Paul Lawrence

April 2009
Paul seems to be settling into our family very well. He is taking Tae Kwan Do classes and it participating in the Saddleback Young Marines. Both activities work a lot on discipline, respect and compliance. Despite our best efforts, Paul continues to challenge us with his impulse control issues, verbal outbursts, poor boundaries, and his noncompliance. Paul can be very thoughtful at times. He is also very sensitive. He gets his feelings hurt when the other boys get mad at him. The problem is that Paul can not see how is own actions contribute to people ":getting mad" at him. We are working with Paul on thinking before he does or says something inappropriate. The good news is Paul is eager to please. He works well for tangible reinforcement and slowly but surely he seems to be coming around as we are seeing an increase in Paul's ability to make better choices.

Paul continues to struggle in school. Although he is bright, Paul is very disorganized and is easily overwhelmed when the classwork or homework is difficult or complicated. Paul has a tutor daily to assist him with his school work. Once he gets going on his homework he can usually complete most of the work with only limited help. Unfortunately, Paul needs maximum support to bring his homework home and then to return it school when the work is completed. Even though we are putting lots of effort into Paul's homework, Paul continues to struggle with school work done in the classroom. He receives RSP support daily but that does not seems like enough support. I will need to look for additional and alternative supports for Paul next school year.

December 2008
Paul joined our family right before Christmas. Paul was originally adopted from California and lived with his original adoptive family for over eight years. Although Paul was adopted as a baby, Paul's family struggled from the first day with his challenging behaviors and severe reactive attachment disorder. Finally the first adoptive parents felt is was no longer possible to parent Paul in their family home. His disruptive behaviors were interfering with the health and well-being of the other family members. Paul had been living in Idaho for many years before moving back to California to join our family. Idaho did not have the services to help Paul remain with his original adoptive family. Paul is a very cute and active boy who is more than eager to hop and a bicycle and ride for hours. Paul is also very talkative and makes friends wherever he goes.

Despite his charm, Paul is requiring eyes-on supervision most of the time. Paul definitely keeps us on our toes. We are in contact with his previous family to help us develop strategies to manage Paul multiple behavioral issues. I hope Paul can be successful in our family. He seems to want to be here as he asks several times daily if I am going to adopt him. I look forward to parenting Paul and supporting him so that he can be the best person he can be.