Keep It Simple

For the first quarter of 2010 we have been making changes to make it possible to live with our most challenging kid.

We have stripped her room to the bare minimum so there is little for entertainment when she can not sleep which is often and it leaves fewer things to be used as weapons when she goes bonkers.

We have uped both her day and night time meds in order to enable her to sleep four to five nights a week which is far better then zero that we had before.

She is not allowed to go ANYWHERE without mom, dad, a PCA, or responsible older sibling to accompany her.

Her choices are limited to no more then two at all times.

Activities in the community are VERY limited and they only include very low key events. There are no events for her in the evenings.

While all of this has kept the tantrums, screaming, violence, and chaos better under control it is very exhausting to live like this for the rest of us. We have to schedule EVERYTHING. We have to make sure plans are in place to keep track of this kid at all times. It is also quite sad when you think about it. Hanna is twelve, an age where having fun, doing things with friends, and gaining some independence would bring about satisfaction and a feeling of wonder in growing up. She can not have any of that because she just can not handle it at all. In order for her to function at her best everything needs to be kept very simple, there is just no getting around it. What we have in place for her does work better then anything else we have tried so we will keep at it. To keep it simple is far better then the chaos of not doing so.