Just as we jumped on the autism bandwagon, we are now ringleaders of the attachment circus. This comes complete with juggling emotions, walking the tightrope between positive feedback and angry outbursts, and clowning around to encourage interaction.
Each day we manage emotions, his and ours. With every incident we respond with "It makes me feel ____ when you ___". We have to be very careful to state the behavior and not the child. We have to explain our feelings without necessarily showing them.
In our house you will often hear "you are making poor choices" or "I love you even when you __". We are trying to teach Bubba that he has a choice in his behavior and his actions affect others.
Over the past week I have been playing games with him to encourage interaction. By games I don't mean Monopoly! We have played things like peek-a-boo, patty cake, and row your boat. While these may seem infantile, their purpose is not for developmental growth but social interaction.
Believe it or not, we have started to see progress. He has begun to express his emotions more with words than actions and he has seemed to open up a little more. He is now speaking in paragraphs (just at home) and behaves more appropriately in some social settings. While we still have far to go, I an encouraged by how far he has come. We may have found the missing piece to our puzzle.
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