Kristina went to see psychologist with Tyler on-base today. The psychologist said that Kristina MAY have some signs of RAD, but after doing my own research today - I doubt that she has it. She has already shown many signs of being attached to us as her parents. We did get a referral to some specialists nearby and I am eager to see what they will say and to see we can do to teach her better behavior. She is a button-pusher and at the end of the day, we are tired of our buttons being pushed by this adorable, but difficult child.
Today we brought out the tinker toys. A good time was had by all!
Anna & Kristina playing the "drums".
Drum solo by Kristina!
Maggie - wanting to be where all the excitement was!
Keith - he was actually excited about having his picture taken. Let's hope this will continue and I might get more smiles from him on camera!
The whole family having a great time! And below are some videos of Kristina. The first one is of her playing with a toy she got at McDonald's in Ukraine. She likes to move it, move it - reminds me of my brother, Evan, who likes a movie with that song on it, but I can't remember the name of it...anyhow, the second clip is of Kristina doing the actions for the song: "If you're happy and you know it" - I love it when she says "hooray!", so cute! I think we have another singer on our hands, here! She LOVES music! A girl after my own heart! Enjoy!
7 comments:
I love seeing your children! The videos are adorable :)
So glad to hear that all is where it should be with Keith's legs! I bet he will take off on his own in no time! He is definitely a boy who knows where he wants to go!
Kristina is just too cute! I just love that beautiful smile! She is so full of life and spunk! Adorable!
Kristina has the cutest little voice. They are so precious!!
Those videos are too cute!
As one who's been there and done that in so many ways, I would give it some time - a lot more time - before either accepting or rejecting the RAD diagnosis. Your children have only been home 3 weeks. Of course there are signs of RAD. There are with most PI kids at this point. After all, less than 2 months ago, you were a total stranger to her and she was living a totally different life in a totally different culture and environment. In that short amount of time, her entire world has been turned upside down. That's a LOT for anyone to process, especially a little kid. It really takes at least 9 months to a year home before a diagnosis like that can really carry any clout. Ya gotta give it time for the "honeymoon" to wear off.
For the longest time, we didn't think either of our kids had RAD. After doing a lot of studying about healthy attachment, we could see signs that attachment was happening with both kids. They're affectionate and friendly and give us hugs and kisses all the time and will even snuggle with us. In a nutshell, they are just cute as little buttone when they want to be. They definately know who Mom and Dad are the they just didn't fit the psychotic profiles of RAD we'd read so much about.
But as time went on, things just kind of stalled out. We started noticing that they were still hanging on to a lot of old orphanage behaviors and survival type skills. Because my children also have PTSD, they were already in therapy. We'd discussed insecure attachment with our therapist several times - and then one day about the time school started she said the RAD word in passing. We were quite taken back by this, to say the least. But upon researching the topic of RAD again, we could now see it very clearly. While it really wasn't a surprise, it did take the wind out of our sails for a bit.
As things have continued to progress, both our children have now been diagnosesd with "RAD." But you know what - it isn't a life sentence. By the literal grace of God, my boys are healing. Yes, it is HARD sometimes, but we are seeing steady signs of progress being made. I look forward to the day when I can stand and testify before the world that my chidren are whole - that they are living, breathing modern day miracles who have been fully healed heart, body, mind, and soul...and have become that way through the power of the Atonement. I don't "hope" it will happen. I KNOW it will.
While indeed, your kids may well benefit from therapy long before you hit that 9 month - 1 year mark, I'd still give Kristina some more time (at least a couple more months) to really get a grip on the language transition before really digging into any type of therapy. It will be much more effective once she can really understand what people are saying, especially when you're not there.
On this same note, I would also submit to you that Keith is telling you something pretty powerful by repeatedly crawling under his bed. While he is indeed making truly remarkable and positive progress (Yeah, Keith!!), he also doesn't have the verbal skills to tell you how terrified he really is of all the changes that have happened in his life recently, so he crawls under his bed where he feels safe and confined. This is actually pretty typical behavior for shell-shocked kids. If you're not already doing this, next time you find him under his bed, rather than pulling or coaxing him out, just humor me and try acknowleging to him that you can see he is afraid of waking up all alone in his big new room that is so different from his orphanage and that his why he's hiding. Stroke his hair, sing him some lullabys and let him know Mama is there to keep him safe and he can come out when he's ready and just see what happens.
Keep up the good work. You're doing good work and it shows!!
The movie is with the "move it" song Madagascar :)
Great photos and videos!
Renia
I am going to second Diana's wonderfully wise comments.
And your children are adorable! :)
What adorable videos. And yay for Keith! I'm glad things are going well for you and your family. :-)
Post a Comment