Gary,
I am no doctor or psychologist, but I have been a teacher for twelve
years and "have seen it all". The scenario you describe, to me,
really seems like this person needs counseling, probably medication,
and some life skills/social skills training. It also hints that
there could be past abuse issues (wetting). I just know that lots of
people don't have the social skills to deal with people and having cp
and its frustrations compounds these issues for this person. Perhaps
this person hasn't come to terms with who they are, is finding
adjusting to independent living difficult, or expects everyone to
cater to him because they are "hired" to be at his beck and call
24/7? The impulsive behavior is a way to rebel, to feel in control
when everything else seems uncontrollable. Even the wetting could be
part of a control thing for this person. I had a student one year
who needed control and he would run away from you when he got
stressed or he wasn't in control, just so he didn't have to deal.
Another I had used to not shower and would poop his pants. (And
these are 5th graders...so you can see how they had issues as this is
not normal behavior).
I guess what I am trying to say is that I don't think cp is the
cause, but it may be a contributing factor in this person's behavior
because it is adding to the frustration. Cp or not, this person
needs to get counseling to deal with their anger issues and to learn
how to respect others before they can no longer live independently or
hurt themselves doing something dangerous out of anger/spite.
Anyway, my two cents...
Linda
On Sep 14, 2007, at 9:51 PM, Gary Peterson wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> So I have some medical questions here, and I'm trying to find
> out if there's any connection between Cerebral Palsy and these
> other medical issues if that's indeed what they are. I'm very
> weak in the area of medical terminology so I ask your indulgence
> while I stumble my way through. I'll set this up as best I can
> via fictitious example.
>
> So we have two people. Person A and person B. Both can be male
> or female. Person A has Cerebral Palsy from birth, and uses an
> electric wheelchair. They are in there mid to late 20's and
> have severe speech limitations. They have lived independently
> in their community for a little over two years and have 24-7
> staffing.
>
> Person B is the primary staff person for person A. Among other
> duties, they assist person A in finding and hiring other staff.
> All staff for person A are in there early to mid 20's.
>
> Since moving out on their own, person A has always bin plagued by
> an unusually high amount of staff turnover. Usually on an
> average of every two weeks to a month. Person B is told person A
> is very hard to work with. Person B is told, person A isn't very
> patient when it comes to working with staff to help better
> understand them, and They loose their temper to the extreme. At
> times when they don't feel they're being understood, they will
> often at the top of their lungs order staff to just go away and
> leave them alone. Then person A just stays in their room
> refusing to say or do anything. They will often behave in this
> manner for up to three hours at a time.
>
> Also When person A is in this state, they will take their anger
> out on staff with frequent bouts of wetting them sells. There
> are staff past and present who feel person A is deliberately
> wetting them sells as a way of getting back at one particular
> staff or another. There have also been incidents when person A
> often puts them sells and staff at great risk. On more then
> one occasion, person A has gone into the street after being
> advised by their staff that it's not safe to do so. Staff
> describes the look on person A's face as one of: "Don't tell me
> what to do, I'll go in the street if I want to!!"
>
> Person A has also been approached by total strangers in the
> presents of staff, and told how it's not a good idea to just dart
> out into the street like that in their wheelchair.
>
> When person B sits down with person A and shares the information
> given to them by the rest of the staff, after some hesitation,
> person A tells person B they are aware of how angry they get, but
> they cannot give any reason for why they get so angry. They tell
> person B when they start to get angry, they try and stop them
> sells but they just cant. Person B has advised person A that if
> their anger continues unchecked, at some point, it may become
> really hard to find adequate staff. Person B also tells person
> A he has heard through the grapevine that person A is getting a
> reputation in the community as someone to stay away from. Person
> B has tried to assist person A in coming up with ways of trying
> to deal with their anger. They've talked about everything from
> person A just going outside for a while, to slow breathing
> exercises. While these kinds of things seem to work now and
> then, often they end up being no more then a temporary band aid
> with the underlying issues just waiting to surface all over
> again.
>
> Now if the above scenario were a real life situation, and if one
> of my co workers asked me what my thoughts were about person A,
> I would say they were someone who was still adjusting to living
> on their own. Someone without a lot of maturity or life
> experience. Someone who is still learning just who they are and
> what they want their life to look like. So there for, they have
> a right as all of us do to make misstates along the way. Even at
> those times when they end up putting their independence at great
> risk. Someone who is justifiably frustrated do to the constant
> challenge of having to make them sells understood to all those
> around them. Or they might just be a real punk who just doesn't
> care about how their behavior affects those around them.
>
> However at the same time I wonder. I wonder if there are issues
> being overlooked regarding person A. So my questions to all of
> you are these:
> With all the information I've given you in the above fictitious
> example, aside from Cerebral Palsy, are there other medical
> issues going on here? Is there some kind of cross over or hard
> wire disconnect in person A's brain to where something gets
> switched on or off, and the only way person A can express them
> sells is by wetting them sells? If so, is this directly related
> to Cerebral Palsy or could there be totally separate issues
> going on here? If this is a medical condition, is there a
> specific name for it? If this is directly related to Cerebral
> Palsy what is the connection? Could Someone direct me to a site
> where I might learn more about these issues?
>
> Thanks in advance for any and all help, and everyone have a
> greaaaat weekend!!
>
> See ya-Gary
>
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