4 Weeks, 4 Suspensions

It's been a rough month for all of us. For some reason, Hunter is having a hard time controlling his behavior.

His first suspension came from school 4 weeks ago. Him and another little boy had a mutual bullying issue. They just could not stand eachother. He would egg Hunter on and vice versa. Well, the incident there was the little boy told Hunter "You have a penis face". So, Hunter, tired of it, walloped the boy in the arm. He was suspended for assult. The other boy go a talking to. Since then, they have been able to put their differences aside an get along...somewhat.

Then came daycare. Hunter got upset with a little tattle tail girl at his daycare when she accused him of taking her seat. (Which he did not.) She went to tell on him, and Hunter got so mad he threw a toy. It hit the window, and he was suspended from daycare for three days on a three strike you're out rule.

Fastforward to the next week. Hunter was playing video games and it was time to clean up. A little boy went over to the game cube and shut it off before Hunter could save his game saying, "Haha in your face!" Hunter snapped and went after the boy. His daycare teacher was able to grab him, and Hunter went ballistic. He was clawing his face and screaming. When I picked him up, all the daycare owner said "His lauguage was the worst part." I later found out from Hunter he had said "I want to F***ing kill myself. Where the hell is a knife?!" The daycare owner then threatened to call the police on Hunter, and he calmed down. Hunter's reaction wasn't right, but neither was the owners, not to mention the lack of communication. Wouldn't you tell a parent if their child said they wanted to kill themselves, even if it was out of anger? And wouldn't you want to know if the owner theatened him with the police? Anyways...another 3 day suspension. 2nd strike....next one and he's out of that daycare. (We're currently looking for something better anyways...)

Then yesterday I get a call from the principal. Hunter is out of control and banging his head on the wall. Apparently 2 boys had been taunting him for the past couple of weeks. Yesterday was the straw that broke the camels back. They had been telling Hunter to take "50 chill pills", that he was a spaz, and then yesterday when Hunter told them to stop, one said "You're such a little girl." That was all it took for Hunter to get up, flip his chair, and yell "If you don't quit I'm going to kill you!" Yup...suspened again for the threat. I was reassured that the antaginizing would stop, but I don't have much faith in that at all. Hunter gets suspended, and the boys get a talking to.

We know the kids are doing this to get a rise out of Hunter. And it's not stopping. And the teacher can't catch it all. And Hunter doesn't want to tell on every little instance, but they build up. We're at a loss.

I'm going to call a meeting here soon to readdress his IEP and confront the core issue...the bullying and pushing of buttons to make Hunter react the way he does.

Hopefully his doctor can get us in sooner than January for a re-eval. He's booked solid, but I made a request to be bumped up on the cancelation list due to the severity of the situation.

As far as Hunter...as soon as he has these meltdowns, he's ok. It's like a release. The yuck is filtered out and he can be Hunter again. As for Chuck and I.....you can see it in our faces. We're stressed to the max. All we want to do is help, to make it stop.

New Daycare, New Beginnings?

After 3 years at his current daycare, we have decided to remove Hunter and find him someplace new. For some reason, the daycare he is in has just given up on him. They don't seem to care and are no longer following his behavioral plan. But they are a private daycare, so there isn't much we can do but remove him.

That being said we met with one possibility tonight. She was amazing. She gets special needs kiddo-s and also understands Bi-Polar. However, the only thing that concerns us is she is alone. If Hunter gets out of control or takes off, she can't leave her kids. She recommended another daycare that her kids went to when they were young. She said she would be more than happy to take Hunter, but wants us to check out this other place as well. The place she recommended; the husband is involved in the daycare and is also a psychiatrist! WOW! How cool is that!?

So, Chuck and I like the gal we met tonight...a lot! But, we're going to meet with the person she recommended too just because it may be a better fit for Hunter.

Fingers crossed!

My Son, My Monster

I would first like to say we call our son, Hunter ,"Monster" in the most loving way. It's his favorite nickname next to Booger Boy. But, Hunter does has a Monster inside of him. He has been diagnosed with Mood Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (Taking the symptoms of Bi- Polar) and ADHD. Also, throw in severe food allergies that prohibit his body from making any Serotonin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serotonin), Norepinephrine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norepinephrine), and Dopamine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine)! No wonder my handsome man is a little mess!

The purpose of this blog is to help myself and others walk in his shoes and find the answers he deserves. I will be sharing so much that is him, and also that is me....the stressed out mom.

I encourage your comments, your suggestions, your praises and concerns. Raising a special needs child is difficult, especially when there is no firm diagnosis. It's even more difficult when Hunter doesn't look like he has special needs; he looks and generally acts like a typical 9 year old boy. But when he cycles, you see a completely different kid. And a child that is hard to understand.

As a parent I am my son's advocate. I speak for him when he doesn't have a voice. I advocate for his needs and I will not give up. I am insanely driven to get to the bottom of his Monster and rid him of it once and for all. Knowledge is power, and the more you know the better off you are. But, I can't know everything. It takes a village to raise a child, and I urge you to become part of my village and part of my knowledge base.