July 1 Post Five

           Jacob had decided that he will help support Casey and Sarah.  He became guilt ridden and knew that he was half responsible for Casey’s birth and she was undoubtedly part of him.  Casey is now on his insurance plan and has more costs covered, is now part of Casey’s IEP service plans/meetings, and spends more than three nights a week with Casey and Sarah every week.  Overall, Jacob has considerably changed his life around to where he is now living for Casey and helping her develop now that she is seven years old.  

Jacob graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and now works as a software engineer for a medium-large sized company that creates software for home invasion alarm systems. He is doing very well for himself and makes approximately $75,000 a year. He agreed that his life is settled well enough now that having a family would be beneficial and the next step for him to take. Sarah is still working her part time job and living with her parents for now in retail.

After school, Jacob and Sarah would take Casey fishing, riding bikes, drawing with chalk, and doing homework.  The homework Casey was receiving included: following instructions, doing her daily chores (feeding the cat and giving her water), practicing verbal cues such as when she is hungry, tired, or done with something.  Sarah and Casey have noticed that ever since they began revolving their lives around Casey, life has gotten significantly better for her and she is no longer regressing or so far behind developmentally. There are times that Casey throws tantrums still, but Sarah and Jacob have come to realize this is a signal that there is some problem that Casey wants fixed.  They always find a way to help her figure out what is frustrating her by helping her fix the issue where it seems like she is doing so independently.  For example, she wanted her hair to be put up in a ponytail one morning nearing her tenth birthday, and she could not get it right.  Casey threw a fit and started screaming and crying.  Sarah came into her room and helped her put it up, she also showed her a way to pin back the stray pieces.  Casey receives lots of hugs and smiles too now in her life. Other daily hygiene tasks have been picked up on and Casey can now bathe herself without supervision and after told to can also brush her teeth in the mornings by herself.

Emotions are much easier for Casey as well now. She keeps a key ring of facial expressions in her pocket so when she is very upset or frustrated and cannot verbalize how she feels, she is told to take out the pictures and show the face that shows how she feels whether it is angry, sad, frustrated, or happy. It has been very beneficial for both her teachers and her parents to help her along in developing her emotions.

Casey still does not interact well with others her own age. She is sometimes very excited and wants to play with other children and tries to hug them or kiss them like her parents do for her now. Because Casey is in a special needs class, some of the other children do not like to be touched and this leads to other difficulties. She also tries to disrupt or jump into play between two other children and they force her away. The teachers have warned Sarah and Jacob about her feelings of sadness and loneliness and being left out, but the teachers reassure the parents that it will be better once the other children mature more and as long as they keep working with Casey to enhance her social skills.

Physically Casey is doing average for a child with FASD.  Casey does have small eyes and a shorter stature, but Sarah reminds her that “everyone has been fearfully and WONDERFULLY made.”  She has full use of her large motor skills now but her fine motor skills need some extra work. Because of this, she still has some difficulty with writing in class. Her attention span has become more focused but no more than thirty minutes at a time. Her teachers have found that doing different activities on the same topic have helped in her learning them without being bored by the topic. Casey is also not very good at planning at this stage in life. For example, if she wants to go outside and her parents tell her that she can, she will often run out the door without first putting on a coat or shoes.

Because life is getting better for both she and Casey, Sarah’s mood has increased dramatically. She is happier during the day and very seldom falls into depression like she did before. Sarah is ready to take full control of her life again and on top of having Jacob visiting to spend time with his daughter, she is also starting to date a coworker of hers. She is also thinking of enrolling back into a nursing program and finishing her education.

Jacob is considering offering to Sarah and Casey to move in with him and establishing a family. He knows that for Sarah’s parents, having a 26-year-old daughter and 7-year-old granddaughter is really crowding their house and is a financial burden on them as well since her father is now making much less money than he was years before.

Questions

1. Is Casey’s social development an important factor in her developing toward her independence from mom and dad? How will the way she interacts with her peers now affect her relationships with them in the future?

2. On Jacob’s salary alone, would he be able to afford supporting a family of three, including an adolescent child with severe FAS and special needs? What about the income of both parents?

3. For her age, how many repetitive chores or tasks could Casey have on a daily basis to help her learn patterns and follow step by step instructions?

Decision Point

Does Jacob extend his offer to Sarah and give her a chance to start a family with him for the sake of their daughter or do they leave their relationship as is and continue with weekly visits?

Citations:

Jacobson, J. L., & Jacobson, S. W. (n.d.). Affects of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure on Child Development. . Retrieved June 30, 2014, from http://www.ehd.org/health_alcohol_10.php.

Hage, Deborah.The Lifelong Effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Good Parenting Is Not Enough. Retrieved June 29, 2014, from http://www.deborahhage.com/articles/fas2.html.