Happy new year to all!
Marcus has declared that he "gets it" and will now be working for discharge. I think it is monumental that he can finally see that he has a role to play in his own treatment. Maybe it's a developmental leap, I don't really know, I just know it's a good thing. Since making this declaration he has cleaned his room (and maintained it for the most part) and not had any more police calls or trips to the hospital in handcuffs. This is totally huge, as you know. His home visits have been good. Christmas is always his most excitable time so we had some pacing and some stream of consciousness talking, but that was it. Really. I'm not ready to call this an official turnaround (he has had restraints at the cottage) just yet, but there is definitely something going on.
I haven't been good at writing the counternarrative stories I talked about in my last post. I find that all my memories have something to do with his Tourette's. One funny story though was one time when we were returning from a testing session. Marcus must have been about 6 years old. He was an incredibly cute little boy. Anyway, we were in the elevator with two elderly women who smiled at us when we came in. You could tell they thought he was cute. Suddenly, Marcus started making some noises and blurted out "bitch, you bitch" (one of his favorites). You should have seen the look these women gave me!! Inside I had to laugh. Marcus was totally stressed from the testing so I wasn't at all surprised he needed to get it out. A funny story for sure.
Marcus has declared that he "gets it" and will now be working for discharge. I think it is monumental that he can finally see that he has a role to play in his own treatment. Maybe it's a developmental leap, I don't really know, I just know it's a good thing. Since making this declaration he has cleaned his room (and maintained it for the most part) and not had any more police calls or trips to the hospital in handcuffs. This is totally huge, as you know. His home visits have been good. Christmas is always his most excitable time so we had some pacing and some stream of consciousness talking, but that was it. Really. I'm not ready to call this an official turnaround (he has had restraints at the cottage) just yet, but there is definitely something going on.
I haven't been good at writing the counternarrative stories I talked about in my last post. I find that all my memories have something to do with his Tourette's. One funny story though was one time when we were returning from a testing session. Marcus must have been about 6 years old. He was an incredibly cute little boy. Anyway, we were in the elevator with two elderly women who smiled at us when we came in. You could tell they thought he was cute. Suddenly, Marcus started making some noises and blurted out "bitch, you bitch" (one of his favorites). You should have seen the look these women gave me!! Inside I had to laugh. Marcus was totally stressed from the testing so I wasn't at all surprised he needed to get it out. A funny story for sure.
