Tag Archives: ODD

The truth about David.

Roller-CoasterWe visited David tonight.  He wants to come home.  As much as we want him to come home, home isn’t the best place for him.

It isn’t just the Reactive Attachment Disorder.

It isn’t just the Autism.

It isn’t just the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

It isn’t just the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

It isn’t just the Oppositional Defiant Disorder, the Childhood Conduct Disorder, the bipolar disorder, or any of the other diagnoses that he has and has had.

It is the combination of all of these things that is what is working against him.

What does this mean for David?

Home isn’t the best place for him.  He never should have been discharged.  The psychiatrist indicated that she sees no change in him now from before he began his first placement.

So Monday.  We are going to start the paperwork.  The process.  The doctor is documenting their end of the record and will provide letters of support for placement.  Not sure when he is coming home from his current stay.  Will discuss that with the doctor on Monday.

As a result, we will be calling a team meeting of all of the people and organizations that are working with and for David’s treatment.

Please, a prayer for David, and our family as we seek whatever help we can get to ensure that David gets everything he needs to be the kind of person that we believe he can be.

The reality of our situation is that there are very few things that we haven’t tried to help him.  What I document here, most days hardly scratches the surface.  Is every day bad?  No.  Even the bad days have their good times.   It means that the roller coaster that is his life is throwing a new loop in his path.  Let’s help him stay on the appropriate path.

an update. close watch again

David is on close watch again.  He is under the belief that no matter what he does there, he is going to be moved to another facility.

But that is not entirely why he is on close watch. Seesaw

He is on close watch because:

  1. he climbed to the top of his closet and hid there.
  2. he is threatening to self harm again.
  3. he is combative.
  4. he is tearing large pieces of wood from the bottom of his bed.
  5. he is at risk.

I don’t know if he is delusional or what, but I do know that in the past when he has been like this, it has had a direct affect on my health.  See, I have an auto-immune disorder.  Lupus.  Systemic.

Basically what that means is my body doesn’t like me, and when I feel stress my body goes into self attack mode and tries to hurt me by attacking my heart other internal organs.  This is why I had the heart issues and stuff the summer David was home between placements.

I give the staff credit for working with him.  I know just how difficult it can be.  Sure it what they are paid to do.

So kudos to staff for keeping him safe.  I appreciate it.  My family appreciates it.  Anytime that you need to call, please do so.

They said it is like he is bipolar.  (I reminded them that he IS bipolar)  but these people are not doctors that work with him everyday.  so once they reviewed the notes, they realized that they had missed that.  Hindsight.  I can’t fault them for that, they have a whole building full of kids with autism and other mental illnesses.

Life with David is like playing on a teeter totter.  You have to find a balance and maintain it as long as possible.  If one side changes the slightest bit, the other needs to do the same.

a setup for failure?

There hasn’t been much to report in regards to David.  He has been doing well, and by all reports is working his program.  Yesterday we had an IEP for him in the morning, and then his monthly treatment plan meeting in the afternoon.  At the second meeting, David indicated that he had reached the next level in his program, Bronze III.  Which means he has been doing really well.

Then he said, “I have a feeling I will be dropping a level soon.”

Today I got a call.  Not that he has been dropped a level, but that he is on an aggression plan.

Evidently he hit his primary.

A toy went missing, and David admitted taking it.

He had his room stripped of everything except his bed, and his bedding.

He wanted to file a grievance, and when he wasn’t able to immediately do so, he got upset.  Staff was in the process of helping another resident, and other staff was setting out afternoon snacks.  David thought he wasn’t getting a snack since he was confined to his room for a brief period for the theft.

Since, they don’t deny food, his fear was groundless.  The grievance form was laid next to his plate, and he got upset because a pencil wasn’t available.  Since David had previously threatened to stab his teacher with a pencil, staff wanted David calmed down before they gave him a pencil.  So David was upset about that.

Now David is on the 24 hour aggression intervention.  As a result he can’t interact with his peers as a group, though he can interact with them one at a time.  As a result, tomorrow when they go to recreation at the UC, he will be working on his aggression plan.

I talked to David about setting himself up for failure.  We talked about him doing things to derail his success.

I am working on my thoughts regarding the monthly treatment plan meeting.  Look for another post soon.