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Much as I hate it, difficult child 2's acting up is good
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<blockquote data-quote="Hexemaus" data-source="post: 21759" data-attributes="member: 72"><p>Just a quick update. I talked with difficult child 2's day nurse today before visiting hours. She wanted me to know that difficult child had told his psychiatrist that he was having thoughts about suicide. YIKES!! For the first few minutes I was thinking about that, and the comments yesterday about setting things on fire, and I was ready to just cry! This so is NOT my boy!!</p><p></p><p>The nurse told me she had been with him all day, he wasn't showing ANY signs of suicidal ideation, depression, nothing. He was actively participating in group, sports activities, etc. She was really stumped as to where the comment came from. We all were.</p><p></p><p>I sat down with difficult child 2 to visit & brought up some of the comments he's made over the last couple of days. I was SO relieved after I talked to him and realized we had all been horribly wrong about what he was saying. Apparently in group some of the kids have been talking about wanting to commit suicide, or wanting to set fires, etc. difficult child 2 was trying to imagine feeling like that, or wanting to do something like that. He was honestly trying to empathize with the other kids on the unit. When the psychiatrist asked him if he had had thoughts of suicide, setting fires, or heard or seen anything "unusual," he took the question literally. Yes, he HAD been thinking about suicide and setting fires, but not in the way the doctors (or I, for that matter) meant. In trying to empathize with his unit-mates, he HAD been thinking about those two subjects, but not as something he wanted to actually DO. </p><p></p><p>I felt so stupid. None of us even thought about how literal he takes things. We asked if he had thought about this stuff and he answered honestly. We SHOULD have asked if he had thought about doing this stuff, not if he had just had thoughts about it. Duh-huh!!</p><p></p><p>I asked him if he thought about wanting to set fires himself, or if he wanted to commit suicide or anything like that. He looked at me like I had six heads and says "No Mom! That would be crazy!" (He was probably thinking "Duh! Gee Mom, did you just fall off a turnip truck yesterday?") </p><p></p><p>Talk about feeling dumb. And here WE'RE suppose to be the ones figuring out what's going on with him. Duh. Not one single person "in charge" of this kid (including me)stopped to think about how literally this kid answers questions. There is no subtlety with this kid. He doesn't understand what is "meant" by a question. You ask him, he answers honestly and matter-of-factly. Never once did it dawn on him that we might think his answer of "yes" might make us think this was something he wanted to actually do. We asked if he had thought about two subjects. Yes, he had thought about them & tried to figure out why another kid would want to. Geeez. I feel so incredibly moronic, at this point. But I'm more relieved to realize that it was just a misunderstanding on our end, not something to worry about on his. Phew!!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hexemaus, post: 21759, member: 72"] Just a quick update. I talked with difficult child 2's day nurse today before visiting hours. She wanted me to know that difficult child had told his psychiatrist that he was having thoughts about suicide. YIKES!! For the first few minutes I was thinking about that, and the comments yesterday about setting things on fire, and I was ready to just cry! This so is NOT my boy!! The nurse told me she had been with him all day, he wasn't showing ANY signs of suicidal ideation, depression, nothing. He was actively participating in group, sports activities, etc. She was really stumped as to where the comment came from. We all were. I sat down with difficult child 2 to visit & brought up some of the comments he's made over the last couple of days. I was SO relieved after I talked to him and realized we had all been horribly wrong about what he was saying. Apparently in group some of the kids have been talking about wanting to commit suicide, or wanting to set fires, etc. difficult child 2 was trying to imagine feeling like that, or wanting to do something like that. He was honestly trying to empathize with the other kids on the unit. When the psychiatrist asked him if he had had thoughts of suicide, setting fires, or heard or seen anything "unusual," he took the question literally. Yes, he HAD been thinking about suicide and setting fires, but not in the way the doctors (or I, for that matter) meant. In trying to empathize with his unit-mates, he HAD been thinking about those two subjects, but not as something he wanted to actually DO. I felt so stupid. None of us even thought about how literal he takes things. We asked if he had thought about this stuff and he answered honestly. We SHOULD have asked if he had thought about doing this stuff, not if he had just had thoughts about it. Duh-huh!! I asked him if he thought about wanting to set fires himself, or if he wanted to commit suicide or anything like that. He looked at me like I had six heads and says "No Mom! That would be crazy!" (He was probably thinking "Duh! Gee Mom, did you just fall off a turnip truck yesterday?") Talk about feeling dumb. And here WE'RE suppose to be the ones figuring out what's going on with him. Duh. Not one single person "in charge" of this kid (including me)stopped to think about how literally this kid answers questions. There is no subtlety with this kid. He doesn't understand what is "meant" by a question. You ask him, he answers honestly and matter-of-factly. Never once did it dawn on him that we might think his answer of "yes" might make us think this was something he wanted to actually do. We asked if he had thought about two subjects. Yes, he had thought about them & tried to figure out why another kid would want to. Geeez. I feel so incredibly moronic, at this point. But I'm more relieved to realize that it was just a misunderstanding on our end, not something to worry about on his. Phew!! [/QUOTE]
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