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- Sep 3, 2013
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natyLad|1453584715|3980412 said:AGBF|1453566892|3980255 said:natyLad|1453562441|3980203 said:I'd like to thank from the bottom of my heart all the wonderful people of the community, who are posting on this thread, for their support, understanding and valuable advice.
I'd also like to add that personally, I have tried to find ways to provide myself with small breaks from the difficult reality that both I and DH are facing. There is a wonderful, 20 year-old girl, who is the daughter of my secretary at work. This girl is a university student but every Saturday afternoon she babysits for my little girl and the two of them are always having a great time together. She has a way of making my girl happy and interested in activities like playing the piano, painting, dancing, baking in the kitchen, etc. She is God-sent and truly I don't know what I would do without her. This four-hour break every Saturday night is what helps me recharge my batteries and go back to my child with more patience and positivity. Unfortunately she is extremely busy with her studies and doesn't have any more free time during the week, so I can't hire her to help me on weekdays.
Also, this week my dear sister started taking my daughter at her house twice per week, Wednesday and Friday, for an hour. My sister is amazing. During this hour that they spend together, she is teaching my daughter English as a second language, while playing with her. She is patient, intelligent and wonderful and an excellent influence for my child. This is a very positive development because now I have the opportunity to go to the gym twice per week, each time for approximately 50 minutes, and I noticed from day one that this is helping me a lot, both psychologically and physically.
I keep reminding myself that I've got some good things going for me and that there are some wonderful people who are now giving me a helping hand. This is huge for me. I also have DH who is an excellent and very dedicated father. I hope that everything will develop well for us and our little one. We really love her and she is precious to the entire family.
I do not want to probe for more than you want to share, natylad, but you left some clues and also some "unanswered" questions in your posting. You write about, "your little girl", so I am assuming that your daughter is still a child. You also said that she is learning English as a Second language, so I assume that she was adopted from a foreign country or from a non-English speaking family within the UK. (That is where you live, is it not?) Does your daughter have some form of mental illness or does have have a developmental disability or a problem that is considered on the autism spectrum...or something else? And you do not need to answer me. This thread can simply be used for support if it has been supportive to you already.
I am asking because many of us have focused on the problems of having adult, bi-polar children with the erratic behaviors they exhibit and the rage they induce in us. A young child and her problems poses an entire other sets of issues, although the exhaustion of being a caretaker to someone with problems is certainly common to both groups.
You are very lucky to have such a supportive husband. Many marriages crumble under the strain of a disabled (or "challenged") child. And it is usually the mother who sticks by the child, while the husband cannot cope.
Welcome Home, Jellybean is a book for children about such a situation. I highly recommend it because it shows how a nice man-a very nice man-comes to be unable to cope with his home life once one of his children (a little girl) is de-institutionalized.
At any rate, natylad, whether or not you choose to share more here, I am very glad that this thread brought you solace. I am also very glad that you found the wonderful young woman that you did who helps to nurture your daughter. Children are precious and you are a wonderful mother.
I would like to apologize in case it was wrong of my part to post about my experience with a younger child in this thread.
diamondseeker2006|1453687092|3980926 said:Oh, Naty, I am so, so sorry you are having these problems with your dear daughter! I encountered a very interesting situation recently that was similar as far as language development. My background is in special education, so I have worked with children with various conditions and academic delays aside from special needs of my own children.
This little girl is 6 and her mother is deaf and uses sign language and the father speaks English but works long hours. When the older sister was born, she went to a day care while the mother worked. But when the second child was born, the mother stayed at home to care for the baby. Now the child is in kindergarten and is very delayed in language because she spent her days learning sign language and not spoken English. This has made her behind in basic skills in school. She does not have behavioral issues, but she tests as if she is of low ability just because she does not have normal language levels.
I do think that definitely is a part of your daughter's problem. ADHD is commonly the first diagnosis for kids later diagnosed with other things, including our son. But for him, it really was not ADHD, it was sensory issues..he didn't like bright lights and was hypersensitive to noise. He'd fight me when I'd try to dress him...not because he was oppositional, but because he couldn't stand the way some fabrics felt on his skin. But he was too little to tell me. That makes me so, so sad. If I could turn back the clock knowing what I know now, I could do things differently, but kids like him were not diagnosed with high functioning autism or Asperger's at that time.
I will say that ADHD meds did not work for our son because that was not his true problem, but I have seen it work miracles for other children. I still tutor children with reading disorders (dyslexia) privately, and about half of them were kids that missed learning to read due to attention deficits. I had a close friend whose son was diagnosed much earlier than ours because he was born 10 years later, but Prozac was a miracle drug for him with the anxiety and sensory issues. It sounds like you may not yet have found the right specialist to help your daughter, and I hope and pray you do, because the younger you can get a handle on some of this, the better. Because we went down the road of substance abuse as self-medication due to the fact we had wrong diagnoses for so long, and that greatly complicated everything as addiction is a nightmare, too.
Many hugs to you, Naty. I am so sorry!
I am reading all the posts every couple of days and thinking of all of you even when I don't reply personally.
Akvileja|1453631839|3980625 said:natyLad,
I'm usually a lurker but your posts really spoke to me.
I have a 13 year old son with autism. Many of the techniques used with children with autism also work well with children with ADHD so maybe you can find something here that you find useful. Sorry for the novel.
There is a book called ”The Explosive Child” by Ross W Green that I often see recomended. I haven't read it myself because we havn't had that kind of difficulties with our son, but you might find it interesting.
My son has difficulties with language and expressing his thoughts, especially if he is upset. What often helps is when I vocalise it for him in short and simple sentences. ”You are angry. You want to contiue watching TV”. He often calms down when he feels that I understand that he is upset and why. Once he calms down we can continue to talk about the situation. The key here is to keep the language really simple and to acknowledge his feelings.
Next thing that comes to my mind is to visualize, visualize, visualize. My son has been helped with visual scheduals. If e.g. bedtime is difficult, make a visual schedule with the steps you do during the bedtime routine. That could be a picture of a toothbrush, followed by a picture of pyjamas, then a picture of a book and then a picture of a bed. This helps the child understand what will happen and in what order. Pictures are easier to understand and remember than words. Some children may need a schedule for the entire day. For a very long time we had a schedule on the wall in the bathroom with the steps when you go to the toilet – wipe, flush, wash you hands. My son always has a daily schedule at school to see what the school day would look like. One time the teacher forgot to put the lunch picture on the schedule and my son started crying. It took a while until they realised that lunch was missing from the schedule and my son thougth he wouldn't get any lunch that day.
There is a tool called ”timstock” in swedish. I can't find the english word .
We have a dedicated device but there are apps too that you can install on a phone or tablet. It visualizes time. Time is very abstract and difficult to understand for all children. If you tell your child that ”we are leaving in five minutes” or ”soon” that is often too abstract. This visual timer has a light for every minute and when a minute has passed a ligth turns off. We use it in situations like ”We will turn off the TV in ten minutes” or ”You will do your math homework for 15 minutes”.
With autism, sensory difficulties are a real thing. You say eating is a problem with your daughter. Have you considered if it is a sensory issue? Taste? Texture? Color(!)? My son is very picky with food and is also underweight, so it's a balance to serve him food he will actually eat and at the same not allow him to limit the foods he will eat any more than he does today.
It has taken me many years to realise and accept that the world probably is very chaotic to my son. He has difficulties understanding cause and effect and why people behave the way they do. Of course it's frustrating for him!
diamondseeker2006|1453687092|3980926 said:Oh, Naty, I am so, so sorry you are having these problems with your dear daughter! I encountered a very interesting situation recently that was similar as far as language development. My background is in special education, so I have worked with children with various conditions and academic delays aside from special needs of my own children.
This little girl is 6 and her mother is deaf and uses sign language and the father speaks English but works long hours. When the older sister was born, she went to a day care while the mother worked. But when the second child was born, the mother stayed at home to care for the baby. Now the child is in kindergarten and is very delayed in language because she spent her days learning sign language and not spoken English. This has made her behind in basic skills in school. She does not have behavioral issues, but she tests as if she is of low ability just because she does not have normal language levels.
I do think that definitely is a part of your daughter's problem. ADHD is commonly the first diagnosis for kids later diagnosed with other things, including our son. But for him, it really was not ADHD, it was sensory issues..he didn't like bright lights and was hypersensitive to noise. He'd fight me when I'd try to dress him...not because he was oppositional, but because he couldn't stand the way some fabrics felt on his skin. But he was too little to tell me. That makes me so, so sad. If I could turn back the clock knowing what I know now, I could do things differently, but kids like him were not diagnosed with high functioning autism or Asperger's at that time.
I will say that ADHD meds did not work for our son because that was not his true problem, but I have seen it work miracles for other children. I still tutor children with reading disorders (dyslexia) privately, and about half of them were kids that missed learning to read due to attention deficits. I had a close friend whose son was diagnosed much earlier than ours because he was born 10 years later, but Prozac was a miracle drug for him with the anxiety and sensory issues. It sounds like you may not yet have found the right specialist to help your daughter, and I hope and pray you do, because the younger you can get a handle on some of this, the better. Because we went down the road of substance abuse as self-medication due to the fact we had wrong diagnoses for so long, and that greatly complicated everything as addiction is a nightmare, too.
Many hugs to you, Naty. I am so sorry!
I am reading all the posts every couple of days and thinking of all of you even when I don't reply personally.
december-fire|1453735634|3981136 said:kmarla,
I'm so glad you had a wonderful weekend and a much-needed break.
That's great that your daughter is communicating with you! Excellent news and I'm sure a real relief to you.
natyLad|1453742289|3981188 said:Dear Akvileja,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and experiences with me. I found everything that you wrote very interesting and helpful. I believe that the ''timstock'' device would work wonders with my daughter. I will try to research online and find a way to buy this tool.
About the eating disorder: My daughter refuses to eat at home but not at school. In fact, she has two full meals every day at school and according to her teacher she eats everything and she is much more cooperative than most of the other children She will eat whatever there is on their daily menu and if there is something that she doesn't like, she will at least try a little, just in order to please her teacher, and then she will eat more salad, bread, cheese and desert, in order to complete her meal. Sometimes I think that she is just refusing to eat when she is with us, in order to punish me and her dad but I can't tell why she would ever feel that she should do that. I don't know what is the reason for which she thinks we should be punished
About the schedule: I will try in the following days to adopt a specific schedule that we should follow at home and see what happens. My only concern is that I have noticed that when my daughter gets used to a specific schedule, she gets extremely upset if anything interferes with it and even the slightest changes drive her crazy. This is why I have avoided so far to go down that route but I think that maybe I should try and see what happens.
Thank you for your kind words Queenie. They went straight to my heart. I have so much respect for you too. I'm not even sure I can put into words how much your devotion to your son touches me.Queenie60|1453495597|3979862 said:Thank you Housecat - your support throughout this thread has been much appreciated. I have the utmost respect for you - sharing your personal experiences couldn't have been easy. In the event our son does not want to accept our kind offer of independence - I have counseling already set up so that the maneuvering can be assisted with our mental health professionals. It's so very nice to have this thread for moral support and to do a quick vent now and then. Hugs and prayers to all of you (us)
Queenie60|1453877384|3982219 said:Thank you December Fire - today wasn't a good day. This mental illness - so unpredictable. Such a weight on your life - so exhausting. I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. I have a gut feeling that our son is on some type of recreational drug other than marijuana. The hours he is keeping - quite odd. I really need for him to move out before I loose it. We tried to approach him today and he refuses to talk with us. I am hoping it does not come down to me kicking him out. Saying my prayers.
Oh no!!chemgirl|1454018220|3983178 said:Aaaaaahhh friend (he recommended me for my current job) was caught on video in my office. There is a glass wall so the camera for the main office area catches part of my desk. It really looks like he was "doing something" to my chair.
HR is involved now and it's going to be freaking awkward.
I know this pales in comparison to what everyone else her is dealing with. It's not a family member. I'm just upset.
House Cat|1454019542|3983190 said:Oh no!!chemgirl|1454018220|3983178 said:Aaaaaahhh friend (he recommended me for my current job) was caught on video in my office. There is a glass wall so the camera for the main office area catches part of my desk. It really looks like he was "doing something" to my chair.
HR is involved now and it's going to be freaking awkward.
I know this pales in comparison to what everyone else her is dealing with. It's not a family member. I'm just upset.
You should be upset! When do you have to face this? Is he going to be terminated?
chemgirl|1454091811|3983636 said:Ugh got a text from guy "I'm sorry I decorated your chair"
Decorated!!!!
I want to hide. Awkward enough facing dude, but everyone else seems to know about it. Can't wait for 4:00.
House Cat|1454091979|3983639 said:chemgirl|1454091811|3983636 said:Ugh got a text from guy "I'm sorry I decorated your chair"
Decorated!!!!
I want to hide. Awkward enough facing dude, but everyone else seems to know about it. Can't wait for 4:00.
Did you show this to HR?
He needs a med adjustment.