FRUSTRATION

How should we react???

Our son, Cammy, is 6 yrs old now, he is non verbal, and due to his lack of any form of communication, he regularly gets very frustrated and angry with things happening around him.

There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t wish there was something I could do to help him. Even if he would just take to PECS visual cards, or a communication device… something!!! …and to be honest, none of these things have even been attempted with him since nursery school.

We were always so ‘bluntly’ told by professionals not to even attempt PECS or anything at home, as there was such a strict process to go through when first introducing it to a child.

That was 2 years ago though, and still no SALT help, or communication attempts for Cammy, as far as I know!

He doesn’t really see the need yet to ‘tell us’ what he wants or needs either though. He will just place things in front of you, or into your hand… (eg. juice and a cup… if he wants a drink etc).

He will also always, (without fail), try to do it for himself first, (eg. Find a fruit shoot bottle, if thirsty, or a packet of sweets or crisps if he is a little hungry, and just burst them open on his own if he can!)… he is actually very independently minded, and VERY stubborn.

The lack of communication though, is obviously Cammy’s biggest barrier at the moment, and once this is made a little better for him in some way, I think a lot of his frustration and self injurious behaviours will decrease, or even better… stop completely!

I’m not hoping for a miracle, or maybe I am, but I need to fight for more opportunities for him. As far as I know, the Speech and Language Therapist that was originally attending Cammy’s classroom, doesn’t even see him atall now!!!! … just not good enough is it???

His frustrated behaviours at home are unfortunately mainly the self injurious kind… punching his eyes and head, biting his own hands and arms, (or biting other people!), punching and hitting the wall or floor, or kicking out.

It is very upsetting to watch him try to deal with this on his own. I talk about this a lot on our Facebook and Instagram pages… honestly, you have never known true helplessness like the feeling of having to sit back and watch your child hurt themselves on a daily basis.

All we can do as parents, is try to block the blows with our own hands and arms etc, and it doesn’t do much good to be honest. It won’t make the slightest bit of difference to Cammy, he will just keep doing it all over again the next time he can’t deal with his own feelings or emotions… it’s honestly heartbreaking, and it is relentless.

…Our poor little man.

I just pray that the day will come when he can ‘tell us’, whether it be through talking, PECS, a different kind of visual system, or a communication device of some sort.

When that day will come though, who knows???

Until then… we will just keep praying.

❤️