I hate to be always updating with bad news, but...
Marcus began to really struggle his third week at Hillside. He ended up having such serious tantrums that they called the police and the police took him to the hospital for a mental hygiene arrest. I think this happened four times in about eight days. The last one was only four hours after he had been brought back to the cottage. Things just kept escalating. It was really horrible to think of him in handcuffs going back and forth to the hospital. It became time to admit him.
He's been in the Strong Child and Adolescent Psychiatric unit at Strong hospital since Wednesday. So far he's only had minor agitation, no violent tantrums. But they haven't integrated him into the schedule yet so he hasn't come up against any significant limits yet. Echoes of his stay at John's Hopkins when he was ten are running through my head.
I am not sure why this has happened but I'm thinking that he's testing the limits to see how far they will go. Both the hospital and Hillside have firm limits and he tantrums when he hits them. Morris and I got into a pattern of negotiating the "no" so that we avoided tantrums, but this clearly has not helped him. It could also be a medication issue. The "hill" increased Ritalin and Haldol so that change also could have contributed. No one really knows yet.
This is the last hope for Marcus. He must learn to live with a "no" or he won't be able to be on his own, go to college, or get and keep a job. I still have the goal that he can live without institutional supervision but I'm terrified that he won't be able to. All I can do now is hope that Hillside can turn him around. Several staff have said they've worked with kids even worse than Marcus and have seen them turn around. Please let this be true for my son.
Marcus began to really struggle his third week at Hillside. He ended up having such serious tantrums that they called the police and the police took him to the hospital for a mental hygiene arrest. I think this happened four times in about eight days. The last one was only four hours after he had been brought back to the cottage. Things just kept escalating. It was really horrible to think of him in handcuffs going back and forth to the hospital. It became time to admit him.
He's been in the Strong Child and Adolescent Psychiatric unit at Strong hospital since Wednesday. So far he's only had minor agitation, no violent tantrums. But they haven't integrated him into the schedule yet so he hasn't come up against any significant limits yet. Echoes of his stay at John's Hopkins when he was ten are running through my head.
I am not sure why this has happened but I'm thinking that he's testing the limits to see how far they will go. Both the hospital and Hillside have firm limits and he tantrums when he hits them. Morris and I got into a pattern of negotiating the "no" so that we avoided tantrums, but this clearly has not helped him. It could also be a medication issue. The "hill" increased Ritalin and Haldol so that change also could have contributed. No one really knows yet.
This is the last hope for Marcus. He must learn to live with a "no" or he won't be able to be on his own, go to college, or get and keep a job. I still have the goal that he can live without institutional supervision but I'm terrified that he won't be able to. All I can do now is hope that Hillside can turn him around. Several staff have said they've worked with kids even worse than Marcus and have seen them turn around. Please let this be true for my son.
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