Head banging . . .

I found this information on Kari's blog. I found it quite interesting and informative when it comes to FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) kids and how it affects them. It sums up my life with Dustin pretty well. . .

Let me tell you a story about some baby chickens who had FASD- Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders- who were a part of a research study. These chicks were put in a plexiglass box and they were deprived of food for long enough to make them quite motivated to find it. Food was then placed outside one of the walls of the plexiglass box where they could see it but not easily get to it. The exit for the chicks to get to the food was at the other end of the box. Non-exposed chicks figured it out in no time but the chicks with FASD did not. Sadly, they sat and banged their heads against the plexiglass wall again and again trying to get to the food. But that is not the end of the story....

The researchers showed the baby chicks with FASD how to get out of the box and how to get to the food. The chicks were able to repeat the action and get food.... until the next day when the experiment was repeated. The chicks with FASD had forgotten how to get out of the box and get to the food, (Welcome to my world) but again it is not the end of the story.

The researchers repeatedly and patiently showed them the way out and eventually most of them were able to retain the information and get food! Some took a long time and had to be taught over and over and over again but most were eventually able to do it.

Amazing! Repetition does work. It is annoying when you have to do it each and every day. Sometimes something will sink in and you think, "YES! Something got through that wall of FAS finally!" But the difficulty is that you don't know how many times, how many days, how many weeks, how many years it will take. You have to keep perservering. You have to remember that it is not his fault that he cannot do a task you have told him 2513 times how to do. We are human and it is hard. I lose my cool sometimes. I try really hard to be patient and calm, but life doens't always work that way.

Dustin is the chick. He has been prenatally exposed to alcohol. But somtimes I feel like the chick banging my head against the wall. I can see the end for Dustin, but I have to figure out a new way to get that end accomplished. But, I still bang my head on the wall, the wall of FAS.