Whoops....what universe have I landed in this time?

[Margaret]

There are times when I really feel like I have somehow slipped and landed in a parallel universe of some sort!

This week has been like that. By Friday, I was just trying to swim with the current and keep my head above water. 

What has been so strange, you ask? Well, grab a cup of tea and a fidget toy, and let me tell you!! (Warning, my Vyvanse has not completely kicked in yet, so expect some wandering and a few completely lateral segues.) For some reason, since typing that sentence the theme song to Gilligan's Island has been running through my head (Sit right back and you'll hear a tale.....)

It was a couple of things, culminating in a big thing.

I saw a lovely little girl, who has Asperger's and ADHD, and is Gifted as well. She goes to school in a very small town. Talk about not fitting in!! She tells me that she feels like an action figure in a doll house. It is a very good description, I think. Any way, she has been accepted into the gifted program, and every month or so she goes to meet with a bunch of other gifted kids, and they spend a few days doing something fun and educational (last month they built a robot). She loves it, and just glows when she talks about it.(She said it was a place where she could use big words and nobody complained, and everyone knew what she meant!) She could be eligible for the self contained gifted class room, but it is so far away that she would be getting on the bus about 7 am, and that wouldn't work for her! She told me that she doesn't mind her regular class room now - she says that the contrast is a good reminder of how much she likes the gifted sessions. I was very impressed by the maturity that that showed. She did tell me, though, that the other girls were being somewhat mean, and telling her that she couldn't possibly be gifted, because she had ADHD and that meant that she was stupid = everyone with ADHD is stupid. Sigh. Long way to go there.

I saw one of my kids who has a medical problem that involves his bowels. As a result, he has altered sensation, and has some stooling accidents. Despite a note from the family doctor, and from me, the school won't believe that it is medical and not behavioural, and will not let him have EA help to clean himself up.

I have a teenager who lives with her grandparents. Her grandma came in to talk to me - this child is extremely depressed and suicidal, and has been for quite a while. She has just come home after her third admission to hospital, and it seems like these new meds are finally starting to work for her. However, her school has decided that they really don't want her back. She is finishing the last 3 weeks of the semester at home, but it is Semester 2 that everyone is fussing about. I talked to the VP at her school, and tried to explain that if the new meds are starting to work,she will be a different kid by the start of semester 2. I don't think he really believed me. He did say that if she comes back, and starts disclosing thoughts of suicide to the other students, then he is going to suspend her. Yes, as a disciplinary action. Really?

I had a conversation with a Children's Aid worker about a foster child that I have seen. After explaining my concerns in detail (basically that the kid is going to kill herself, or her foster family, or both) and telling her that this child needs intensive, specialized help NOW, she said that there wasn't really any funding for counselling. Oh. Well, okay then, I guess I take it back.

Finally, I saw a very scary 11 yr old boy, who I think probably has an attachment disorder. He was adopted at the age of 1 from a not-wonderful Russian orphanage. His mother is in deep denial about his behaviour, and what it actually means. The fact that he is torturing some animals (frogs, because he doesn't like them, and one particular kitten because he thinks it is ugly - according to him) is written off as a "well, boys will be boys, and everyone makes mistakes). She is just says, oh,yeah, I can see him doing that, when we talked about an incident where he bullied another child until he made him cry, and then was quite happy to see the other child cry. When I asked him about it, he agreed that he was happy that he made him cry. His rational was that the other child had hit him back, and so pretty much anything was fair game at that point. You will note that I say hit him BACK, as he had hit the other child first. He has a younger sister - when he is mad at her her yells at her and tells her that she is ugly (Hmm, like the cat, maybe?) and he is going to kill her. He is fairly specific about that part. But mom says that they play together beautifully.

So, that was just some of my week. Admit, it you're jealous, aren't you? You really want my job, I know you do. 

Sometimes, I feel like I need a map to figure out what universe I seem to have slipped into.!!

When I run the world, things will be different!!

[Pete Sapper]

"He has a younger sister - when he is mad at her her yells at her and tells her that she is ugly (Hmm, like the cat, maybe?)"

Actually, the part about being ugly has little to do with the cat or the sister and a lot more to do with how a child who perceives that he's been abandoned by those who brought him into this world feels about himself.

Of course, the greater part of you (the one that isn't tainted by the incredibly limited perspective of the APA and its DSM) already knows this.

;)

[doug puryear]

wow!!!

may God bless you and all your are helping

best wishes

doug