When you have a special needs child like I do, (three actually who lost their parents this past year) and one acts up, several factors come into play. 1, is this a behavioral issue? 2, am I missing something physiological? 3, is this a maturity issue? or 4, is this due to the loss? Asking yourself that upon each and every need for redirection can be quite daunting.
I realized this when my son, who has Autism, was a young man. I am up to the task, so I begin to list the several factors that could play into the reaction from the child. What I find is that when I couldn’t put the behavior into one of those categories; it was then I knew I needed professional help. I found an amazing therapist for the child.
What I also found is that if a therapist is goal oriented as ours is, the parents have just as much responsibility as the child does. So, with that said my homework if you will was to watch the mad, sad and glad moments throughout the course of one week. Which I did with enthusiasm.
In doing so I noticed patterns that were not obvious to me, throughout my taxi driving, cooking dinners, picking up the umpteenth million sock or shoes off the floor or any number of tasks that line up for me upon pickup from school. What that did was allow me to give credible feedback to the therapist. That in turn led to a different outcome than we had been leaning and I may in fact helped my child find moments of joy in her life. This week has been a resounding success after the session. We’re on our way I can feel it.
Reba Nietert 