escapes through the nurse starts
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| Wed, 10-24-2007 - 7:35pm |
Weston found last year that if he complained loud enough that the teachers would send him to the nurse and the nurse not knowing what to do with him would call me to pick him up and he could come home.
It started again today. I think he really does feel sick, but once he gets home and is in comfortable unstressful surroundings he doesn't feel sick anymore. Today he was nauseous and even felt like he was going to vomit (his words). He has also had issues with head aches when over stimulated. I don't doubt that he actually feels as though he will vomit or that he is nauseous or that his head aches and pounds when he's stress and over stimulated. He doesn't feel things as a normal kid would, he had sensory integration issues very severely when he was younger. A good sensory diet has helped a lot but I wonder if now he's more able to know that he's hurting and yet feels it very intensely but can't decide if it's really sensory related or sickness related (that's a hard one for most grownups). He also doesn't have any coping strategies to make himself able to get through it, so escape is the option he choses (wouldn't we all), however, he needs to learn to work through that.
ANY SUGGESTIONS???
DH thinks that I should bring him home and confine him to his bed every time this happens. Which I could, however, I'm not sure that would totally be a bad thing for Weston and it doesn't teach him any coping strategies to get through anything. I'm also not really sure that this would turn out the way dh suspects, Weston doesn't necessarily connect the dots. For him being in his bed all day isn't necessarily a consequence of being sick, and might not actually deture this behavior.
I emailed the resource director that coordinates everything for Weston. I'm thinking maybe the OT or the autism consultant could make some suggestions.


Betsy,
Can the nurse stall for 30 minutes and see if some quiet time relieves his symptoms?
visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com
Ditto what paula said.
In addition, perhaps some strategies to decrease anxiety such as deep breathing, yoga, etc. Mike has been doing that at his new school at it helps tons. When ever he is getting stressed with us I see him starting to do some of his yoga positions.
Another option is this OT book "Tools for Teens" which is sensory stuff for the older kids. That has some good ideas.
Also, how about a 5 point scale. (book - "The incredible 5 point scale"). I would make him and anxiety scale which would help him identify the signs which show he is getting more anxious and also he can help come up with strategy for each level on the scale.
If they can help him learn to identify his anxiety level, provide him the tools to deal with it as well as being accommodating and giving him the opportunity to use those tools (that can be an issue in middle school).
Renee
Betsy, Christopher does the same thing.
In my defense, I did wait until the nurse called me 3 times. LOL! I'm sure she thought I was an awful mom, but he came to the nurse's office in each class. She called me the 2nd, 3rd and 4th times he came, the last time I decided maybe I should get him. But knew immediately when I saw him that he wasn't really sick but just having anxiety.
He told me this morning that he was still sick and just couldn't possibly make it through school. I told him to 1. EAT his breakfast. 2. EAT lunch. 3. take extra breaks in his safe place if he needed to, rather than leaving.
I've got to send another email to his resource coordinator to give her the heads up. They just don't see these things as a problem until they notice the trend-- by then he's set in the habit of going to the nurse and that's NOT what we want. He needs to learn coping strategies.
Betsy
I talked with Weston's resource teacher. She is thinking that some of the anxiety is from Language Arts-- he's really having a tough time with that class-- and from this being the last week of the quarter. His schedule will change next week (they've been reminding the kids often) and the teachers are urging the kids to make sure all their work is turned in constantly!
Renee-- I sent her the info on the incredible 5-point scale, she's going to purchase the book for the special ed dept. Thought it would be helpful for more than just Weston.
They are also going to do some sensitizing with the Language Arts class. It's a single gender class (Weston has 2 all boy and 2 coed academic classes-- more than 80% of the school is split into single gender classes). There are several boys in that class that have said derogatory things to and about Weston, not making the anxiety over that class any easier. How I hate the whole herd mentality of 6th grade boys!
ugh! just got an email back from his resource teacher-- he's not having a good day, was taking a test in math, he was all inside his sweatshirt and only grunting and had only done 3 problems on the test. She took him out for some down time. **sigh** I just want to sit down and cry.
Oh my gosh!
My son start that again the other day. He has been doing pretty good but now the newness of school has worn off, it is back to the wanting to come home. The nurse just lets him sit in the office and read a book for a while. Then sends him back to class. He forgets for a little bit and then he comes back. He sat at his desk in tears Tuesday because he wanted to come home so badly. He told the teacher he was sick but she knew better. So he had to stay in from PE class and talk to the teacher. He admitted that he lied about being sick and he just wanted to go home. (Did not help that it was his B-day either) She had a really good talk with him.
So we will see how long the pep talk works before he starts doing it again. We are still searching for ways to keep him at school. We have not found a particular subject that is bothering him. It is kinda random atm.