'You are NOT going to be one of those autistic kids who does exactly as she pleases & disrupts the whole household!' I bellowed. Chrissy had been loudly demanding food all evening & had then gone rummaging through my larder. After dinner, she triumphantly claimed a pack of creamed coconut & a jar of peanut butter, then gathered the accoutrements of another meal around her. She has been very unsettled & could not accept that meal-time was over. I couldn't distract or divert her - she was obsessed with getting more food. When I removed the offending items & put them away Chrissy was furious, & took to the floor for the fourth time in two hours. Most of her outbursts this evening have been over not getting her own way. Again, we could see by the fresh bruises & abrasions on her body that it’s one of her difficult phases, not something that has only just come on. The lack of progress that has been made in changing these behaviours is depressing. I can't imagine a day that we will be able to take Chrissy out anywhere again but I have to stay optimistic. The meds changes have stalled for various reasons but I remain hopeful that there will be light at the end of that particular long dark tunnel.
Later on, this evening Chrissy gave me one of her sun-bursting-through-clouds smiles & I felt guilty that I'm not more saintly towards her when she only comes home once a week. Some weeks it's much easier to don a halo than others....
I am here from the blog hop. Thank you for your honesty. I really appreciate this post. I must admit there are times when I have felt like this - luckily they are balanced with times when I feel I truly deserve a halo. (Haven't got one yet however - perhaps it is in the mail?) I am certain this is similar for all parents, but somehow more-so when there are the extra challenges that come with parenting a child with special needs. I read a few of your other posts as well - Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis is very timely for me as my aspie boy's insistence on getting his own way with everything is doing my head in right now. Did you find any good help with this issue?
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm stopping in from the special needs blog hop. This post really resonated with me. My youngest has Williams syndrome (microdeletion on 7q11.23) and I'm definitely feeling torn in my approach to discipline. Much more difficult than with my first!
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for all your comments. Chrissy has been on an ever-evolving behaviour management programme for years. It doesn't help much with this issue as it involves using distractions etc., which, if she's determined enough, only delay the inevitible. Sometimes we just say 'go for it - have your tantrum & she does! Her intellectual level means that she struggles to learn cause and effect. She will demand over & over if she is set on something & it becomes an obsession. Disciplining a child is about teaching self-discipline & the capacity for learning that is limited
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