his feelings than most adolescents of his age." Then he says it's not to say that he can't, but that he chooses not to. Then he says difficult child indicates signs of a sense of entitlement, a tendency to externalize blame and responsibility, and narcisicm. But then, he says this inclination may be due to an avoidance to self-focus due to feeling inferior, having limited self-esteem, and a lack of self-confidence. He noted that difficult child directly told him that he distanced himself from others to refrain from negative behaviors. I have summarized his lengthy paragraph on this but it seemed contradictory in a way and I would have liked for him to be a little clearer about which he thought it was- narcisism and a sense of entitlement or a defense mechanism. He ended the paragraph, "thus this type of personality characteristic may be more indicative of a coping skill".
How do you all interpret that assessment? Is it a long way of saying difficult child is socially maladaptive?
He recommended that difficult child stay on an IEP, have positive reinforcement, emotional support, clearly defined expectations with rewards/loss of privileges as consequences, and someone to help him process his own emotions and help with coping skills. And that he get a lot of praise and encouragement when he does well and see a mental health clinician at the first sign of any emotional or behavioral disruption. (I like that a lot better than the sd psychiatric's recommendation in her evaluation that the sd do a threat assessment on difficult child - which she wanted done as soon as he returns to mainstream and could lead to him being in an alternative school right off the batt for the remainder of high school.)
One very good thing that has come from this entire situation is that since difficult child had only lived with me before, as a single parent, and had only been in one school system, it was good that his behavioral counselor on his unit did two of the forms that were identical to forms I completed and although there were some understandable differences (difficult child doesn't dry in there but has cried in front of me)- they identified the same areas of concern, which also matched one of the teacher's form results. These revealed some inattention, easily frustrated, easily annoyed, tendency to be obsessive or a perfectionist, and feeling inferior.