I simply love this picture of Leah, obviously she was not to excited when I took this picture of her that morning. It was in the summer of 2016 and her schedule was busy, we doubled up on everything during the summer months. Speech twice a week and extended her hours of behavioral therapy so this girl had no days off. She would sit at this table that we had in our living room for years waiting for her therapist to come to our house to start her therapy session. She often was exhausted from not sleeping the night before, but she knew that for the next four hours while she had therapy that there were not going to be any excuses and that she would have to meet the expectations of her therapists.
I have always mentioned the first two years of behavioral therapy were the hardest but as time went by Leah rose to the expectations, she eventually realized that the fight was not worth it. But every once in a while she would dig her feet down and not want to do what was requested of her. But here is the hard part that we have learned through Leah’s behavioral therapy, even when your child does not want to do something and yes, it is easy to give up and say it is not worth the battle (I have done this quite a bit and I would later regret it) but it makes it so much harder in the future. Because eventually it becomes a learned behavior. Even when your exhausted, you have had a long day at work, it is easy to go the simple route but then you must expect push back from your child when you want them to do something. So therefore, it is good to be consistent.
Leah is a kid that will try to get out of things especially work, she is the kid that will act that she is incapable of doing things, if she sees that someone will do something for her, she then she will use that to her advantage. For years she was prompt dependent, and she is also known for not wanting people to see her true potential.
As parents, Alex and I find ourselves constantly having to be blunt with each other reminding each other (nicely) that we need to stop doing things for her... Leah is capable of doing things herself. I think like all parents we never want to see our children struggle but sometimes if we take a step back and just watch you may be surprised of the outcome.
