Saturday 9 April 2016

Therapy... Again...

We are currently on our Easter holidays.

Indeed I am typing this from somewhere above Spain as we fly to sunny Majorca. 

We hadn't intended on taking a trip this holiday, in fact Papa had booked his leave so that we could spend time together as a family.

I had to go up to deal with some things at my mum's house and after just one night alone with the children, two full days, I came back to the news that Papa would 'go spare' if he had to spend two more weeks trapped in the house and had booked a last minute break to Majorca, Port Soller, to be precise.

I wasn't complaining.

But before we left had an appointment with the therapist that worked with KC, and did wonders! But this time for TJ. He has been struggling at school and it was felt an assessment was needed. 

The therapist was lovely. It was completely different to KC. Where KC needed to come to terms with his past, TJ now needs to come to terms with himself. He also needs to deal with so much change, change of school, my going back to work and, of course, the loss of his Granny.

In hindsight, had we known everything that was to happen, then I wouldn't  have gone back to work quite do soon, but, as they say, hindsight is always 20/20 vision.

We chatted for our given hour, the school SENCO came along and gave her views as to TJ's coping in school. He isn't. It's hard to hear your son has no friends, and that he doesn't look for them. He pushes everyone away. I thought about his old school and realised that was probably the same, but it's easier to hide in a class of 30. In a class of 12 he has nowhere to hide, and everything is spotted. Which also means that everything is examined and taken care of.

We talked about how he gets anxious when I am away, how he self harms when being reprimanded. How he can't deal with anything that is perceived as failure. Even a full stop In the wrong place results in a complete breakdown. Itw as heartbreaking to listen to, but not a surprise. There was no one from post adoption support present. They had signed off on the funding as part of our agreed adoption package and therefore, had nothing new to bring to the table. 

Then we talked about things TJ enjoys, his football, his maths, his pets. All things that can't judge him. It was at that point we talked about the 'spectrum', about foetal alcohol syndrome, about trauma. 

Then we talked about Dan Hughes, about Theraplay and about how they could help my troubled little boy begin to like himself. Suddenly, things began to make sense. Suddenly, there was hope.

So today I am flying off to an unplanned holiday, clutching books about Theraplay, Autism, Trauma... Most of drive I have read before, but with KC in mind. Now I will re read them with TJ as the main focus.

The symptoms are completely different, yet the causes seem to be the same... And the keys to help our children deal with themselves, their past and their present seem to lie with the same people. Hopefully it will help them unlock a door to their future.

But for now, I'm going to relax in the (hopefully) Spanish sun!