November 2011
Austin has really grown over the past year. He now towers over me in height. Luckily he has become a good-natured and easy-going teenager. Austin continues to do well in school. We are thinking that next year, when he starts high school, Austin will require fewer special education supports. Its nice to see Austin so stable in school. He is completing his homework with very few prompts and maintaining a 3.5 grade point average. In his free time Austin enjoys playing video games, swimming, and bowling. Usually every other weekend he spends the night with his cousin Jerry. The boys enjoy hanging out together and it keeps Austin motivated to make good choices during the week.
December 2010
Austin (formally Paul) was adopted on December 16, 2010. He was so excited to finalize his adoption and so was I! When Paul was first placed he definitely was a challenge behaviorally. I would definitely say that he had a very rocky start in this family. I often wondered to myself if Austin's placement was even appropriate. Slowly, but finally, Austin has settled down. In his first family Austin had developed my challenging behaviors at home and in the community. It was impossible for the first family to live a typical life with their other children when Austin was misbehaving which was apparently often. When Austin joined our family he continued the pattern of disrupting others, aggression, non-compliance and general immaturity. Luckily, in my family I have the adult resources to provide Austin one-on-one coverage and eyes-on supervision when necessary. For the first year or so Austin required intensive supervision and behavior modification. It took a while before we began to see any improvement. Today that level of one-on-one supervision is hardly ever necessary. Austin continues to improve in the area of self-regulation. He is able to accept correction without falling part or acting out aggressively. Austin has changed from an immature boy who was self-centered, hyper vigilant and angry to a preteen who to eager to show that he is responsible and growing up. I am so happy with the positive behavioral changes that Austin has made and we all tell him daily what a wonderful young man he is becoming.
April 2009
Austin seems to be settling into our family very well. He is taking Tae
Kwan Do classes and it participating in the Saddleback Young Marines. Both activities work a lot on discipline, respect and compliance. Despite our best efforts,
Austin continues to challenge us with his impulse control issues, verbal outbursts, poor boundaries, and his noncompliance.
Austin can be very thoughtful at times. He is also very sensitive. He gets his feelings hurt when the other boys get mad at him. The problem is that
Austin can not see how is own actions contribute to people ":getting mad" at him. We are working with
Austin on thinking before he does or says something inappropriate. The good news is
Austin is eager to please. He works well for tangible reinforcement and slowly but surely he seems to be coming around as we are seeing an increase in
Austin's ability to make better choices.
Austin continues to struggle in school. Although he is bright,
Austin is very disorganized and is easily overwhelmed when the classwork or homework is difficult or complicated.
Austin has a tutor daily to assist him with his school work. Once he gets going on his homework he can usually complete most of the work with only limited help. Unfortunately,
Austin needs maximum support to bring his homework home and then to return it school when the work is completed. Even though we are putting lots of effort into
Austin's homework, Austin continues to struggle with school work done in the classroom. He receives RSP support daily but that does not seems like enough support. I will need to look for additional and alternative supports for
Austin next school year.
December 2008
Austin joined our family right before Christmas. Austin was
originally adopted from California and lived with his
original adoptive family for over eight years. Although
Austin was adopted as a baby, Austin's family struggled from
the first day with his challenging behaviors and severe
reactive attachment disorder. Finally the first adoptive
parents felt is was no longer possible to parent Austin in
their family home. His disruptive behaviors were
interfering with the health and well-being of the other
family members. Austin had been living in Idaho for many
years before moving back to California to join our
family. Idaho did not have the services to help Austin
remain with his original adoptive family. Austin is a very
cute and active boy who is more than eager to hop and a
bicycle and ride for hours. Austin is also very talkative
and makes friends wherever he goes.
Despite his charm, Austin is requiring eyes-on supervision
most of the time. Austin definitely keeps us on our toes.
We are in contact with his previous family to help us
develop strategies to manage Austin multiple behavioral
issues. I hope Austin can be successful in our family. He
seems to want to be here as he asks several times daily
if I am going to adopt him. I look forward to parenting
Austin and supporting him so that he can be the best
person he can be.
