Post by topcat on May 14, 2018 9:08:57 GMT
Hello Folks - long time no post...
Quick update, Brains is currently doing SATS, preparing for a week's residential trip and ultimately secondary school. Thankfully we have not returned to the horror of 18 months ago. He now has regular sessions with CAMH. Parenting is a fine tuned operation of staying calm and ignoring the initial onslaught of verbal nastiness and threats long enough for him to manage himself. Tiring and frustrating but a real relief to see the improvements. His sister, who I am renaming Dreamy, is having her own upheavals with the first surges of hormones and confusion with her brother's improved behaviour making it harder for her to be 'the good one'. Sibling strife consequently our biggest challenge now.
In fact it's Dreamy I'd like some help with. Her coping strategy has always been to 'zone out' and I believe she genuinely doesn't hear instructions and very quickly forgets things she's just been told. Left to her own devices she's desperately slow at doing anything. She manages 'time' challenges very well, she's had them at school and at home over the years but ultimately they form no habits for her. The thing is, her peers are starting to notice and teachers are getting exasperated. This has brought the issue home to Dreamy who described very clearly how her mind can go 'white blank' when a teacher asks her a question, even if she had her hand up to answer, or she forgets halfway across the playground what her friends just asked her to do.
I believe this is just as trauma related as Brains' violent outbursts. It isn't as anti-social (although it is for all those who have to wait for her) and while she's still young it may even seem funny or a bit sweet. I know lots of us can relate to those 'white blank' moments but Dreamy is super bright and I would like to help her avoid some 'dipsy/ditzy' label which could stand in her way of achieving all she's capable of. Not to mention Year 6 next year when I'm concerned the pressure of SATS could render her motionless!!
I'm talking to the school SENCO this afternoon and I'd like more strategies to genuinely change her behaviour, or manage it, in a similar way that Brains is doing. Do you think they'll take me seriously?
Quick update, Brains is currently doing SATS, preparing for a week's residential trip and ultimately secondary school. Thankfully we have not returned to the horror of 18 months ago. He now has regular sessions with CAMH. Parenting is a fine tuned operation of staying calm and ignoring the initial onslaught of verbal nastiness and threats long enough for him to manage himself. Tiring and frustrating but a real relief to see the improvements. His sister, who I am renaming Dreamy, is having her own upheavals with the first surges of hormones and confusion with her brother's improved behaviour making it harder for her to be 'the good one'. Sibling strife consequently our biggest challenge now.
In fact it's Dreamy I'd like some help with. Her coping strategy has always been to 'zone out' and I believe she genuinely doesn't hear instructions and very quickly forgets things she's just been told. Left to her own devices she's desperately slow at doing anything. She manages 'time' challenges very well, she's had them at school and at home over the years but ultimately they form no habits for her. The thing is, her peers are starting to notice and teachers are getting exasperated. This has brought the issue home to Dreamy who described very clearly how her mind can go 'white blank' when a teacher asks her a question, even if she had her hand up to answer, or she forgets halfway across the playground what her friends just asked her to do.
I believe this is just as trauma related as Brains' violent outbursts. It isn't as anti-social (although it is for all those who have to wait for her) and while she's still young it may even seem funny or a bit sweet. I know lots of us can relate to those 'white blank' moments but Dreamy is super bright and I would like to help her avoid some 'dipsy/ditzy' label which could stand in her way of achieving all she's capable of. Not to mention Year 6 next year when I'm concerned the pressure of SATS could render her motionless!!
I'm talking to the school SENCO this afternoon and I'd like more strategies to genuinely change her behaviour, or manage it, in a similar way that Brains is doing. Do you think they'll take me seriously?
