ODD is Oppositional Defiant Disorder. I'm not sure what age it's diagnosed.

Ah, afraid of the dark. That's a scary one. I remember being afraid the devil would come through the springs in the bed and do bad things.

The defiance is getting worse. We'll see if the new therapist in TX sees ODD as a diagnosis.

Thing about the dark? He doesn't bother to turn on the lights when he gets up. He rarely thinks to DO anything.

I got pictures of the painted rooms in the TX house. They are at the end of this photoset: [link]

msbelle, the difference between mac and Noah is that if I expect to find a mess in his room it invovles poop.

I saw a baby onesie in a shop the other day, on the chest it had written "iPood".

I'm sorry about the bureaucratic idiocy. I saw that kind of thing often when working for govt housing - getting a job would make them worse off, because of all the government benefits and concessions they'd no longer be eligible for.

I have never, for the life of me, understood why SSI and SSD has to be an all or nothing kind of deal. There's no magic bullet at the cut-off that suddenly means everything is within your grasp. I have a friend whose son's insulin costs $1000 a month. That's more than one of my paychecks. Grace's formula is more than one of my paychecks. I can't imagine having to figure out how to get funding, when everyone out there thinks because you've reached the magic number you're "safe." Kat, you are really a strong person to be able to juggle all this.

Oh, fuck, -t. I am so, so sorry. I don't know what else to say. My husband and I are so sorry for your loss.

Oh god, -t. I can't even imagine what you're going through. Strength and peace to you and yours.

It's not a very logical system, it seems to be. Just because a paycheck can cover the child's medical needs, what about food, or gas or clothes or what have you? These are the kinds of things that just don't seemed to be considered very logically.

I am very sorry, Kat. You're doing everything you can, and it seems like the system is punishing for doing your best to be a working parent and provide for a high-needs child. Children. Dang. I'm so sorry.

msbelle, I don't understand a lot about ODD; I just know that I saw several teens have ODD as a diagnosis, and it helped staff to know it, because then we could present things as "Well, you will choose to do what you will choose to do. No one is forcing you. But X choice will have X consequence, and it's totally up to you if you want to see that happen: Y choice will have Y consequence."

A lot of times, they still choose X. Didn't make it less frustrating to watch. BUT many times, they were able, afterwards, to draw the connnection between their choices and consequences, and could start to modify their Bx.

And these were teens who had Mac-like issues, but no one had ever loved them, and worked with them like you do with Mac, so it CAN get better, I promise. He has a huge chance, because of you, and I know it doesn't feel like it now. But it's there.

Oh, after all you`ve been through, t.

Oh, my god. -t, I just read.

I am so, so sorry for your loss. Much -ma, strength, peace to you and yours.

{{-t}} I am so sorry for your loss. Much peace and strength~ma to you and Henry's family.