This month has been hard. Multiple meltdowns a day. And with an older child this proves more difficult and exhausting to navigate. What are the triggers? Did he get enough sleep? Eat? Is he anxious? I called the doctor (we are on a wait list for more therapies) and the nurses response was "are you ready for medication?" Answer: we're not. unless melatonin counts.
So I research: try to limit talk and touch when in a meltdown.Give him space while he "reboots." Kinsey said at the dinner table "I think he needs some more time." Wise words for a 4 year old.
Lee is an amazing dad and so patient. Dear friends watched the kids Saturday so Lee and I could go on a date. And we took the kids bowling yesterday and they had a blast. And after another hard day today. Tonight he came down the stairs and with the gray blanket asked me to sit with him. In complete quiet he fell asleep on me. The words "Be Still My Soul, the Lord is on Thy Side.." came to mind. His mercies are so evident among the weariness.
If you pray, please pray for our wisdom. For Bryce to turn to Christ for comfort.
I came across this video done by Joni and Friends tonight. It is long and just scratches the surface but good and worth watching.
6 comments:
Dear Jesus,
Be with Julia and Lee and give them supernatural wisdom on why little Bryce is having such a hard time.Sensory overloads, tiredness, hunger, any one of these and more are amplified to little ones with autism and most times they can't tell us what they need. I could try suggestions but knowing so little about the situation makes it so I have none. Father, I ask that You put other moms and dads with kids with autism in Julia and Lee's direct path for them to talk with and gain some insight. I also pray that the wait list for ABA and other therapies are not too much longer and that You would move Bryce's name up on the list quickly. Please also let Julia know that she can call me anytime to ask questions. I might have some suggestions or not but at least she'd know someone else in the family is going through the same things with Bryce's second cousins. Thank You that Julia and Lee are such loving parents and that they desire wisdom in how they parent their children. Be with little Kinsey too as it's hard on the siblings who are neurotypical to understand at times too. In Jesus' name. Amen.
thank you for praying Ronda, I definitely felt prayed over this weekend. so true that there are so many potential triggers. will keep your family in my prayers as well!
MJ had a lot of meltdowns at school too and we had to add sensory breaks, give her some of her school lessons on the Nook the school has available (wish it was an iPad but it's better the nothing), and because MJ is verbal, I had to ask the teachers to ask her what was wrong because they failed to do that sometimes. Also MJ has low blood sugar and needs to eat every 2 hours, if she doesn't she's very hard to handle and sometimes the teachers forgot to give her snacks that I packed for her per doctors note. Sometimes, she was just plain tired and needed an extended break, sometimes it was too loud or the lights bothered her. It definitely was trial and error. Now she's doing phenominally well! She's earned student of the month last year and this year and is on track for student of the year also! The teacher sends home very simple notes to let me know how her day went and she's gotten green smily faces pretty much every day. If MJ hurts anyone, herself or property, she doesn't earn tech toys such as the ipad or any movies. That really helped when she realized that the teacher and I were a team and that if she acted up at school it wasn't tolerated and she would receive discipline at home if she hurt people or property at school. It was very hard knowing what was just plain rebellion and sensory issues but for now, she is doing really well. She has one more year (5th grade) in this classroom and then she moves to a different school altogether. I'm praying where the best place for her is for middle and high school. I'm hoping she can go to the special needs Christian school here in Columbia called Hope Christian Academy then. I hope that maybe some of the things that helped MJ might give you some ideas for Bryce, Julia. Lydia's behavior is just very active and she has never had a melt down in her life! Nathan has mild cp but sometimes gets a 'tude too and he gets time out in his room when he acts out at home, but he's a complete angel at school, LOL! Let me know if there's any other concerns and I'll try to help!
Also come to find out that no one is MJ's entire school had ever been trained in autism so we got our local chapter of the Autism Society involved and they helped with the IEP's and also did two trainings for the whole school which was put into MJ's IEP. So because I fought for MJ, all the kids with autism in the school, mainstreamed and sp. ed all benefitted from teachers who received autism training! You might want to get in touch with the Autism Society in your area to help with the IEP's. They know things to help that us parents don't sometimes.
such good ideas Ronda! We are working with a local autism center. I will ask them about teacher training next time we meet. Our kids get low blood sugar too. Bryce didn't get a snack at preschool last year (weird I know) and I had to ask them to built it into their schedule. It made a HUGE difference in behavior at pickup time. thank you for the kind thoughts!
So glad things calmed down for Bryce! I also remembered that MJ used to get a bad case of cabin fever in the winter months when we lived where it snowed a lot.
Also I forgot to mention that I also rewarded her when she had really good days/weeks/months and got awards too. She got to pick the reward she to work for and she did it! This year we haven't had to do that as much because she didn't really need that reinforcement as much and I ran out of ideas and so did she for rewards! But her big reward this year is going to an away overnight summer camp for special needs kids. It will be her first sleep over camp ever! Kinda nervous about it, but I think she'll have a blast! Thank you for the updates on the family. Glad to keep up with y'all through the blog!
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