A Slower Pace and Lots of Hits

For the last two weeks I have had a semi-normal schedule at a much slower pace than I have grown accustomed to. Kendal hasn't been in therapy for two full weeks and I am surprised at how much more relaxed I have been (I assume because I'm sleeping more). This is the first time in two full years that I haven't been getting Kendal to therapy or waiting for a therapist to come here. It has been nice to not always plan on making therapy such a big part of our lives although I know it will be vital in Kendal's long-term progress.

Since things have been slower, I have been working on Kendal getting services through the Special Education Program in the school system. I have completed all the paperwork and submitted all of Kendal's most recent evaluations. At this point, I am waiting on her to be evaluated to see if she qualifies for the program (which she will , but we still have to go through the motions). Once in the program, she will participate for 3-4 hours a day, 4 days a week. There she will receive all therapies for which she qualifies for and will work one-on-one with special education teachers. I still don't know all the details but I will give an update as I learn more.

The hitting issues have become more prevalent here at home in the last couple of weeks. We have noticed that at home, she hits mainly because of frustration or anger because we have told her no to something. The other times she does it is when we are holding her or reading to her and her hand swings back and hits us in the face. After reading her a book this evening in the floor, she stood up, turned around and whacked me in the face. I corrected her and she immediately did it again. And again. At this point, I usually have to walk away because I cannot sit there and let her continually hit me (or James) despite that most therapists have advised I ignore the behavior. You get hit in the face time after time and you try to ignore it! We still at this point are working on a tip from the lady that observed her -when she hits, hold her hands down, tell her "No Hitting", and clap her hands together with the instruction for the reason she hit "When you're mad, Clap Kendal". So far this has been very unsuccessful, but it takes a long time to change behavior so we will see.