And so it begins
The boy child had his first official session of cognitive behavioral therapy today with the child psychologist, Dr. H, and by all accounts it went pretty well. Dr. H took the boy outside a few times to see how he reacted, but the boy was having a pretty good day with regard to the outdoors so he didn't get to see much.
They did a writing exercise wherein Dr. H asked, "What's the worst thing that could happen to you outside?" The boy child wrote, "I could get stung by a wasp, stung by a bee or bitten by a mosquito." Dr. H wrote underneath, "But I've never been stung by a wasp and I've only been stung by a bee once - in 1st grade." Then Dr. H asked, "What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you outdoors?" The boy wrote, "I was stung by an entire nest of yellow jackets." Which is not exactly what happened, but more about that later. Under that, Dr. H wrote, "But that was when I was three years old and it hasn't happened since." Then Dr. H asked, "What's the best thing that could happen to you outdoors?" The boy wrote, "I could play with my friends and play sports." Below that, Dr. H wrote, "Every day."
What actually happened when the boy child was three was that he was in the backyard scooting around in this plastic truck my parents had gotten him, and he was barefoot. Unbeknownst to us, some ground hornets had taken up residence in one of our sprinkler system reservoir thingies. It had a cap on it with a little hole, and some hornets got down in there and built a nest. When the boy rolled over it, a couple of them flew out (NOT the entire nest) and one stung him on his toe. Later, DH went out to investigate and the hornets swarmed and stung him (he was okay though - just ouchy for a while). The boy was safely in the house, watching out the window as this happened. We think he's melded the two memories in his mind so that he thinks HE was swarmed and stung multiple times. So we're going to have to talk with him about that and try to separate out the reality of what happened.
At any rate, the boy child really likes Dr. H and DH and I like him, too. I personally find that he has a comforting way of putting things into perspective. I told him about the field trip on Wednesday and the subsequent setback with the fire drill, and he pointed out that while the boy child was upset after the drill, he WAS able to walk to the car with me after school without running and screaming and soforth. I didn't have to carry him or pull the car up to the front door of the school. He didn't cower under his desk, refusing to go outside at all in case there might be bugs. So if you created a scale with possible levels of severity, the boy's reaction was really not all that bad. I feel somewhat better thinking about it in those terms.
DH and I have started to put feelers out for networking and support groups in our area. We'll have access to more services like this once the boy child is in the system at school. Apparently, there are a lot of services in our district for Autism/PDD. Good news!
They did a writing exercise wherein Dr. H asked, "What's the worst thing that could happen to you outside?" The boy child wrote, "I could get stung by a wasp, stung by a bee or bitten by a mosquito." Dr. H wrote underneath, "But I've never been stung by a wasp and I've only been stung by a bee once - in 1st grade." Then Dr. H asked, "What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you outdoors?" The boy wrote, "I was stung by an entire nest of yellow jackets." Which is not exactly what happened, but more about that later. Under that, Dr. H wrote, "But that was when I was three years old and it hasn't happened since." Then Dr. H asked, "What's the best thing that could happen to you outdoors?" The boy wrote, "I could play with my friends and play sports." Below that, Dr. H wrote, "Every day."
What actually happened when the boy child was three was that he was in the backyard scooting around in this plastic truck my parents had gotten him, and he was barefoot. Unbeknownst to us, some ground hornets had taken up residence in one of our sprinkler system reservoir thingies. It had a cap on it with a little hole, and some hornets got down in there and built a nest. When the boy rolled over it, a couple of them flew out (NOT the entire nest) and one stung him on his toe. Later, DH went out to investigate and the hornets swarmed and stung him (he was okay though - just ouchy for a while). The boy was safely in the house, watching out the window as this happened. We think he's melded the two memories in his mind so that he thinks HE was swarmed and stung multiple times. So we're going to have to talk with him about that and try to separate out the reality of what happened.
At any rate, the boy child really likes Dr. H and DH and I like him, too. I personally find that he has a comforting way of putting things into perspective. I told him about the field trip on Wednesday and the subsequent setback with the fire drill, and he pointed out that while the boy child was upset after the drill, he WAS able to walk to the car with me after school without running and screaming and soforth. I didn't have to carry him or pull the car up to the front door of the school. He didn't cower under his desk, refusing to go outside at all in case there might be bugs. So if you created a scale with possible levels of severity, the boy's reaction was really not all that bad. I feel somewhat better thinking about it in those terms.
DH and I have started to put feelers out for networking and support groups in our area. We'll have access to more services like this once the boy child is in the system at school. Apparently, there are a lot of services in our district for Autism/PDD. Good news!
posted by Miss Anthrope at 4:06 PM
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