Let Me Go!!!

Monday morning was a struggle due to very little sleep. The World Cup is really scuppering an already fragile bedtime /sleep routine. Boy Wonder knows all of the fixtures and the times they are on. He is beyond obsessed and so it is proving extremely difficult to deter him without a total meltdown situation developing. He has it in his head that he has to watch it rather than it being optional entertainment.

He got through the day fairly unscathed but looked tired, arriving home from Art Therapy with a pyramid that he had made for his school homework project. Well that saves us an end of term battle! I arranged with the school head to have a meeting the following morning and then went to book the children in breakfast club to facilitate this.

Tuesday morning was an early start, mainly due to Boy Wonder getting up at 5am! Of course he didn't do this quietly which then woke everyone except Cat Girl who could sleep through a storm! We had to be up and out this morning a bit earlier due to a school meeting first thing so the early start ended up being a bit of a bonus.

After dropping the children at breakfast club we met with school to discuss various things from the swallowing of plastic to the range of difficulties that Boy Wonder is experiencing with school, other children and his anxiety levels. This led on to the inconsistency of information sharing and practice and the blatant disregard of his complex needs by the local authority. It has to be said that this meeting was probably the most useful to date as it enabled everything to be brought to the table and be discussed.  It was of no real surprise to us that the head knew little about the direct actions of the local authority, in particular the request for a second opinion assessment and its refusal plus the refusal of the deferral at the tribunal to obtain OT provision. We agreed on a number of points, one being that information provided after school would be more accessible so that I knew what I was dealing with once outside the school gates. We also agreed that if Boy Wonder has suggested that he had done something that is as good as him saying he has done it and it should be responded to in this way. Our main message was to stress his complexities, brought on by a dual diagnosis, which they seem to overlook, taking him at face value far too often and by them doing this, we felt that he was unsafe.  We came out of the meeting a bit more positive and hopeful that regardless of the outcome of the tribunal, the immediate matters would be dealt with.

We went off to work and through the course of the day took phone messages from Boy Wonder's Psychistrist asking about his EEG results. I explained that we would get these on Thursday when he is having a full health check. She appeared very pleased with this and asked to be kept updated.

On picking the children up from school I was met by Boy Wonder's teacher who told me about an incident at last break which resulted in him hurting a child by grabbing her wrist and not letting go. She went on to say how this was managed and also about the general high mood of the afternoon. Boy Wonder had needed some clear intervention to keep him on task.

We left the school through the front door as the gate was now shut and in doing so, Boy Wonder pushed his way through others and was off. I quickly made my way through with Cat Girl in tow and caught him. The car was parked just down from the gates but  the short journey was hard work. He struggled and tried to run, shouting out for me to let go of him several times.  We got to the car and he threw himself on the ground and wedged his foot in the wheel arch. As I attempted to untangle him he started to sing 'Let Me Go,'in the tune of the Frozen song at the top of his voice. I eventually bundled him into the car whilst Cat Girl waited patiently for Boy Wonder to settle before getting in. The crossing lady witnessed the event and looked a little traumatised!

We got home, dealt with further attempts to run off and climb on the roof of the treehouse before going inside and having tea and a medication top up. After half an hour he started to settle and we went off to piano and Oliver rehearsals where he remained settled and engaged enough to participate.

Once home Boy Wonder watched the World Cup game and eventually settled around midnight.