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Saturday, July 20, 2013

94. The First of Many

At the close of his first grade school year, Sean was still on the attention seeking tantrum track. Day after day the journal entries between Ms. Wright and I were all about time-outs, grunting and his lack of compliance. Early on I was hopeful - looking for answers, making suggestions, trying to find the answer hidden between each behavior. In my later entries, I often wrote, "I don't know what to do anymore. I'm all out of answers!" As if I really had any to begin with. Honestly, I was just going through the motions to keep my head above water. I felt discouraged.

It was suggested by the school that Glenwood, an autism behavior health center in Birmingham, be contacted and that is what I did. Glenwood came to my apartment for an intake on May 8, 2002 to discuss their First Program which was designed to give the family in-home support and provide services such as respite and classes to help with the management of autism and I suppose life in general - basic coping skills.

Journal entries:
May, 9, 2002

Lelie-
Glenwood and the FIRST Program are just what we need! We've been assigned a case worker and she can begin as soon as I can get some classes in. They will help w/psychotherapy, behavior, stress & anger management - Anna (case worker) will assist at school then transition him to home if we want her to. She will sort of be the "glue" b/tween school & home. The person to help us stay (or get) on the same page. She will come to his IEP and discuss where she can fill in. I think this is the answer to many problems. Sean will be far more independent. The in-home visits are 6 hrs/wk for 4 mos. Then, the follow-up lasts one year. Awesome! Anna is (seems) right for Sean! They were here two hours doing intake. Anna and Cindy...

May 17, 2002

Lelie,
... I had an interesting anger management meeting and discovered some of my own attention-seeking behaviors - mirrior mirrior! I'll explain more later. This program should help us ALL maybe focusing on me initially...

I was super psyched that we had some outside support and that it focused on the family as a whole. I didn't expect that but was open to anything. I felt encouraged again.

"Think left and think right, think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up, if only you try!" ~Dr. Seuss