We had a much easier time for the last four days, but we broke that streak today. I was really feeling good about Tristan's mood.
As usual, we went to the play therapist on Friday. Tristan and I had a Mommy/Son session. We started with a foot massage (for him) and I told him all the good things he had done over the last week. Since we'd had a rough week, it took me a few minutes to come up with a lot of good things. I felt terrible about that because I know it must feel awful to only be scolded. I was reminded that when I do acknowledge Tristan for his good behavior, I need to make eye contact because of his hearing impairment.
We saw Tristan's psychiatrist yesterday and we discussed the difficulties of the last week. He was of the opinion that perhaps the vog (volcanic smoke/ash smog) or the pollen was causing allergies which exacerbated his symptoms. I guess that's feasible, considering it's almost exactly a year to the day that Tristan was admitted to the hospital.
The psychiatrist suggested giving him Benadryl when he exhibits allergy symptoms, but he hasn't had any noticeable symptoms.
Anyways, today was a rough day, with him tantruming all day. He was incredibly resistant to doing his homework. Everything was a trigger. We tried to get him to calm down, but he just screamed.
My mother-in-law is visiting and yesterday we did not get home until after 8 p.m. We didn't realize we would be out that late, so we didn't bring Tristan's evening medication. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and wouldn't be wakened no matter how hard we tried. So we ended up not giving him his medication last night and it may have effected his behavior today. We've seldom missed any doses and I can't ever recall missing his evening dose. All medication was given on time today, so we'll see if it makes any difference in his behavior.
This week and next will be super busy with my inlaws being in town. Hopefully, it's uneventful and peaceful for all involved and Tristan enjoys his time with his grandparents.
I'm looking into Reactive Attachment Disorder treatment and behavior modification plans at the suggestion of a friend to see if it might not help us. Trista doesn't have RAD, but the plans have helped other children.
Showing posts with label play therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label play therapy. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Foot Massage and a Hidden Cache
The past two or three days have been relatively uneventful tantrum-wise, thankfully.
We saw Dr. M on Thursday and I expressed my desire to leave Tristan's medication alone for the time being. I told him also that if we decided that the medication does not work, then instead of adding anything, I'd like to try something new. Dr. M completely agreed with me and was supportive of my plan.
We saw the play therapist, C., on Friday, as usual. She wanted us to have a mother/son session, and since my husband was there to watch the girls, I agreed.
She started us off by having me give Tristan a foot massage. He seemed to enjoy it but wouldn't look me in the eye while I was rubbing his feet. After the foot massage, she wanted me to cradle him and just hold him. He was having none of that. I guess he wasn't into being treated like a baby. I know I personally feel very vulnerable in the prone position like that.
We played with the doll house for the remainder of the session. Tristan made up a very elaborate story about our family running up the hill away from a terrible storm. In the story, Tristan flew himself, Daisy (our dog), his middle sister, S., and his goldfish in a helicopter up the hill. My husband, myself and the baby, W., rode in a police car (which was supposed to be a regular car in the story,) up the hill. He had to fix the car and the house in the story. C. pronounced that Tristan is working on "fixing things" internally.
This morning, Tristan woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He argued almost constantly and about everything until finally, I told him I wasn't taking him to his baseball game in such a mood. I told him that he needed to stop arguing and back-talking and I would reconsider. He started screaming and thrashing around, no matter how much I tried talking to him and explaining what he needed to do to be allowed to go. That was a complete failure. He ended up throwing an enormous tantrum. He went to his room for a while to calm down and came down in a better mood.
In related news, we discovered he's been hiding things in the car. His school folders have been missing. I couldn't figure out where they were since they'd disappeared somewhere between our house and school. I noticed a wrapper sticking out from in front of his seat in the back of our SUV. Upon further investigation, I found all the missing homework, folders and all kinds of food and snack wrappers. I was livid.
Not only had he hidden the homework, all that food in the car attracted bugs and other disgusting things to our car. I try so hard to keep our SUV clean, since, let's face it, roaches thrive in Hawaii. Just about everyone has them, whether they are aware of them or not. We've had the Honda for two and a half years and had no bug problems until now. Our neighbor told us they need to bomb their cars at least a couple times a year and everyone in Hawaii has that problem. I'm not convinced, but it did make me feel better.
We bombed the car last night per our neighbor's advice and showed Tristan the evidence this morning. I wanted him to understand why we don't have food in the car. He was horrified (even though the problem really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.)
On second thought, since he has those bug hallucinations maybe I shouldn't have shown him that...
Still no sign of the hearing aid. I think on Monday, I'm throwing in the towel and calling the audiologist. We may have to eat the $2000, but Tristan not being able to hear is driving me (and him) nuts. He admits he hid it, but says he forgot where he put it.
We saw Dr. M on Thursday and I expressed my desire to leave Tristan's medication alone for the time being. I told him also that if we decided that the medication does not work, then instead of adding anything, I'd like to try something new. Dr. M completely agreed with me and was supportive of my plan.
We saw the play therapist, C., on Friday, as usual. She wanted us to have a mother/son session, and since my husband was there to watch the girls, I agreed.
She started us off by having me give Tristan a foot massage. He seemed to enjoy it but wouldn't look me in the eye while I was rubbing his feet. After the foot massage, she wanted me to cradle him and just hold him. He was having none of that. I guess he wasn't into being treated like a baby. I know I personally feel very vulnerable in the prone position like that.
We played with the doll house for the remainder of the session. Tristan made up a very elaborate story about our family running up the hill away from a terrible storm. In the story, Tristan flew himself, Daisy (our dog), his middle sister, S., and his goldfish in a helicopter up the hill. My husband, myself and the baby, W., rode in a police car (which was supposed to be a regular car in the story,) up the hill. He had to fix the car and the house in the story. C. pronounced that Tristan is working on "fixing things" internally.
This morning, Tristan woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He argued almost constantly and about everything until finally, I told him I wasn't taking him to his baseball game in such a mood. I told him that he needed to stop arguing and back-talking and I would reconsider. He started screaming and thrashing around, no matter how much I tried talking to him and explaining what he needed to do to be allowed to go. That was a complete failure. He ended up throwing an enormous tantrum. He went to his room for a while to calm down and came down in a better mood.
In related news, we discovered he's been hiding things in the car. His school folders have been missing. I couldn't figure out where they were since they'd disappeared somewhere between our house and school. I noticed a wrapper sticking out from in front of his seat in the back of our SUV. Upon further investigation, I found all the missing homework, folders and all kinds of food and snack wrappers. I was livid.
Not only had he hidden the homework, all that food in the car attracted bugs and other disgusting things to our car. I try so hard to keep our SUV clean, since, let's face it, roaches thrive in Hawaii. Just about everyone has them, whether they are aware of them or not. We've had the Honda for two and a half years and had no bug problems until now. Our neighbor told us they need to bomb their cars at least a couple times a year and everyone in Hawaii has that problem. I'm not convinced, but it did make me feel better.
We bombed the car last night per our neighbor's advice and showed Tristan the evidence this morning. I wanted him to understand why we don't have food in the car. He was horrified (even though the problem really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.)
On second thought, since he has those bug hallucinations maybe I shouldn't have shown him that...
Still no sign of the hearing aid. I think on Monday, I'm throwing in the towel and calling the audiologist. We may have to eat the $2000, but Tristan not being able to hear is driving me (and him) nuts. He admits he hid it, but says he forgot where he put it.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Pickle Policeman and Rollercoaster Behavior
Tristan and I had a play therapy session together yesterday. We discussed touching and then made masks. He made a bad guy mask with many eyes while I made a green, freckled mask with policeman sunglasses. C. asked me what my mask was, so told her it was a "pickle policeman." We played out that the pickle policeman arrested the many eyed bad guy and locked him up in a lock box. It was pretty fun.
We've been having some extreme behavior. Over all, he's doing pretty well.
Yesterday, he threw a tantrum because he didn't want to sit in time out for kicking his friend. After the tantrum, I let him out of his room and put him back in time out. He seemed shocked I wanted him to sit in time out after throwing such a tantrum. I don't know why he would be shocked or confused about that- it isn't anything new.
Anyway- extreme behavior...He's been going from doing great and having no issues to suddenly exploding and having a major tantrum. I think I like it better this way than the tantrums broken up by constant movement and defiance.
He's also been saying things like "I have to beat up _____," when he gets upset with someone. He hasn't actually done it, so I am thankful for that. Maybe he's just expressing how he feels so he doesn't hit anyone. If that's the case, I'm proud of him for being able to express that.
Now he's playing Logo, a computer game designed to teach children how to program, with his dad and sister. He doesn't usually have the patience to play a game like that. I really do think we're on the up.
We've been having some extreme behavior. Over all, he's doing pretty well.
Yesterday, he threw a tantrum because he didn't want to sit in time out for kicking his friend. After the tantrum, I let him out of his room and put him back in time out. He seemed shocked I wanted him to sit in time out after throwing such a tantrum. I don't know why he would be shocked or confused about that- it isn't anything new.
Anyway- extreme behavior...He's been going from doing great and having no issues to suddenly exploding and having a major tantrum. I think I like it better this way than the tantrums broken up by constant movement and defiance.
He's also been saying things like "I have to beat up _____," when he gets upset with someone. He hasn't actually done it, so I am thankful for that. Maybe he's just expressing how he feels so he doesn't hit anyone. If that's the case, I'm proud of him for being able to express that.
Now he's playing Logo, a computer game designed to teach children how to program, with his dad and sister. He doesn't usually have the patience to play a game like that. I really do think we're on the up.
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