Articles relating to Reactive Attachment Disorder can be found here.
David – Pre- Christmas Visit 2013
We received notice today that we can move David on the 9th. That doesn’t work for our family, as we have other obligations
for our children. So we asked for the 16th of January. We will know New Year’s Eve if that will work or not.
Sad to think about moving him 500 miles.
Pray that we are doing the correct thing. The right thing. And that David will benefit from this.
Tweet #fighting4answrs
We had a pleasant visit with David today. No issues, no tantrums.
Last week after we left he had a period of high activity and needed to be restrained. They were afraid he would hurt himself or someone else. Since then, no problems.
Nearly every week I hear how good he is doing.
If he is doing so well, why won’t they keep him? Why force us to move him?
I just don’t understand.
The standard argument is that he needs a “low stimulus” environment. Well, there are only four kids in his residence currently. Short of isolating him completely, how “low stimulus” can he get?
Yesterday we spent the afternoon with David. In addition to having Christmas with him, we also had his monthly staffing with the facility staff where he lives.
Mostly positive reports. David continues to be all over the place with his energy levels and behaviors. By all reports, he is doing very well in school. Last year at this time, we couldn’t keep him in the school building, this year, he only has one class that he is failing, and we are pretty sure it is because he isn’t happy with the structure of the class.
Anyway, we shared a meal with David, and then opened presents. It was fun, David received presents from everyone in the family, and gave presents in return.
Presents that David gave ranged from a bracelet to mechanical pencils to a X-Men trilogy DVD set.
Today wasn’t about the gifts. Today was about having the whole family together. It was about spending the day together.
During the meeting, it was mentioned that David still believes he is moving home. Sadly, as much as I would love to have him at home, he is still too volatile.
Tonight, I received a call from staff, David was angry because he didn’t want to go to bed, so he started punching a staff member. As a result, David ended up in restraint for almost 30 minutes.
All in all, today was a win for David. Sure it didn’t end on the best of notes, but he spent the whole afternoon with his family.
In his life, that is a win, no matter how you look at it.
