An Update on Little E's Appt...

We met with the behavioral treatment director last week on Little E. She is becoming more and more defiant, she laughs when we discipline her, and she never takes anything seriously. Her hands are constantly into everything and she flat out ignores us when we are trying to redirect her. Yes, a lot of this is her age, however she's pretty constant and more over the top than a regular 4-year old. The play therapist thought she had some ADD stuff going on. The CPS case aide had commented at her last visit and wanted to know if she was always so defiant because she was laughing when they tried to put her in time out. Various things made me just want to go in and talk to someone about her behaviors to see if we should continue the things we have been trying or if he had any other things to recommend to us as far as discipline goes. I told him that she's always been a little like this, but I really saw that her behaviors escalated when her Mom missed a visit in April, however they have seen her at every visit since then so I thought maybe I was way off-based. We talked for a long time about what she was like almost a year ago and where she is at now. He agrees with me that visits are starting to confuse her. He thinks while she gets excited to see her Mom on visit weeks, she's also terrified that she has to go back and to live with her and that I'm going to leave her. I told him that I always make sure to tell her that I'll be back to get her in a little bit. He thinks that she is scared and confused and because she feels safe with us, it all comes out in acting out behaviors. I told him too that she seems to be stuck in the e and 3-year old temper tantrums and she just shuts down and won't talk. So, he gave me some help with how to get her to talk a little bit more. He said it may work a bit better. I don't notice too much of a difference yet, but I will keep trying. Poor little thing...the good news is that we should know what's going to happen with them in another month or so.