New Member

The coping mechanisms that Paige has taught herself are good and bad, so I wouldn't want to suggest them. They are good because she is realizing that she does need to do things to register and process information without having a meltdown. A meltdown in her case being, giving up and zoning out or chewing on something to the point of destruction. So, at school she will do something the teacher called vocalizing when she is presented with something new or difficult. From what I understand, it isn't disruptive to the class...she is talking quietly to herself. Her teacher says that it sounds like she is calling up information she has learned in the past and saying it aloud to try and tie it into what she is learning now. The weird thing is that the information she is calling up really has nothing to do with what the new material is...but it's her way of coping with that anxiety and from our view...it's better than what she was doing before. Now that we have the dx, she will, I hope, be taught some things that will help her cope by the autism specialist. I'm waiting for the report from the psychologist and then we can get an IST meeting going. I'm excited to see what they are going to do for her and I can't wait for her to get started.

I know she is trying so hard right now to fit in. Just with the things she says to me when she comes home from school. Lately it's, "mom, if I was a boy, do you think so and so (two boys who tease her) would like me?" or "I'm kind of boyish, huh mom?" She wants to know what "boy" things she could do to make the boys like her. It's really hard to get her to understand.

~Courtney