By SARAH DOOLITTLE, Four Points News
First story
Christine always knew there was something different about her son, Jack.
“From the beginning, since birth, he’s been… he started out kind of colicy… there were sleep issues… (he was) easily overstimulated, crying excessively. It was just sort of a stressful parenting situation from the beginning.”
As a first-time parent, Christine, whose name has been changed to protect privacy, assumed she was doing something wrong. Her beautiful boy looked normal otherwise. Still, there were nagging questions. “Did I not put him in time out enough, or too much? Did I spank him too many times?”
Aggression
Though clearly intelligent, Jack couldn’t manage his own emotions. Frustration or simple lack of understanding manifested as aggression.
It caused stress in the family, even more so when Christine and her husband welcomed their second child. Christine felt isolated. What were they doing wrong? And what was wrong with their son?
With kindergarten came new issues. Jack was soon labeled by his classmates as “the mean boy.” He went to the principal a few extra times. Christine heard through the grapevine that parents didn’t want their kids coming over to the house to play.
“As he started to progress with friendships, I realized, you know, like his level of aggression, compared to the other peers — it was higher. There was something that was just a little different.”
Still, asking for help was hard. Jack looked normal, and rather than considering that he had a medical issue, school officials seemed to assume he was just a bad kid, or came from a problematic home environment. Continue reading
