Taming the Monster

Our eight-year-old daughter to whom I refer as "Missy" is what the newer books now call behaviorally challenged.  All the adults in her life have noted that she has difficulty focusing on tasks and sometimes explodes when something unexpected happens outside of her "bubble".  An evaluation by her school suggested that she's somewhere on the ADHD/Autism spectrum.

Over the last six months we've noticed that her difficult behaviour has been getting progressively worse and it has me questioning our parenting.  Are we feeding her a proper diet?  Might she be eating something that is causing her to react unpredictably?  Are we being consistent enough with enforcing limits?  Do we indulge her too much?  Is she seeing too much violence on TV?  There are so many uncertainties.

We were able to make a series of appointments over the summer with a professional child psychologist "Dr. Z" and as of today we've seen her twice.  So far she has been giving Missy the standard tests: solving puzzles, arranging coloured blocks in a particular pattern, stuff like that.  (I remember going through the same type of testing when I was in grade school.)  Dr. Z. has promised that she'll help us figure Missy out and point us to better resources.

Sad to say, today has been a hard day and I might not have the patience to wait for a proper diagnosis and treatment.  This afternoon Missy had a volcanic blowup that began with a simple request for her to stop standing so close to the television, and ended with her screaming at the top of her lungs and hitting me hard enough to leave bruises.

At this point I am terrified that during one of her episodes she might decide to grab a kitchen knife.  I don't know if I can continue living with a child who would sooner freak out than allow someone to try talking to her.  It's little wonder that her "friends" never return our calls.