Trying to think of a way to link my post to the theme of this week's Special Saturday made me realise that Chrissy doesn't enjoy music like she used to. A lively beat was irresistible to her & she had a great sense of rhythm. I can picture her now playing with her keyboard, her whole body responding rapturously to the beat. She's gained so much weight on her meds that she rarely dances now, & then, only for short bursts. She still has rhythm but it's sad that her enthusiasm for dancing & certain types of music has waned. Another bit of Chrissy on my wishlist for meds changes to give us back.
We've had a mixed evening with Chrissy. She started off calm but kicked off after one mouthful of dinner (which she spat out). I was not amused - there's nothing worse than carefully preparing a meal then having it disrupted for no rational reason! She calmed down after about 15 minutes & ate the lot quite happily. I wonder why food is such a trigger for 'behaviours' in people with autism...?
Showing posts with label outbursts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outbursts. Show all posts
Saturday, 9 July 2011
Friday, 17 June 2011
Animals, Bedtime Rituals and Autism
Just Chrissy & I this evening as Ian, her stepdad, has gone to pick up my youngest child from uni. I managed, by a combination of knowing when to be firm & when to indulge, to keep the peace until 10pm.
Anticipating what Chrissy will do next is exhausting. I left her looking at 'toast & jam' in the kitchen equipment pages of her Argos catalogue to get something from another room. All was quiet. Then she came in & told me she had 'kicked' the cat, 'hurt' the cat, & said something I couldn't grasp about the cat's tail. It didn't bode well.
Our two cats were nowhere to be seen for a while. Then they eventually slunk back into the house looking wary but unharmed. Chrissy either ignores them, notices details about them ('look at cat's necklace' when it had a new collar) or torments them when she gets the chance, sometimes playfully, sometimes suddenly pulling their tails & alarming them. She knows it’s wrong on one level because she grasses herself up – she’s totally guileless – but I suspect that she is also entertained by our reaction. When she's in that mood the cats normally give her a wide berth & she may have been saying she'd hurt them before thought became deed. She sometimes says she's done something, ie wet herself, when she wants to do it, ie go to the toilet. She is confused by tenses & sequences of events.
Chrissy was intent on further mischief by then & went into the kitchen to demand 'grey cup,' which means a glass tumbler. I use plastic cups as she's prone to throwing them when she’s agitated. My refusal to let her anywhere near a glass tumbler resulted in her first outburst of the evening. It was relatively mild, lots of guttural roaring, hair-pulling & hand-biting - it didn’t progress to stripping off & running around the house, as it did last week. She was over-tired I think & undergoing meds changes that may be making her feel strange.
Once she calmed down I managed, aided by symbols for 'clean teeth' & 'sleep' to lure her upstairs to her bedroom. We then had a great fuss over her 'cushions' - she asked me to turn them over several times - & her blanket. I haven't figured out what the issue is with her blanket. She kept saying ' do my cover.’ I pulled it up & tucked it over the top of her duvet so she could hold it, & settled it around her but she kept on. 'What exactly do you want me to do with your blanket?' I demanded in exasperation. 'Make it square,' she said. I did my best to comply but I'd made it square & neat over her anyway. She eventually settled down & I asked her if she was happy with it. 'Yes,' she said, allowing me to kiss her goodnight & leave her room.
Now I can hear her in bed repeating 'do my cover.' This happens during the night too. I’ve just gone through the whole pantomime again with her, tucking it this way & that, & she’s still repeating ‘do my cover/do my blanket.’ Bloody maddening. Need a solution....
Anticipating what Chrissy will do next is exhausting. I left her looking at 'toast & jam' in the kitchen equipment pages of her Argos catalogue to get something from another room. All was quiet. Then she came in & told me she had 'kicked' the cat, 'hurt' the cat, & said something I couldn't grasp about the cat's tail. It didn't bode well.
Our two cats were nowhere to be seen for a while. Then they eventually slunk back into the house looking wary but unharmed. Chrissy either ignores them, notices details about them ('look at cat's necklace' when it had a new collar) or torments them when she gets the chance, sometimes playfully, sometimes suddenly pulling their tails & alarming them. She knows it’s wrong on one level because she grasses herself up – she’s totally guileless – but I suspect that she is also entertained by our reaction. When she's in that mood the cats normally give her a wide berth & she may have been saying she'd hurt them before thought became deed. She sometimes says she's done something, ie wet herself, when she wants to do it, ie go to the toilet. She is confused by tenses & sequences of events.
Chrissy was intent on further mischief by then & went into the kitchen to demand 'grey cup,' which means a glass tumbler. I use plastic cups as she's prone to throwing them when she’s agitated. My refusal to let her anywhere near a glass tumbler resulted in her first outburst of the evening. It was relatively mild, lots of guttural roaring, hair-pulling & hand-biting - it didn’t progress to stripping off & running around the house, as it did last week. She was over-tired I think & undergoing meds changes that may be making her feel strange.
Once she calmed down I managed, aided by symbols for 'clean teeth' & 'sleep' to lure her upstairs to her bedroom. We then had a great fuss over her 'cushions' - she asked me to turn them over several times - & her blanket. I haven't figured out what the issue is with her blanket. She kept saying ' do my cover.’ I pulled it up & tucked it over the top of her duvet so she could hold it, & settled it around her but she kept on. 'What exactly do you want me to do with your blanket?' I demanded in exasperation. 'Make it square,' she said. I did my best to comply but I'd made it square & neat over her anyway. She eventually settled down & I asked her if she was happy with it. 'Yes,' she said, allowing me to kiss her goodnight & leave her room.
Now I can hear her in bed repeating 'do my cover.' This happens during the night too. I’ve just gone through the whole pantomime again with her, tucking it this way & that, & she’s still repeating ‘do my cover/do my blanket.’ Bloody maddening. Need a solution....
Sunday, 22 May 2011
The Uniqueness of Each Person with Autism
I picked Chrissy up earlier than usual on Saturday & was told that she'd had an unsettled morning, kicking off about when I was coming to pick her up. She repeats 'is Mummy coming on Saturday?' whatever day it is, & whether I'm coming or not. Her demands get increasingly loud & shrill until she loses control, & throws herself on the floor in a full-blown outburst. She had fresh bruises on her arm & leg, & dried blood in one nostril from self-harming.
Chrissy enjoyed our drive home, listening to the radio & watching me with a quizzical smile on her face. She is as fascinated by neurotypical people as we are by her!
The weekend passed without event. Chrissy was her usual restless self, plying me with repetitive questions - 'What's for dinner? 'Where are we going later?' 'Can I have a banana?' 'Can I turn the light on?' 'What colour's that car?' (Chrissy is obsessed by colours) She fixates on one person & shadows their every step. We get stuck together in doorways, like the Laurel & Hardy revolving door sketch, & I often trip over her when I turn round suddenly.
There were a couple of outbursts but they didn't last long & there was no stripping or major self-harming episodes. The big one came when we tried to take her back to the hospital. As always, she wanted various things in her bag - a chocolate mousse, her plastic cup & a bottle of watered down diet coke, then we had to tie a bow in the bag. At the last minute she demanded a spoon (a metal one). Chrissy, like many people with autism, is extremely single-minded. Due to what happened last week over the blue plastic spoon, we refused very carefully, following behavioural management guildelines; we didn't say no, we said she could have a spoon next time she came home. We managed to get her into the car then all hell broke loose - Chrissy rubbed her nose until it bled, pulled her hair, bit her hands, all the time roaring 'Wanna spoon!' She then tried to undo her seat belt & climb in the back 'to sit with mummy.' I took her hand instead & the mayhem stopped just like that. I wish that simple technique worked every time...
I'm reading a fascinating book by Charlotte Moore, a mum of two autistic sons called George and Sam. Her boys couldn't be more different from each other, & Chrissy is completely different again. No wonder autism is so hard to diagnose!
Chrissy enjoyed our drive home, listening to the radio & watching me with a quizzical smile on her face. She is as fascinated by neurotypical people as we are by her!
The weekend passed without event. Chrissy was her usual restless self, plying me with repetitive questions - 'What's for dinner? 'Where are we going later?' 'Can I have a banana?' 'Can I turn the light on?' 'What colour's that car?' (Chrissy is obsessed by colours) She fixates on one person & shadows their every step. We get stuck together in doorways, like the Laurel & Hardy revolving door sketch, & I often trip over her when I turn round suddenly.
There were a couple of outbursts but they didn't last long & there was no stripping or major self-harming episodes. The big one came when we tried to take her back to the hospital. As always, she wanted various things in her bag - a chocolate mousse, her plastic cup & a bottle of watered down diet coke, then we had to tie a bow in the bag. At the last minute she demanded a spoon (a metal one). Chrissy, like many people with autism, is extremely single-minded. Due to what happened last week over the blue plastic spoon, we refused very carefully, following behavioural management guildelines; we didn't say no, we said she could have a spoon next time she came home. We managed to get her into the car then all hell broke loose - Chrissy rubbed her nose until it bled, pulled her hair, bit her hands, all the time roaring 'Wanna spoon!' She then tried to undo her seat belt & climb in the back 'to sit with mummy.' I took her hand instead & the mayhem stopped just like that. I wish that simple technique worked every time...
I'm reading a fascinating book by Charlotte Moore, a mum of two autistic sons called George and Sam. Her boys couldn't be more different from each other, & Chrissy is completely different again. No wonder autism is so hard to diagnose!
Friday, 13 May 2011
Perfect Days
What a fantastic mood Chrissy was in tonight. No outbursts, not even a hint of one. I heard her clapping & cheering when I arrived to pick her up. I was told it was because she'd heard I was coming. When we got home she was chatty & playful, laughing at & interested in the antics of our two cats. Anxiety-related autistic traits were subdued - there were no bedtime rituals & minimal obsessive/compulsive repetitive questioning.....No, not a wonderful dream or wishful thinking. That's the enigma of Chrissy. It's a privilege to share these inexplicably 'perfect' times & they light up our lives.
Chrissy's Epilim has been increased as part of a programme to withdraw another anti-epileptic, with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of different drugs she is on. Could that be why she seems so joyful & relaxed? Experience tells me not....
Chrissy's Epilim has been increased as part of a programme to withdraw another anti-epileptic, with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of different drugs she is on. Could that be why she seems so joyful & relaxed? Experience tells me not....
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)