Dear School Teachers and Staff,
My name is Mary TheMom. I am the parent of 11th grade student, Bear. Bear is served by the district as a student with an Emotional Disturbance. It is my hope that Bear will have a more successful school year this year. I would like to share some information with you to help you better understand Bear’s behavior, anxiety and issues, so you can better support him and provide a safe, appropriate learning environment.
Bear can be very charming and helpful to those he considers weaker than he is, he loves history and wants to be an underwater welder when he leaves home next year (we are working on getting him to finish high school with us). His diagnoses:
• RAD – a severe attachment disorder caused by his traumatic childhood that affects cognition, including cause and effect, memory, and of course relationships. Bear triangulates adults and manipulates (especially with “poor little me” behaviors) to get special privileges or what he needs to feel safe, while at the same time is terrified because he can’t trust them to control him (which he needs to feel safe). He lives in a very black and white world. Women are usually on pedestals and patronized or totally reviled. He doesn’t get that not doing something (like schoolwork) because he doesn’t like the person he’s working with (including teachers or even the kid sitting next to him) is only hurting himself.
• Bipolar – Bear is medicated for this, but despite his medications he still has issues with irritability, “giving up,” withdrawal, sleeplessness, and distorted thinking.
• Unmedicated ADD – unfortunately we have found no medications that work with Bear’s body chemistry. Keeping him active is the best way to help him focus and stay on task.
• Cerebral dysrhythmia – brain injuries that affect his long term retrieval, memory, and processing skills - worsened by the many gaps in his education due to constant moving and trauma. As stated in his FIE, he has great difficulty adapting and working quickly and efficiently when under pressure! Bear has good communication skills, but his vocab. and ability to understand things is often much less than he is willing to let on.
• C-PTSD - Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – causes him to feel under constant emotional stress because he never feels safe, and causes him to overreact to things you or I might consider minor. It’s difficult to learn math and spelling when you feel you are in the middle of a war zone!
If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of these diagnoses or his others, please feel free to e-mail me at _____@_________.com or call me at (###) ###-####.
WARNING: Bear’s history, treatment and diagnoses are incredibly complex, and staff and peers who are not aware of his issues giving him advice and support based on “normal” kids reactions and behaviors, often derail and set back his achievements and progress by allowing him to manipulate to gain privileges or sympathy, or avoid dealing with his issues in therapy. In addition to structure, support, and therapeutic parenting from us, Bear has a therapist, psychiatrist, and team of trained professionals, including all {Special School}’s staff.
Bear NEEDS a lot of structure and support to feel safe. He needs control of his environment at all times, and can go to extreme measures to get that control. This is not always logical. For example, if Bear is told he can go on a field trip if he has no attendance issues and behaves pleasantly with everyone for a week, and he doesn’t know for sure he can do that, then he might deliberately misbehave so he has control over the outcome. He might also sabotage himself because the trip actually scares him (he doesn’t feel safe in unfamiliar, uncontrollable environments). If a connection is made at all, he will most likely say he didn’t want to go on the “stupid” field trip in the first place (sour grapes). I have my suspicions as to why he is back at {Special School} which is very structured and predictable.
Please always notify Bear’s team regarding suspected or actual behaviors (ex. sleeping in class, inability to focus, lying, irritability, venting to others, drug and tobacco use, theft of small electronics, selling drugs and food, food issues, carrying weapons, psychosomatic pain, depression and withdrawal) and his ability to get out of classes (tardies, skipping, long breaks, walking out). He NEEDS consequences and to be held accountable for even small infractions, or he has shown repeatedly that he will continue to escalate until he gets what he needs. He requires close supervision due to his unpredictable poor choices and poor impulse control that have led to some serious concerns.
Bear does not learn by watching others (modeling) and has great difficulty learning from his mistakes. Due to his severe trust issues, he cannot ask for or accept help. Tip: Letting little things pass; giving multiple chances; allowing consequences to wait or build up; believing or appearing to believe his lies, triangulation attempts or manipulations - pushes Bear’s already limited ability to understand the connection between his action and the consequences and causes him to disconnect and blame others – which further intensifies his trust issues.
Bear is excellent at “flying under the radar.” Please e-mail regarding even the smallest issues, as we look into various strategies to prevent this dangerous behavior, help Bear make better choices, and establish additional behavior interventions. In addition to letting (school behavior program) staff know, please e-mail his case manager, Mr. W (________@________.org) and Mr. C (principal at special school) (________@_______.org) when any concerns arise in class.
Please contact me for any and all issues with Bear. I need to be kept abreast of all situations, and I will do the same for you. I am available 95% of the day. I do work, but have flexibility on my job and can be reached by phone at almost any time. I will return your call as soon as possible if I am in a meeting, or you can reach my husband, Hubby, at (###) ###-####.
Yours in Partnership, Mary Themom (###) ###-####. _____@_________.com
3 comments:
I don't think you could make it any shorter and do Bear justice. Good Luck!
Well said!
I don't think it's necessarily too long, but you could take out the paragraph that starts "Bear needs a lot of structure to feel safe," if you felt it must be shorter; many of the points there were addressed elsewhere.
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