So - Streamwood. This is where Tim currently attends day school. Since he's been at Streamwood his IQ has actually DECREASED, courtesy of the damage psychosis does to the brain, he's had 4 more inpatient stays, bringing us to a grand total of 11, and nothing much else has changed. That's not entirely true. He is more aware of when his psychosis begins. That's about it.
In 2007, we heard about and applied for an Individual Care Grant from the State of Illinois. It's a grant for children with severe mental illness to pay for residential treatment for these kids, under the age of 18. It's also harder to get than top secret government clearance. If you are interested in learning more about an ICG grant, email me, and I'll give you the advice we got, that finally got us the grant, after three applications and two appeals.
Enough back story. My plan with this blog is to use it as my own therapy - a way for me to relay my thoughts and feelings about raising a child with a severe mental illness to the ether. If I never have a single reader, that's ok. That's not the point. But if you read and have comments, questions, or dittys to share, feel free. I'll read them all. I know I'm not alone in this.
The Mindstorm: Raising a Mentally Ill Child
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The Backstory - Part Five
So Tim started his sixth therapeutic day school program at Metro Prep in Des Plaines. While we really liked the staff there, particularly Tim's therapist and his one-on-one aide, Tim's rages were getting more intense and more frequent. The school operated on a point system - get points for doing positive things, get points taken away for negative things. If you have a kid with bipolar or another mood disorder, then you know - points systems nearly always fail. Why? Because one you've lost points, the entire day is shot - might as well lose them all. Tim most definitely operated this way.
It was during this time - and the several inpatient stays needed during his time at Metro Prep - that we finally found a child psychiatrist that believed us - Tim had something going on besides oppositional defiant disorder, or a conduct disorder. Tim wasn't autistic. Dr. D (as we call him) listened to us, worked with us, and wanted to help us. It was a strange but wonderful feeling to find a professional that WANTED to work with us.
Tim's rage got to be too much for Metro Prep, and they gave the district 30 day notice that Tim could not come back. We'd worked with the school district, and we were pushing for a residential program - Tim had blown through six day programs, and there were other day programs that would not accept him. But the school district refused to hear it. They felt we had not exhausted all of the day program options.
There was only one other day program in a 40 mile radius that was willing to consider taking Tim in - Northwest Academy at Streamwood.
More later.
It was during this time - and the several inpatient stays needed during his time at Metro Prep - that we finally found a child psychiatrist that believed us - Tim had something going on besides oppositional defiant disorder, or a conduct disorder. Tim wasn't autistic. Dr. D (as we call him) listened to us, worked with us, and wanted to help us. It was a strange but wonderful feeling to find a professional that WANTED to work with us.
Tim's rage got to be too much for Metro Prep, and they gave the district 30 day notice that Tim could not come back. We'd worked with the school district, and we were pushing for a residential program - Tim had blown through six day programs, and there were other day programs that would not accept him. But the school district refused to hear it. They felt we had not exhausted all of the day program options.
There was only one other day program in a 40 mile radius that was willing to consider taking Tim in - Northwest Academy at Streamwood.
More later.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Backstory - Part Four
Ok - so tomorrow took a bit longer than I thought. Life happens.
So - where were we? Oh yes - Tim's first therapeutic day school in Illinois. Without naming it - but think of a musical starring Robert Goulet and you'll get it - it was an unmitigated disaster. This program does great with autistic kids, but with a kid like Tim who, in all fairness, we weren't totally aware then, was all about anxiety and psychosis, it was chaos. Tim had to be physically restrained nearly 50 times in the 18 months he was there. The last day there was interesting - I went to pick Tim up to take him to see a new psychiatrist, and he attacked me, in the classroom, in front of the entire staff. They were horror stricken, but to me, it was life as normal. I was used to being beat up by my12-year-old.
That led to Tim's first inpatient hospital stay, also an unmitigated disaster, but I'll save that for another post about what to do if your child requires hospitalization. If I knew then what I know now, that first hospitalization would have gone far differently, particularly in how we interacted with the staff and doctors.
Tim came out of that hospitalization and into another location of that same program, but that didn't go much better. On the typical day, Tim's anxiety level would elevate, and he'd be chased around downtown Des Plaines by a staff member for a good portion of the day.
Tim was on four different meds and had three inpatient stays in 2006, and near the end of the school year, the therapeutic school gave our district 30 days notice that they couldn't serve Tim any more. He'd been asked to leave his second program in Illinois, fifth over all.
More later.
So - where were we? Oh yes - Tim's first therapeutic day school in Illinois. Without naming it - but think of a musical starring Robert Goulet and you'll get it - it was an unmitigated disaster. This program does great with autistic kids, but with a kid like Tim who, in all fairness, we weren't totally aware then, was all about anxiety and psychosis, it was chaos. Tim had to be physically restrained nearly 50 times in the 18 months he was there. The last day there was interesting - I went to pick Tim up to take him to see a new psychiatrist, and he attacked me, in the classroom, in front of the entire staff. They were horror stricken, but to me, it was life as normal. I was used to being beat up by my12-year-old.
That led to Tim's first inpatient hospital stay, also an unmitigated disaster, but I'll save that for another post about what to do if your child requires hospitalization. If I knew then what I know now, that first hospitalization would have gone far differently, particularly in how we interacted with the staff and doctors.
Tim came out of that hospitalization and into another location of that same program, but that didn't go much better. On the typical day, Tim's anxiety level would elevate, and he'd be chased around downtown Des Plaines by a staff member for a good portion of the day.
Tim was on four different meds and had three inpatient stays in 2006, and near the end of the school year, the therapeutic school gave our district 30 days notice that they couldn't serve Tim any more. He'd been asked to leave his second program in Illinois, fifth over all.
More later.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Backstory - Part Three
Hell broke loose alright. Tim was put in a special ed class with a teacher that thought special ed meant that he just needed more time to do assignments. If he got up, she would get huffy with him. If he talked, she would reprimand him. After about a month of that, he couldn't take it anymore - and expressed his displeasure and anxiety with her by throwing desks at her, or pencils at her, running away from her or biting her. We tried to intervene - they tried to expel him - neither of us succeeded. He repeated this behavior with the next teacher the following year, but this time it was mostly running away - all the way off campus and around town. The school couldn't keep him safe during school hours.
The special ed department called us together and suggested that Tim go to a full-time therapeutic day school. We went to visit a few and selected one that specialized in autistic kids. Remember, we were still working under the diagnosis of autistic.
He lasted 10 whole days before they asked him to leave. They couldn't handle his rages. He raged more at school than at home. Looking back, it was because his anxiety level was much higher at school, but we didn't know that then. He went through three therapeutic schools in four months, all asking him to leave. We didn't know what to do.
We ended up leaving California for Illinois, for a number of reasons, but one was the schools. California schools just weren't that great, especially for special ed kids. We got to Illinois, handed them Tim's IEP, told them he was in a therapeutic school, and waited to see their response. They decided to continue that, and put him at the first therapeutic day school he attended in Illinois.
More tomorrow - I promise!
The special ed department called us together and suggested that Tim go to a full-time therapeutic day school. We went to visit a few and selected one that specialized in autistic kids. Remember, we were still working under the diagnosis of autistic.
He lasted 10 whole days before they asked him to leave. They couldn't handle his rages. He raged more at school than at home. Looking back, it was because his anxiety level was much higher at school, but we didn't know that then. He went through three therapeutic schools in four months, all asking him to leave. We didn't know what to do.
We ended up leaving California for Illinois, for a number of reasons, but one was the schools. California schools just weren't that great, especially for special ed kids. We got to Illinois, handed them Tim's IEP, told them he was in a therapeutic school, and waited to see their response. They decided to continue that, and put him at the first therapeutic day school he attended in Illinois.
More tomorrow - I promise!
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