Echoes of the Mind's Eye

Most days, my job is not work. I enjoy spending time with the kids and the challenge of solving the puzzles each day brings. Today was NOT one of those days.

The day started with my visit to see Y, an 8 year old with autism that I have been working with since 2005. He has been one of the most challenging clients in my last 10 years of work. Starting last October, he finally started showing improved behaviors. He has been on the upswing until last week. His TSS (one of the direct therapy workers that I supervise) quit. Y forms strong attachments to staff that works with him and TSS works closest for the longest amount of time. This TSS started last fall by telling Y that, "I'm not planning on going away for a long time."  (HAH!) Since she left, he has regressed to the point he was at over a year ago. In this career, one should be more responsible. We are working with Children's lives and when you abruptly leave after forming a trusting relationship, it hurts. Here is the whiny part: The people that care for the children, the people that are left behind, are hurt as well. We have to work through with the kids the damage that was done. Days like this...I end up with an extra lump on my head from banging it against cement block walls.

This pretty much set the tone for the remainder of the day. Monday always has me bogged down in the administrative part of my job--paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. Plus, tonight, I am developing a training for the staff I work with. Autism, of course.  Hoping tomorrow will be more enjoyable (and hoping that the snow/ice holds off)

I taped a new show last week, just watched it. Fairly interesting, it falls into one of the normal medical or legal plot-lines for most dramedies. Eli is a lawyer, part of a big law firm in San Francisco. He is just a run of the mill corporate attorney until he starts getting visions which lead him to more humane cases and help guide him to win his legal battles. The visions are a creative gimmick, I got worried when they had to explain the reason for the visions medically, but the show goes back on track with help of an asian guru who encourages Eli's faith.

It's nice to see a shoe with such a positive spin, encouraging the idea of faith is great. Also, one of Eli's first clients was a single mother with an autistic child (now why would I be interested??) . The case is a lawsuit against a big bad pharmaceutical company because their vaccine caused her son's autism. The boy with autism was a fair interpretation of the symptoms I have seen, although possibly overblown a bit...Stacking objects is a "thing" with many children with autism, but this boy not only stacked blocks, he built an entire castle in his mother's living room--she basically let him take over her home with thousands of blocks. Can we say enabling?

Anyway, the show looks good. It's a definite welcome with the lack of anything else new on the horizon (although I am looking forward to Jericho).  I hope Eli Stone can keep it up creatively.

I am trying this again. I have a little more time on my hands this semester, so I hope to post more regular blogs here. Tonight I am focused on coming up with treatments for my clients. I am currently providing behavioral treatment to 13 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. I would like to use this site to post information that I have researched as well as treatment approaches that I have tried.

What is Autism? It is a disorder that starts in early childhood and affects three main life areas: social, Communication, and behavior disturbances. The cause of Autism is still a cause of great debate. Most agree that DNA is at the root, but there is still evidence for environmental causes. Vaccines were thought to be a prime source for an increase in autism rates in the past 30 years--primarily vaccines with Mercury--but scientists continually denied this. Even after recent studies showing a drop in autism rates since Mercury was removed from the vaccines--hmmm. 

Autism is best treated with a combination of medication management, Behavior treatment, Speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy. This combination of treatments, along with an early start, show good prognosis for most children to grow up and live as a functional part of society.

My part is mostly behavioral, though in my position I need to know a bit of all of these areas. I need to know medications to be on the lookout for any side effects that they may cause. I must know what the speech and language pathologist works on in order to coordinate treatment and to know what type of services to request. OT is useful in teaching staff and parents sensory interventions (more later on that) and helping to work on the child's life skills. As a behavior therapist, I must also focus on mal-adaptive behaviors that may cause disruptions to daily functioning and possibly harmful to the child (this is just a brief overview of this).

That's all for now, time to get back to work.

Some night I wish I could go to be before midnight. It seems every night for the last 3 weeks, I have been either completing progress notes, treatment plans for work; if not that I am researching functional behavior analysis, completing assignments, or watching professors on DVD drone on and on. At least this week's professor is a bit more organized and I can follow his power point presentation. Tonight I am writing a behavior plan to (hopefully) help one of my clients to stop flapping his hands around whenever he gets excited of anxious.

I think I have finally decided that specializing in Autism is what I need to do (dare I say that I am "called" to do it??). As a therapist, I am rather mediocre when working with kids with mood disorders, ODD, or ADHD type problems...something just clicks when I am working with kids with autism. I am able to get in their heads easier.

Self disclosure moment: I am the autistic spectrum, although officially undiagnosed. I meet the diagnostic criteria: I have difficulty understanding social cues (if you tell me a joke, many times you need to tell me it IS a joke), I get jumbled when trying to communicate interpersonally, I perseverate on things (Star Wars in particular), I have difficulty with change, and I have sensory issues (related to sound and touch). Meeting all these criteria, I fit in with the diagnosis of Asperger's Disorder. But, luckily, I have adapted and gone pretty far with my life. I relay my stories to the teens I work with, sharing similar experiences. I think it helps them some, knowing that they can "make it." Their parents (who I do have difficulty working with and understanding) just tell me I am good at what I do. I have mentioned my self diagnosis to others a few times, but they look at me like I am either joking or nuts.

The fact that I am more comfortable typing to no one in particular on here kind of backs up my self Dx. Anyhow...no one will be reading this anyway, but it will be a good use of journalling....maybe get me back into writing. encourage me to finish at least one short story of the dozen or so outlines I have written.

Almost midnight. Should get back to my behavior plan, I need to review it with my staff tomorrow.