This blog was initially set up as a means of communicating with my son's team. Since then, I've heard from other parents with similar stories. If you are living with challenges or journeying alongside someone who is, you are not alone. There are many of us. I'm a single adoptive Mom (http://richesofsimplicity.blogspot.com/) of a young man who lives with many abilities and many diagnoses. We have journeyed together through many challenges and a few adventures over the years as my son has tried to find space in this world that makes him feel more comfortable, an attempt made especially difficult when living with Attachment Disorder, PDD-NOS (Autism), Developmental Coordination Disorder, ADHD, prenatal substance exposure, etc. Some of the strongest elements used in this journey have been music, visual arts, therapeutic parenting, team-connection, boundary-setting, boundary-setting, boundary-setting, communication skills, community-building, continual lifeskills training, and elements of Theraplay. (Click here for some written resources.) On this journey, there is laughter and tears and growth and hope. The greatest of these is hope.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Hi Everyone!

It's been awhile.

Chef did really, really well in many areas for a number of weeks. There has never been a period like that for such a length of time. Ever. It was wonderful.

Then things slowly started to slide. And then things slid more. And Chef was eventually back at a point where everything seemed to take too much effort for him.

Theories? This all happened about the time that Chef was in the process of meeting a new respite family, had started going "larping" which is a social event focusing on the medieval'ish era, had been reintroduced to his meds for a few weeks, and worseningly continued through two consecutive Fridays off of school including the Easter holiday. And maybe some or all of that is in combination with the Chef having tried really, really hard at everything for a very long period of time for him and maybe he just couldn't keep it up anymore.

At any rate, he hasn't had an all-out tantrum since December, hasn't used "disappearing" as a coping mechanism since exam week, and though he is still learning that diverting responsibility to others for his actions and/or lying about them doesn't work, he does seem to be showing more responsibility to some degree overall. AND he is getting GREAT marks in school!!

For those who might be interested, I've recently started a new blog. It can be found at http://richesofsimplicity.blogspot.com

Enjoy!