The last few days have been okay. Janey seems to have a need for a daily screaming time. It's occuring in the morning hours, including that awful lawn sale scream. The afternoons have been much more tranquil. This morning we almost saw it coming. We told her she needed to scream and kick on the screaming couch, one of our couches. She stayed there pretty much, and seemed to get the idea. It was about a half hour of intense hysteria. Now she is calm.
The strange thing Tony and I have both noticed during this tough time is that we think she's actually making a lot of progress lately. Her talking is better---we are hearing more fairly long ideas expressed ("I love that rainbow shirt so much", "No, YOU are a camel") and she is following simple one or something two step directions a lot better. She is remembering things I ask her to say instead of screaming except for when the real storm is going on, she says things like "I am ANGRY!" "I need ATTENTION" "I want to CUDDLE YOU RIGHT NOW!" She is being very sweet and lovable when it's not screaming time. I think if the screaming was just an hour a day or so, and fairly predictable, I could handle it. I wish it didn't have to happen, but I can handle it. I wonder if as she understands more, she realizes more how apart from other kids she is, and that is hard. I don't think she's quite at that point, but you never know.
Rarer in Girls...Life with my daughter Janey, who is twenty and severely autistic
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