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Grandmother Speaks of 11-year-old Grandson's StruggleStephen is our 11-year-old grandson. He is very creative. He has been in public school but is currently attending a specialized program outside of the school. Stephen's pediatrician was the first to be concerned because when he was just a little over a year old he would scream and holler at his appointments. The doctor thought he may have Attention Deficit Disorder. We already knew he was a handful! He continued to get more agitated; whne he was only two years old he would pick up the table and throw chairs. We started to become very concerned. Read More... |
My Son, TomTom is almost 12 and is in the fifth grade. In the summer he likes to go bottle hunting. He collects baseball cards and plays basketball on a team at school. By the time he was 2-years-old, I knew Tom was different from the other kids. He was very hyperactive and develop-mentally delayed. We were referred for Occupational Therapy when he was about 2-and-half-years-old. I wasn't too concerned then, figuring he was just catching up at his own pace. At 3 and a half he was put on Ritalin which worked for awhile but it made him "ugly," so we had to stop the medication for about a year. Tom did fine in preschool but when he started kindergarten he had to go back on Ritalin again. I knew he was going to continue to have trouble, especially in school. Read More... |
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Capsule StoryMy grandson, Alex, is 11 years old. He loves to watch basketball games and will practice his shot at the neighbor's basketball hoop. He enjoys singing along to country music while riding in the car, chiming out each and every word — and he knows ALL the singers names. After a short time living with us we learned of past trauma that Alex had experienced and the severe emotional damage it caused. At home he was uncontrollable at times - I would have to hold him down to keep him from hurting himself. At school he attacked his principal. It was clear that we needed to get help. Following a desperate visit to the emergency room, Alex was admitted to a psychiatric hospital and spent nine months there. It was during this stay that the level of Alex' disorders was understood. He was diagnosed as having some serious disorders: post-traumatic stress, disassociative identity and major depression. He has times when he feels uncontrollable rage, other times when he is very quiet and hidden in himself, and also occasions when he calls upon the various personalities his mind has created to help him deal with his struggles. Read more... |
Teen Overcomes Barriers to Obtaining Basic ServicesTabitha is a junior in High School. She and her family know well the challenges of getting care in a rural area. Her Dad told us that more than one agency specifically told him that they could not serve Tabitha because she lived "too far out." As her Dad put it, "just when things got really bad, we were getting doors slammed in our faces." Although Tabitha required special education services for her learning disorders, the family was not aware of any major problems in school until she started the 9th grade. Her parents started getting frantic calls from school with reports that Tabitha's behaviors were out of control. Soon, the school was pushing to put Tabitha in a residential placement out of state. While the family realized Tabitha needed extensive care, they wanted her to remain at home. They were given the impression that they had no other options. Read More... |
Family Stories
Many of our clients have been very generous about sharing their family's stories and experiences with Wings' Case Management and the Wraparound process. Below are some of those stories; many told in their own words.