Good days can be really good
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the third in a series of articles about mental health, managing disorders, treatment and local resources available for anyone with mental illness.
Managing mental disorders can require financial investments, life modifications and ample patience, but the results can be rewarding for families that persevere.
Dalane Morgan said the services offered by Ouachita Behavioral Health and Wellness have helped her family manage the mental health of her son, Kameron Halcomb, who is in the sixth grade. He now attends OBHAW’s Children Learning and Implementing Mindful Behaviors, known as C.L.I.M.B., Child and Adolescent Center.
“The bad days are bad, but the good days are really good,” Morgan said.
Halcomb is the second of Morgan’s three sons. Doctors found a cyst on his brain on his first ultrasound, but it was gone by the time he was born.
Morgan said signs of his sensory processing disorder were apparent as soon as he was born. She said raising her first son and working at First Step in Hot Springs helped her learn when he needed to meet certain developmental milestones.
“He was a different kind of baby,” Morgan said. “He did not like to be held. He did not like to be moved a whole lot. He did not like noises.”
According to the Sensory Therapies and Research Institute for Sensory Processing Disorder, the dysfunction is present when sensory signals are either not detected or do not get organized into appropriate responses. A person with SPD finds it difficult to process and act upon information they receive through their senses. It can lead to motor clumsiness, behavioral problems, anxiety, depression and failure in school.
Family members assured Morgan he was just “different.” Halcomb hid in a cupboard or a dryer when he felt overwhelmed by too many people.
Halcomb was evaluated by First Step as a toddler. He showed signs of intelligence, but also SPD. First Step provided occupational therapy and speech therapy, but he never developed intelligible speech after about a year of therapy. He was not able to speak intelligibly until after he was 3 years old.
Halcomb ate dry cat food because he wanted his food to be dry, beige and crunchy. It was a significant occasion when he started eating other food around the age of 10.
“There’s a picture I posted on Facebook from the first time he tried spaghetti,” Morgan said. “I cried, because he had never eaten anything like that before.”
Morgan shops for one set of groceries for Halcomb separate from what the rest of the family eats. He uses a pillow with two textures at home to calm down and previously slept inside of a small tent on top of his bed.
His disorders made attendance in public school a daily struggle. Halcomb also has an unspecified attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, illness anxiety disorder and an unspecified mood disorder. Morgan said she believes he will be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression.
“When we go do things, I have to consider how many people are going to be there, the size of the crowds and if it is going to really be worth it,” Morgan said. “We stopped going to Magic Springs. The last time we had passes, we would only go during the weekdays.”
Multiple adults were needed to remove him from the car when he arrived at school in the morning.
“It was just this awful process,” Morgan said.
Halcomb walked off campus and tried to go home when he did not want to be at school and Morgan frequently checked him out of school for appointments. The incidents led the school to contact the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
“There would be days where he would take off running down the street screaming, ‘She is trying to kill me,’” Morgan said. “I was not trying to kill my son. It would take me until almost noon to get him in the car and get him to school.”
His last day in public school was spent crying outside of the principal’s office after an incident with another student. Halcomb’s disorders make common interactions difficult and he struggled to make friends.
“He has really bad anxiety, but he’s really intelligent and he does really wonderful (at C.L.I.M.B.),” Morgan said.
Morgan said he experienced a “breakdown” five years ago when his parents divorced. He was hospitalized for five days and diagnosed with an unspecified mood disorder.
The first medication Morgan submitted at a pharmacist’s office was more than $270. She said she struggled with accepting he needed medication and could not afford it at such a significant cost.
Morgan said she was able to shop around and find it available for $70. Benefits at Sam’s Club allowed her to buy the medication for just $12.
Medicaid now covers the cost of Halcomb’s medication and treatment. C.L.I.M.B. is designed to help children succeed in a traditional classroom setting and learn social skills, behavioral skills and coping skills through an individualized combination of one-on-one counseling, group therapy, family counseling, life skills training and academics. Daily therapeutic programming focuses on behavior, emotions, family dynamics and classroom work on laptop computers.
C.L.I.M.B. accepts children ages 3-18. Tosha Harvey, a therapist with OBHAW, conducts daily sessions with Halcomb and regular family sessions with Morgan.
Morgan said she recently questioned if he still needed medication because the treatment has been so successful and his attendance at C.L.I.M.B is much easier than taking him to public school. She said she recently ran out of his weekend medication without knowing it.
“This weekend, we got to see, yes, he really does need it,” Morgan said. “We have had lots of good days, months and almost a year of hardly any outbursts and, this weekend, it was awful.
“It ended with him trying to run away. It gets scary, because he just wanted to take off and not be there.”
Morgan urged parents not to ignore warning signs. She said she is now catching up on occupational therapy and eye care for her youngest son because she attributed his behavior to trying to imitate Halcomb.
Lenora Erickson, clinical director for Therapeutic Family Services, recommended screeners on http://www.psychcentral.com for anyone who thinks they may need help.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine is available at 800-950-6264 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time for requests for information on mental health conditions, treatment options, local programs, recovery strategies, resource referral and support. More than 50,000 people contacted the HelpLine in 2015 and received service from NAMI staff, trained volunteers and interns.