Well many of you know, I’ve had a few very, well extremely rough weeks with Manimal and his behavior at school – lots and lots and lots of aggression, like he’s regressing back to the first grade in behaviors. Teacher & aides in tears, Momma in tears and Manimal in tears – makes for a heartbreaking world.
I’ve spent many hours researching the possibility of medications, all the types, what they do and their side effects. I’ve spent just as many hours researching the “potential” causes of this, the lack of something in Manimal’s body or brain and natural solutions for the same. In addition to Tyler’s OCD – which can cause major anxiety, it had been brought up about possible ODD – when I researched this. I was like WOW, even though there’s not been a formal diagnosis, YET, the handwriting is on the wall. With Manimal getting bigger and stronger by the day, Momma has to figure out a way to help him learn to control his anxiety frustrations and I will give and take and accommodate, but I won’t let him have 100% total control.(This is why my brain was exhausted come Friday evening)
I’ve secured an appointment with his behavioral psychologist, which it’s been over a year since we last saw him (MAJOR IMPROVEMENT AS WHEN WE FIRST STARTED SEE THIS DOCTOR 4 YEARS AGO AND IT WAS EVERY 4 WEEKS WE WERE SEEING HIM) and I’ve placed calls to take the steps to been seen by the neurologist again (even though since July of 2011, he’s on the waiting list for his “follow up” since beginning speech and ot therapy – THAT RIGHT THERE TELLS YOU HOW HIGH THE NUMBERS ARE IN THESE KIDDOS) so I know that’s going to be a lengthy wait.
Feeling I couldn’t wait for the all this hurry up and wait system, the teacher and I implemented a reward program, agreed to temporarily remove PE from his schedule (seems to be a trigger) and Thursday and Friday he had great days at school. I also spent about an hour at K’s Divine on Friday reading products related to anxiety in children and after remembering the research I read and reading the products at the store I decided to get an herbal mixture called Calm Child.
This is a product that I will give Tyler 3x a day. What I noticed was a lot more calmness, not sleepy, not zombie, but calm. He was laying and occasionally bouncing on the core ball, but not a constant bounce, the voice was not as high of a range in tone and the constant running turned into walking. Appetite didn’t seem to be affected. I don’t know how to describe it, but his speech seemed to be less jumbled and a little more clearer and more appropriate it. His defiance towards me was almost nil – almost – lol.
Today, Sunday, I felt would be a good test to see the effects of calmness, at church. WOW was I surprised. I forgot his headphones (yes, I know bad momma) BUT he seldom comes into the sanctuary. He got dressed with no defiance, he volunteered the tasks he had to complete (be quite, sit still, no running, no screaming) and followed up with then Jack in the Box. I was like yes, Tyler that’s right. So off to church we went, he went straight to the room and opened his backpack, sat down and began to play QUIETLY with his toys. I had not 1 interruption from him today during the service. He didn’t even run back and forth from the room he stays in to the cry room. – let me say my neck was not sore when we left from constantly turning and giving him the “eye” or hand signals – lol. He sat in there very quitely and played. I was sooooooooo proud of him – if this keeps up this way, I may actually be able to start working with him on staying longer in the sanctuary other than 5 minutes. So off to JIB we went and he came home, has eaten and continued with this very calm behavior. Now for the average family, Manimal’s calm is probably still chaotic in their world lol but I am in shock.
So for now the real test will begin this week when he returns to school, I will give him a dose before school, then I will go to the school and give him another and then when he gets home from school – I’ve timed it in a way they are about 5 hours apart – as I still want him to learn coping and calming skills, but HOPEFULLY this will help for now.
I am not saying that I’ve found a solution, but I think I have found something in the interim until I can get this figured out.
Thank you God for listening to my tears, helping me in researching, helping me keep an open mind into what some very good friends have to say, for helping my brain absorb so much information that is so foreign to me and most of all thank you for blessing me with this challenge. I know I can do this because you are the one who gifted this to me, therefore if you have confidence in me, then I have confidence in myself.
Thank you to everyone that have listened, provided suggestions and prayed for Tyler and myself, it is truly appreciated.
Autism Plus More 