|
November 2009
Jarrod is having a difficult time in middle school. It is a daily struggle to even get him to go to school. Once at school Jarrod spends much of his day refusing to do his work. His oppositional defiant behavior is even a challenge for most professionals. Jarrod is probably one of the most difficult kids that I have. His mood swings are hard to predict and his behaviors can get out of control very quickly. I really hope that I can get a handle on Jarrod's behavioral challenges before high school. The one activity that Jarrod looks forward to is going to our cousin Jerry's house on the weekend. I am able to get Jarrod to behave every dqay by reminding him that he gets to go to Jerry's house on Friday. As much as Jarrod loves going there , I am happy for the break. Thank goodness Jerry has the background with severely emotionally disturbed children and the patience to deal with Jarrod each weekend!
April 2009
Jarrod continues to have ups and downs with his behavior. I have to keep reminding myself that this is typical of people who has bipolar disorder. In some ways Jarrod has mellowed out from several years age, on the other hand I can see the increasing challenges in parenting Jarrod as he becomes a teenager. Next year will transition to middle school which neither he nor I am looking forward to. Jarrod's school environment has been the most stable situation in his educational career. His teacher is awesome and Jarrod has actually thrived in the past few years. Jarrod is already showing signs of anxiety about the pending move to middle school. We are working with Jarrod's therapist and his current teacher to prepare Jarrod so that he can have the smoothest transition. Hopefully Jarrod will have the opportunity to go back to Mr. Dihn's class next year to visit and possibly be a student aide. I am keeping my fingers crossed that all of our attempts to prepare Jarrod will pay off.
November 2008
Jarrod continues to do well in school. He does have his "bi-polar moments" but
for the most part Jarrod's behavior is a far cry from the times when he would try to chock himself with a shoe lace, scream from hours, or try to stab other students with scissors. Today Jarrod is very proud of his daily behavior sheets and really cares about maintaining a MVP status in his classroom. Jarrod is even a student aide in a kindergarten class on his campus. Developmentally, Jarrod is still quite immature compared to other 6th grade students and his academics are delayed despite an above average IQ. Next year Jarrod will move to the middle side of his campus and will be required to move from class to class. I am nervous about that as I think emotionally Jarrod is not ready to have all of those transitions throughout his school day. Jarrod does much better with stability and clear expectations for his behaviors. With a number of different teachers and class sizes in middle school, even within the special education department, I am afraid we may see some of Jarrod's old behaviors rise to the surface. Even though the school year just started, the IEP
team is working together now to develop a game plan for
Jarrod's transition to middle school. I am keeping my
fingers crossed that we can develop a plan that will
meet all of Jarrod's unique education and emotional
needs.
September 2008
Jarrod enjoyed his summer. He had an almost perfect score on his behavior during summer school. Jarrod enjoyed having Alex in his class and used this opportunity to show real leadership skills. Jarrod also went to several day camp and a sleep-over camp. Jarrod continued to demonstrate appropriate behavior and stable moods. So far Jarrod's school year is off to a great start. Alex continues to be in his class and Jarrod luckily has the same teacher from last year. Because of his stellar behavior he has earned MVP (most valuable pupil) status in his classroom. Jarrod is thrilled with the special privileges that MVP status holds, including access to the MVP student lounge!. It has been great to be able to reason with Jarrod when things don't go his way. While he continues to have behavioral challenges, Jarrod's extreme behavioral challenges have greatly reduced over the past several months.
May 2008
Jarrod continues to improve in self-regulating his
behaviors. He has come a long way in the past three
years. This school year has been especially good. We are
thrilled that Jarrod will have the same teacher, Mr.
Dinh, for next year. We are looking forward to another
leap of maturation as Jarrod enters middle school next
year. In the meantime Jarrod and I have been working
together to learn Hindi. Every night we work together on
our Rosetta Stone computer program struggling to not
only speak but to read Hindi. This has been a wonderful
exercise for our brains and a fantastic bonding
opportunity.
February 2008
Jarrod received an award from the school district's Education Foundation. A student in each classroom receives this annual award for academic achievement and excellent citizenship. Jarrod has shown some positive changes in his attitude and productivity at school this year. He is completing his class work and homework almost daily. Jarrod has also shown an increase in appropriate behavior both at home and in the classroom. We are excited to see Jarrod start to mature. Jarrod enjoyed the award ceremony and was very pleased with himself to be singled out as an outstanding student.
November 2007
Jarrod has been such a great help with our dog "Special Ed." Ed is a little dog with three legs and severe brain damage and is unable to walk or stand. For lack of a better way to describe the situation, it looks like Ed has spastic quadriplegia from cerebral palsy. Ed needs help to eat, drink, and even to go to bathroom. He is not independently mobile. Ed loves to be around people and gets upset whenever he is alone. The one thing Ed can do well is bark, and believe me Ed barks anytime he is unhappy. Thanks to Jarrod, Ed has been a happy camper. Jarrod carries Ed everywhere he goes, even to Young Marines and counseling! Ed just loves Jarrod. Jarrod is also very attentive to Ed's needs. Jarrod makes sure that Ed get food and enough water throughout the day. Jarrod also makes sure Ed has little toys to play with when he is bored. Jarrod and Ed even sleep together every night. Its very cute in the morning when Jarrod tells us, "Me and Ed didn't wet the bed last night!" The best part of this relationship is Jarrod's ability to think beyond himself and to show empathy and compassion to another living thing. Before Ed it was hard for Jarrod to show concern for anyone but himself. For some reason, caring for Special Ed has woke-up certain emotions in Jarrod that he previously not demonstrated.
September 2007
Jarrod had some success this summer with a few summer camp programs. Although his behavior frequently interferes with ability to play safely and happily with other children, Jarrod was able to attend some Camp James day-camp sessions with the support and encouragement of our family helpers and the staff at Camp James. Complex social situations with kids his own age just baffle Jarrod. He gets easily frustrated and acts out in a verbal and physically aggressive way. With prompting Jarrod was able to remove himself from stressful activities with peers and find an adult to "help." Jarrod is a great "helper" and he loves to be a "helper." We were able to use Jarrod's desire to help adults in a way that allowed him to be successful while attending day camp. Overall Jarrod is maturing and is having more and more opportunities to successfully self-regulate his behaviors at home and in the community.
June 2007
Jarrod had a few major behavioral episodes at school toward the end of the school year. Jarrod still struggles with severe bipolar and frequent mood swings. Jarrod was suspended from school for a number of days for physical and verbal aggression. While at home, during the suspension, Jarrod was extremely compliant and mellow. We are wondering if public school might be too rigid and home schooling might work better for Jarrod in the long run.
On the other hand, Jarrod continues to do extremely well in the Young Marines program. He has participated in some volunteer activities with the Young Marines as well as a week long encampment. Jarrod enjoys the program and the adults in charge say they "NEVER" have any problems with Jarrod. This type of report is very encouraging. We hope the respectfulness and politeness Jarrod is learning while participating in the Young Marines will carry over to Jarrod's other environments.
April 2007
Jarrod is doing very well as a new recruit in the Saddleback Young Marines program. He has shown none of his typical non-compliant behaviors while attending the Young Marine activities and encampments. Jarrod is able and willing to follow all of the instructions that his Young Marine superiors require of him. Its amazing to see the transformation when Jarrod arrives at Camp Pendleton. Jarrod becomes very serious and completely polite and compliant. The Young Marine program seems to be an excellent match for Jarrod, as it combines Jarrod's interest in the Military and provides an opportunity for Jarrod to practice compliance training. It will be interesting to see how Jarrod's behavioral challenges, (especially with non-compliance) in all environments, will be different after six months to a year in the Young Marine program. So far we are very happy as we notice all the positive changes in Jarrod's attitude since beginning this program.
February 2007
Jarrod continues to struggle in school. He is making small steps toward his goals of increasing his compliance and school work completion. In face he recently received an award for "Improvement" in school performance. Jarrod has enjoyed having Alexander back home. He and Alex play well together, for at least short periods of time! Both of the boys struggle with the same social skill deficits and need lots of adult intervention to have successful interactions with their peers. Jarrod and Alex enjoy catching bugs and lizards at the park and crabs at the beach. Every weekend, weather permitting, they go on long bike rides together with adult support. Definitely both boys benefit from the exercise and the companionship.
December 2006
Jarrod continues to need lots of behavioral support to be successful at school and at home. His cycling mood changes and behavioral challenges make him, at times, very difficult to handle. Jarrod is currently attending fourth grade at a local school with classrooms set-up for behaviorally challenging students. Even with a low teacher:student ratio Jarrod is struggling. His primary challenge is non-compliance and some aggression. We are constantly looking for the right combination of medication and behavior modification techniques to help Jarrod behavioral success at home and at school. In the mean time, if he is in the right mood Jarrod can he warm, loving and very helpful. Jarrod has been especially helpful with Yanny as he transitions into the family.
 
 
October 2006
Jarrod had some great experiences at camp this summer.
He is getting better and better at managing his behavior
in the camp environment. At home Jarrod can be a very
loving and helpful son and a fun-loving brother at times
and at other times ha can be the complete opposite.
Jarrod still struggles at school with his ability to
comply with school and classroom rules. Fourth grade has
proven to be very difficult for Jarrod. Although he
continues to be in a special day classroom, the
increased work load often brings him to tears. We are
working together with the school staff to support Jarrod
with his behavioral challenges and his ability to
complete his school work and homework without too much
trauma.
July 2006
Jarrod chose to attend summer school this year instead
of summer camps during the months of June and July. We
were thrilled that he chose school since he has never
been too excited about going school in the past.
Jarrod is really feeling successful and safe at his new
school. He generally is able to control his behavior
much better in this smaller classroom with teaching
staff who have been trained to work with children like
Jarrod. Jarrod is also excited about having a friend in
his classroom who actually lives in our neighborhood.
Jarrod and his friend are both high energy and often
need lots of support to maintain appropriate behavior.
In their free time, Jarrod and his friend travel back
and forth to each others houses and play fairly well
together.
It is very nice to have another family in our
neighborhood who can relate, through experience, to
parenting a child like Jarrod and is willing to help
facilitate a friendship between the boys.
May 2006
Jarrod started a new school and doing wonderfully. He is in a special day classroom where the teacher and instructional assistants are trained to help students with behavioral challenges. The new classroom size is significantly less than Jarrod's previous classroom which seems to help Jarrod with his ability to focus. While Jarrod still has his challenging moments both at home and at school, the number of "good days" seems to far out way the number of "not so good days." Jarrod is very clear that he is enjoying his new class and actually asked to attend summer school this year.
March 2006
As this school year progressed it has became clear that Jarrod (9) is still struggling in school. He is having an increasingly difficult time with compliance to teacher directions and work completion. Despite lots of professional intervention,
it is taking more and more effort of the school staff to help Jarrod stay focused and make good decisions about his behavior. Later this month we will be meeting together to determine the best school placement for Jarrod. While we hate to change schools in the middle of the year, it is obvious this type of educational placement is not working well for Jarrod. The larger class size in third grade, as well as the increasing demands of students to work independently make it difficult for Jarrod to be successful. Even with a one-to-one instructional aide assisting Jarrod as needed, Jarrod continues to fall behind academically. Socially, Jarrod also struggles as his peers are really starting to notice Jarrod's
interfering behaviors. As we explore various community-based educational options for him, Jarrod will start receiving
home schooling to meet current educational needs..
January 2006
Jarrod had a rough start at the beginning of the school year. It is hard for Jarrod to make the change each September to a new classroom, new students, a new teacher and a new teaching style. Sadly, Jarrod's one-to-one personal assistant had a change of assignments leaving Jarrod with substitute aides for several weeks. This was another change that really distracted Jarrod from making good choices about his behavior and his classroom
participation.
 Now that the school year has settled down a little Jarrod is doing a little better. It continues to be a struggle to get Jarrod to do and certainly to complete his homework. On the other hand, Jarrod
seemed to be making a few friends and it definitely making better choices on how to make and maintain peer friends.
After school Jarrod is participating with a basketball team. He practices twice a week and has games once a week.
On the weekends he is on an ice skating team. Jarrod is an excellent roller skater and ice skater. Jarrod will have his first ice
skating tournament later in the month. Additionally, Jarrod continues to enroll in an after school art class. These art lessons have really helped Jarrod with his fine motor skills.
Click for
previous news/photos >
|
