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December 2011
Greyson continues to improve developmentally and behaviorally. He is a very smart little boy with some very intense challenges. This year with Greyson has been a tough one. He requires pretty much eyes-on supervision and constant redirection. Greyson is most often out of focus and very demanding. Without one-to-one attention and supervision Greyson will bite and hit other children. He will destroy his personal property as well as the property of others. At the beginning of the year Greyson would not play by himself or independently with one of the brothers for even a short period of time. A year later Greyson can play quietly on the computer with headphones for up to a half and hour with little or no adult intervention. He can play a simple game with one of his older brothers without walking away or hurting anyone. In the community Greyson can stay with the group with verbal prompts and no longer needs the stroller to contain him. Greyson still has issues with needing lots of adult attention and redirection. He is, on a daily basis, still aggressive toward others at home and on the community unless he is next to an adult who can redirect him. We have a long way to go with Greyson but we are hopeful that he will continue to make gains toward self-regulation and independence.
December 2010
Greyson, age 6, joined our family at the beginning of the month. He was originally adopted at the age of two from Liberia, Africa. His first adoptive family spent many years working with Greyson, helping to develop his communication, self-help skills and academics. Unfortunately Greyson's significant behavioral challenges made it impossible for him to stay with his first adoptive family. While we don't have any magic answers to help with Greyson's aggression and non-compliance, we do have lots of help in our home. We have the ability to provide Greyson with one-to-one coverage and eyes-on supervision. As we get to know Greyson we are learning what makes him happy, keeps him motivated and what are the usual antecedents to his behavioral outbursts. We are working hard to increase Greyson's communication skills. As a non-speaking child, a lot of his frustration comes from not being able to communicate quickly and efficiently. Greyson does use American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate as well as pointing, and facial expressions and vocalizations. Fortunately we all know sign language and several of us are fluent. I look forward to parenting Greyson and I am excited to try to figure out what makes him tick. His curiosity and his obvious intelligence make him ripe for learning. His charming personality and beautiful smile definitely light up a room. Greyson is a wonderful addition to our family and we all look forward to helping him progress behaviorally and socially.
Younger Pictures of Greyson
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