13
Nov
2021

More of the same, more of what we expected.

categories: personal; word count: 332 words

I did the rest of Bub’s intake for the behavioral therapy that we want him to start, although before they can begin providing services he needs to have a psychological assessment on file. So that will get scheduled whenever that can get scheduled. I told the therapy clinic that I would like this to take place in our city if that can at all be arranged, although I am okay with commuting if there is absolutely no way around it and we have exhausted every other option. I try to avoid commuting out of this city whenever possible though, especially now that we know that Bub’s meltdowns have worsened in frequency and severity (which could be, and very likely is, caused by the onset of adolescence). The longer that he has to spend riding in a car, the dicier things can get, even when I bring everything with us that stands a chance at keeping him calm or occupying his mind. And this is even when he’s been sedated as per advice and recommendations from his care team — before it used to be Benadryl and melatonin, which wouldn’t cause him to go to sleep but would calm him down, and now it is Mirtazapine given during the day if that is ever absolutely necessary.

He will be on a wait list for the rest of the services that the county can provide, all except for the behavioral therapy whenever the psychological assessment is done and therapy is able to begin. That much can happen sooner than everything else. However, the wait list for other services that he can be provided with is years long. That much I don’t actually mind at the moment, because the primary service that I want him to begin to get is the behavioral therapy whenever it can start to be scheduled. But whenever those other services can start for him, I mean, that will be nice. And none of them seem like they will hurt matters any.

11
Nov
2021

“Crisis management and autistic kids, a case study”.

categories: personal; word count: 261 words

One of Bub’s therapists — as she should have — made a referral for behavioral therapy because of the bite marks, bruises, and wounds that he leaves on me as a result of meltdowns. A few days ago, during one such meltdown, he managed to score a direct hit on me headbutting me, and he did this so hard that I briefly lost consciousness. As a result, his initial behavioral therapy will be crisis management until things can be gotten under control, and then we are looking at therapy meant to help him better learn to cope with overwhelming feelings (or, in whatever communicative way works best for him, inform an adult that he can not do this so that the help he needs can be gotten for him), as well as to recognize when he is beginning to melt down so that he can take measures such as isolating himself when he does not want or can not safely have comfort.

I did the first part of the intake for the crisis management therapy yesterday over the phone, and I will finish what should be the last part of it today. Obviously I am completely amenable to all of this because I want Bub to be safe, and I want to be safe while providing him care. I am continuing to wait on his developmental pediatrician to increase the dose of the Risperdal that he is on, although that should happen in the coming days without complaint. The Risperdal has been helping out… he just needs a slightly stronger dose of it.

09
Nov
2021

You literally said the quiet part out loud, y’all.

categories: television shows; word count: 616 words

Only in the part of the Supernatural fandom that ships Sam Winchester and Dean Winchester together (mind, I do have to explain this when I post about it because not all of my readers are fandom-oriented or even know that much about Supernatural… I don’t mind) would being a good parent who monitors their minor children’s Internet usage be a bad thing. This has literally been something that they have complained about on more than one occasion, but especially recently when their behavior made it known that they at least attempt to talk to people’s children online to try and spread the “gospel” of their ship. First of all, I can think of almost no instances where an unrelated adult needs to be talking to a minor online, barring circumstances like that minor’s participation in something like a chat room or a forum that would be modded by…. wait for it, adults. But aside from narrow circumstances like that, I can’t think of any other instances where an unrelated adult needs to be talking to a child online, and the fact that these people want it to be easier to accost people’s children says something about the quality of their “ship” (romantic pairing) within the fandom. (And in the event that I haven’t already mentioned this here, three different people who ship this have made it clear that they would contact my children if given the opportunity to do so. I could have excused one as just plain being a bad person within the fandom, but we’re… uh, we’re working on three.)

My children are fourteen and eleven years old. I do not let the one who can legally use social media have any accounts of his own, particularly ones that would require the use of his legal name. I check my children’s browser histories on their iPad. They are only allowed to use a few apps on it that aren’t games — these are things like YouTube and YouTube Kids… and come to think of it, these are the only two apps that aren’t games that either of them have on their iPads (Monster has one because he’s always been better at taking care of his possessions, and Bub has two because a friend kindly gifted him one in case something happened to his first one). I want to know what my kids are doing online, I do know what they’re doing online, and they do not have a problem with this. Funny how all of that works, isn’t it? They don’t mind at all.

Wincels, as a friend of mine calls them, have also made more of a name for themselves outside of the fandom, which is just… sad. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but people know about the “Sam and Dean shippers”. People in parenting groups that I am a part of know more of what this part of the fandom is capable of, and more and more of them have either decided not to let their children (aged 14-18 since it is a TV-14 show) watch Supernatural, closely monitor their Internet usage to ensure that they are not partaking in any fandom-related activities, or both of those things. They know what “the Sam and Dean shippers” are capable of, and what they do. This is literally a legacy that they are leaving themselves with their behavior. But are us parents who want our children to have safe Internet experiences strict? Are we strict if we curtail our children’s Internet usage because other people on it — sometimes very specific groups of other people — can not be trusted to behave in ethical manners when it comes to children? The answer, of course… is no.

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