My now 7 year old grandson has been officially/unofficially diagnosed with PTSD or DTD (Developmental Trauma Disorder). Unoffical as it is not on the DSM-IV but hopefully will be on number five. Yet there are studies out there that have helped me understand what is happening and what has happened to this wonderful unique little person.
In a nut shell he was raised in a volatile enviorment that has caused him to be in a constant state of anxiety and now views the world, and every thing in it, as a steady stream of imperilment. Well, that may not be entirely true. He isn't always now, there are brief periods that he knows he is safe but his thoughts are still tangled in a web of volience and destruction. A good example would be on the way to school today he lets out a shivered "ewww". His answer to my question of what was that about is "I just had a dream but I was awake, so an awake dream that I stuck my hand out the window to grab a gun that was hanging from a tree and my hand was cut off and there was blood every where."
Where does this come from? Why was he visulazing guns handing from a tree? Why did his hand get cut off? I already know where the blood comes from, that is E. Everything has blood in it. But nothing happened this morning that I can recall that would cause this kind of thinking. Does he think like this alot and just happened to share it with me?
Anyway, this was suppose to be about yesterday. This week just started his third week of school and so far it has been pretty good. Listening to the teacher way more than he did at the end of last year. No fights, no break downs. He is still working on his hand raising and waiting for the teacher to call him before he starts talking. Yet yesterday when we got home all the tension he had been pushing down came out. Anger was flying every where along with his paper work and words. Stomping around the house enough to cause the dog and the cat to go running for cover, even when he was two rooms away. Home work took 15 minutes on one problem that when he finally settled down took only, literally, 1 minute to complete three more. Oh, and dinner was not to his liking and he showed this to us by spitting the chewed up bite back on his plate. Needless to say - I was truly ready for bath & bed time.
Once he finished his shower he walks down stairs to give his grandpa/dad a kiss good night and says "when I was in my shower I said a prayer to God. I thanked Him for my mom (me) and for my dad (JB) and for Paco (our dog) and my bunny bear (his stuffed friend, or left lung) ." As much as I would like to say that I melted completely when he said this, I didn't. I will say though that it did cause me to take a breath and realize that God is working on him, he is changing and like him, prayed to God and thanked Him for granting me patient when I have none & for this amazing gift he brought into my life.
