Searching for Normalcy

This has been a very difficult couple of weeks. I am stunned and amazed that my son Ethan has now been taken to Loma Linda Mental Health Hospital twice and he is only 5 years old. He has, supposedly, Intermittent Explosive Disorder. What does that mean? He gets extremely angry very easily.

On Wednesday, I had taken the day off due to a throat infection. He was with me all morning. He seemed fine. We spent a fair amount of the morning coloring his homework and talking about counting and such. Then, just before noon he goes in for counseling and therapy. He didn't want to go, but willingly enough went and seemed to really enjoy himself and behave appropriately. However, when he was told that it was time to go, he became irrational and extremely violent. Bonnie had to call the police because it was deemed no longer safe to even drive with him in the car. He then proceeded, once they arrived at Loma Linda, to pull off all his clothing and even started peeing on a chair in the hallway. They had to put him in the quiet room.

Yesterday, the orderly there at Loma Linda said that he was rational and was just choosing to use anger as a way to get his attention and get what he wants. Although we believe that the teachers and aids at Frost Elementary have been ignoring his outbursts the past two years, and basically catering to his every whim rather than help him develop some skills of self awareness and awareness of others, we do not believe that this orderly is correct. Something is seriously wrong with this child. He is not himself.

We desperately need to find some viable solutions to help him. We want him in our home. We want him to receive an education, we want to find the ways to communicate to him and with him that are effective and humane. The school district, insurance, and county Health office are not helping. We may be headed to legal counsel to see if there is any recourse in forcing them to do what they are legally required to do to help us help this child we so desperately love. We are bewildered, and it is difficult. But that is enough for today.