Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Update on Billy Ray 1/10/06

Billy Ray is communicating again.  It seemed important to share more of this because of email from some of you asking what I mean by communication by behavior.

He has been experiencing some agitation the past few days that could be from several causes. He is still on antibiotics trying to recover from his ear infection.  That can affect his behavior at times.   In addition, he does not understand why his clothes are not fitting with his weight gain.  Despite the fact that we bought him some large ones for birthday and Christmas and brought some others out of storage, he still wants to wear his favorites, which are too tight.  There is nothing that can bring on agitation faster than confusion over his clothes.

During the past few days I have noticed something different in what he seems to be communicating to me by his behavior.  Here are a couple of examples.  When agitated he might literally throw the breakfast bar stool or coasters or the tv remotes, etc., etc., etc.  Saturday he looked at me as he substantially laid the bar stool down instead of throwing it.  He caught my eye several times in the past few days and looked at something as if to say: “help me not to throw that”.  He kept his gaze at objects until I had time to move them out of his reach.

It appears that Billy Ray is trying to deal with his impulse control issues and asking for our help.  It is a refreshing change from broken things.

The combination of the new medication and the approaches we are adjusting at home seem to be helping.

Until tomorrow,
Peggy Lou Morgan
www.parentingyourcomplexchild.com
www.lighthouseparents.com

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