I wanted to drop a quick line and update everyone on how Gavin did today. I've been talking recently about how Gavin is struggling with his temper or rather controlling it. He's got a very, very short fuse on a good day and no fuse on most others.
He's been getting violent and aggressive when something doesn't go the way he expects it to.
The past few days have been very challenging because he's exploded on more than a few occasions, and that creates stress for everyone. Most of Gavin's life was spent bouncing from one violent, self-injurious meltdown to another.
All of us have been traumatized by Gavin's behaviors over the years, but he's been doing so much better as he's gotten older.
Part of the issue with this resurgence of violent and aggressive behaviors is that it triggers some of us. It's scary, and it makes us all worry that things are going to get bad again. We barely survived the first time and Gavin as almost placed in a residential program. It killed us to even consider that but we had to worry about everyones safety.
The big difference this time around is that Gavin's physically an adult and much stronger then he was when he was younger.
When he was little, he literally broke stair treads and cracked the walls under his bedroom during meltdowns or tantrums. The idea that we could be heading back in that direction is creating ense of fear in the house amongst all of us.
I'm really happy to be able to report that Gavin had a really good day today. He got upset once or twice, *but *he took a deep breath and calmed himself. It could have easily gone another direction, but he practiced some of his *calming skills *and handled himself very well.
I'm not blind to the fact this is just one day. I'm not forgetting that the rest of the week has been pretty bad. What I'm doing is focusing on the fact that today wasn't like that. I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring, but today is a reminder that Gavin is capable of managing his anger. It's not easy for him, but he *can* do it. ☺
We feel it's important to celebrate the victories as they come along. Tonight, we're celebrating Gavin's positive behavior and hoping that we see more of it going forward.
