Open your eyes

Something I an learning is that even if I tell other people what Miss A is like they don't always see it. I have been saying to her therapists for years that she is hard work and they very rarely see it. She loves to please others and tries her hardest. So when things got really bad last year the social worker did the Triple P parenting program in the hopes of finding some new techniques. It was at this time that someone finally saw the real Miss A and her true behaviours. The social worker saw her in a true home setting, she was there to see me and not to play games with Miss A so the rules had changed. What better person to see her behaviour than a social worker? At the end of the Triple P program we hadn't seen much of a change in Miss A and we had concerns of this crossing over to school. So when we had our school meeting in 2013 the therapists came along and filled in everyone on the typical behaviours they saw. It was the social worker who filled in the gaps on what she had seen and what I told her. I thought the teachers were well prepared and we had outlined our major concerns such as:
Running away
Fear of the toilet
Tripping over or hurting herself
Not knowing she is in pain
Meltdowns

At school we have a communication book to be used by both staff and myself. It is ti be used daily- they write down what sort of day she had and I let them know how the night went. So far, so good.
Last week Miss A ran away twice while talking after school to the aide and the staff seemed surprised and I was left to deal with it alone. So today when i pick up Miss A I notice she still has her tied up and obviously it had been redone by someone. So I stopped to ask her aide if she had allowed someone else to tie her hair up. Her aide asked me why it was such a big deal and I explained I'm lucky to brush her hair once a week, tying it up is not allowed. While this 30 second conversation went on Miss A went for a run. She went to the other side of the play area to get a drink then up the stairs to the crosswalk man. What the!!!?
The aide didn't notice until I yelled and off I ran with L on my hip. Again noone helped :(
She was so close to the road and no other parents had noticed either. Scary and frustrating.
So on Wednesday when we all sit down to write a plan for this term I will be reiterating those points!
Luckily the social worker will be there as well to help refocus their thoughts on what can go wrong. Maybe we can stop thinking it's all roses and start preparing for the inevitable.