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;void(0)) Ms. Smith took her son, Johnnie, to a child therapist because he was exhibiting symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks and nightmares. Johnnie was being home schooled for the past three months because he had been missing several days of school due to frequent somatic complaints like stomach aches, headaches, and asthmatic attacks, and they came on more intensely whenever she and her husband forced him to go to school. While at home his day was well organized by his parents and the school tutor who would make weekly visits to make certain that his assignments were done. Both Mr. and Ms. Smith were managers at their respective jobs so they were able to bend their schedules to accommodate their son's day. They were also able to afford to pay for a part-time sitter from the local high school to come in and help out with filling in the time that they could not be there. At home Johnnie spent much of his time doing his assignments, watching TV, playing video games, and playing with his one close friend, Louie, in the fenced-in backyard. He had plenty of interests and hobbies and did not seem to be bored. Johnnie was content being at home, and he was keeping up with his assignments. When she took the child in for therapy Ms. Smith was at her wits' end, because she seemed to be doing all of the right things yet matters seemed to be growing worse. Johnnie started developing more aggressive asthma attacks which seemed to be stress related. They had to fire the baby-sitter because she allowed him to watch a spooky movie with her one evening. He woke up in the middle of the night screaming. When Ms. Smith ran into his room she found Johnnie sitting at the edge of his bed hyperventilating. His friend, Louie, stopped coming around because they started getting into fights. Louie and Johnnie liked each other because their parents were close. They also had in common, a fervent love for collecting baseball cards. Louie was good at card trading and he felt sorry for Johnnie because no one else seemed to like trading with him. So, he would often give him some of the good deals he got from the other kids in the neighborhood. At some point, Louie had a card that Johnnie wanted and Louie refused to let him have it, so a fight erupted. He told him to get out of his yard and not come back. Louie called him a few words and exited. The parents intervened and ironed things out but Louie stopped coming around as often as before. Mr. Smith was the foreman of a subcontracting firm. He was a large boisterous man. The only thing he liked more than a cold beer and the football games on TV was coaching little league baseball. Through his efforts he got Johnnie a pitching position with one of the teams in the local league. Johnnie was not a good pitcher and would often have a tantrum when the coach would pull him from a game when he gave up too many walks or hits. These incidents would usually turn into a fiasco at home with Ms. Smith taking Johnnie's side against the coach. Mr. Smith would grow more and more sullen, distancing himself from the rest of the family. After the blowout with Louie, Johnnie would stay in the house more. Mr. Smith would sometimes offer to take him out to the park to practice his swing and pitching skills but Johnnie would complain about his stomach or his allergy to the playground grass. As these and other conditions at home started to deteriorate the Smiths decided to have Johnnie return to school but that intensified the symptoms even more. It was at this juncture that Ms. Smith reluctantly decided to take the child in for professional help. The therapist obtained permission from the Smiths to contact the school and get some feedback from Johnnie's teacher. He was not surprised to find that the child had been having similar problems in the classroom. The teacher tried to tell Ms. Smith but she was reluctant to listen and insisted that the problem lay with some of the students and with the school. The information from the teacher went a long way in providing clues to unravel the mystery behind Johnnie's problems. We will discuss this case and some of the issues related to this case in the next installment of the Aton Project. Please e-mail me and let me know your thoughts on this matter. Oh yeah, don't forget your autographed copy of “The Ackee Chronicles”. Tony VanSluytman - the Author  Newsletter Directory The Aton Project - Home Page Tony VanSluytman info Tony VanSluytman - the Author | Return Home | The BOOK DOCTOR | The BANYON NETWORK | The Banyon Buzz Newsletters | The Aton Project Newsletters | Contact Us | |
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