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Show familiar with them and felt they would take away the pain. Aspirin, nothing more. Everything had to be shown on a close physical level: "Yes, I have periods too." "Yes, they hurt." "Yes, you can lie down and rest on those days." Two days before it was to come, a small experience box was filled with items related to her period. And we began the long proceedings for trying to get her on the Pill, for her own safety and comfort. Two thirds of her tantrums disappeared. Our doctor checked her medication list of uppers and downers, disbelieving how each cancelled out the next or medicated nothing. We were advised to take her off all of the medication. It was of no value whatsoever. A frightening decision. I knew from experience that a child could go either way, becoming more violent or hyperactive. Or becoming more normal and calmer. We tried it. She became even more human. Expressions we had never observed before came into her face. The weird mannerisms disappeared: twitching, arm jerks into the air, hysterical giggling and laughing, tears for no reason, long periods of silence or head banging. It had all been for nothing, except perhaps in the beginning of it, when one drug had been prescribed and followed rationally. And because she was lost in the crowded wards of a state institution for the retarded, left from the very beginning of her life, never trained for vision or hearing losses, her fantasy world was strongly interwoven with drugs, counter drugs, and her own creative imagination. But the years had left some of the fantasy permanent. She would never lose some of the effects. Tantrums became minimal. She trailed everywhere, throughout her day and evenings. She came up to bump heads, smiling and laughing a greeting. Little by little, Patty became human. Those who had steered wide around her, began to volunteer half hours of their work time. She had been left alone for too many years already, there was never enough time in any one day to experience more. She had so much to explore that tantrums occurred only when she was left alone. And then, there was one final lesson for us both to learn. Objective: Patty will learn to mop up her messes after a tantrum. Patty will learn to pick up items thrown during a tantrum. -10- |
