In the morning, Lizze and I will be attending parent teacher conferences for the first time this school year. Elliott and Emmett are doing great and so we don’t have anything to worry about with them.
Gavin is a different story all together.
Ironically, the problem isn’t going to be hearing his teachers complain about him, because I don’t expect that to be the case at all.
The problem we are going to have is getting the teachers to understand and accept, who and what Gavin is. One of the biggest issues we face on the Reactive Attachment side, is the fact that Gavin is very charming and he’s really easy to like.
That in and of itself isn’t a problem.
The problem comes into play when he uses that charm and charisma, to essentially pull the wool over their eyes.
Gavin’s teachers are not trained in this type of mental health disorder and to be completely honest, I still have a hard time wanting to accept the behaviors that Gavin is very capable of. In fact, until you sorta peel back the surface and see what’s going on underneath, it’s really, really hard to believe that he could ever do anything wrong, let alone be responsible for some of the things he’s responsible for.
In other words, no one believes us until they witness Gavin doing these things themselves.
To make matters worse, Gavin’s really good at play the game, so to speak. He’s very, very well therapized and he’s a really smart kid. He knows what to say and what not to say. He knows what buttons to push, to get people to do what he wants.
I’m really nervous that Lizze and I are going to go into the meeting tomorrow and look like horrible parents because the things we are going to share with them about Gavin, doesn’t paint him in a positive light.
These things that we are going to try and get them to understand are what I call, ugly truths. No one likes to hear these things but that doesn’t make them any less true or accurate.
It’s important for me to keep my cool in the morning because I can get a bit worked up when trying to explain something about one of my kids that’s very painful for me to talk about.
Please keep Lizze and I in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow. We’re gonna need it I fear.
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Rob, I read your post about the conference with Gavin’s teachers not going well. What I don’t get is why they won’t believe you and Lizze when you tell them about Gavin. You’re his parents, the two people who know him better than anyone. You would think they’d trust what you’re saying due to that fact alone. I’m just sorry things didn’t go well with his teachers.