We don't give Janey chocolate very often, because it leads to her not sleeping all night and being frantically wound up. I wouldn't believe if I haven't seen myself what the smallest dose of chocolate can do to her, if she eats it past noon or so. However, today, as you probably know, is Valentine's Day, and Tony was very sweet. He got Janey a card and two small packs of Ghiradelli chocolates. We gave her the card and chocolates as soon as she woke up, and she was very, very happy. I have to admit, the card got just a glance, but the chocolates...wow. She ate them down in no time flat.
What was very striking, however, was how Janey acted after finishing the chocolates. I haven't been around a lot of junkies, but I've watched enough TV to see how at least there they have them act, and Janey was acting a lot like that. She kept looking over and over and over in the empty chocolate packets, hoping she'd missed something. Then she started tearing open anything in the house that looked like a gift---a computer game in a box, a gift bag hanging around from Christmas, a box with hair ties inside---anything at all that looked like it could possibly hold a chocolate treat. She did it with purpose and singlemindedness. Then she started pulling out all her talking tricks. She said "We ran out of chocolate! I want chocolate! I will give my Janey some chocolate! Let's look for chocolate! We will call Daddy! Where is the chocolate?" It was really something.
I'm not sure what is going on here, besides her very, very strong love of chocolate (which is strange, because I can take or leave the stuff). But it certainly had the look of addiction or at least potential addiction to me. It was very striking how intense she got about it. She rarely is that direct, that forceful, in her want for anything.
So...is this good or bad? Do I somehow take this and run, using it as a way to get her to talk? Or do I completely cut chocolate out from her diet, because it seems to affect her so extremely? Is is something she needs, based on her reaction, or is it something she very much doesn't need? I just don't know. It's something I'm going to watch carefully, that's for sure.
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!
Rarer in Girls...Life with my daughter Janey, who is nineteen and severely autistic
2 comments:
My daughter also has a sweet tooth. She loves donuts, ice cream and candy. We used to get her a liquid multivitamin but she has just started to spit it out on the wall until I got a gummy vitamin. I use her weakness to my advantage. I use it for potty training but she only remembers the reward not that she was supposed to use the toilet. It forces her to talk and be little more descriptive. If she misbehaves- no treat and that does get through to her. She is hyperactive with or without chocolate but she is probably worse with it. I figure it's not too bad because she is very active and doesn't eat each much so a little fattening up won't hurt at this stage. She has been robbed of some of life's higher pleasures so if a controlled amount of sweets is given so be it.
Well there is caffeine in chocolate, so I wonder if the caffeine is what's bringing this reaction on? I would say that it's a good AND bad thing, because it gets her talking, but obviously it does have an addicting effect on her too.
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