For the last week or so Elisabeth has been pounding her head into the ground. Over and over and over again. She doesn't have much interest in playing, or rolling, or crawling around the family room; she just wants to smash that sweet head of hers full force into the floor. After one full day of this (and one very bruised forehead), we began putting her helmet on her religiously.
Now, we don't just let this happen. The moment it starts we go over and stop her. Donald even gives her a stern (but loving), 'no, Elisabeth' ....which always makes her cry. But the second we walk away she starts it right back up. It has been frustrating, to say the least.
And if dealing with this throughout the day wasn't enough, she began waking at night and hitting her head into the bars of her crib. This ironically started just after she figured out that she could sit herself up in bed. So now we are forced to tuck her blanket tightly around her to prevent her from sitting up in the middle of the night. (My sleep and her head are both grateful for this.)
After doing some research I have come to find out that we are not alone; there are other children who face this problem, many of them with severe mental retardation like Elisabeth, but I still haven't found many answers.
Elisabeth's (wonderful) therapists came on Monday and Tuesday with some great advice and ideas. We are putting them to action...but so far we haven't been successful in stopping the head banging.
Donald and I are a bit baffled. There must be some solution to this problem; we just need to figure out what it is.
In the mean time I'll just be grateful for her helmet.
[ Elisabeth Elva, pre-head-banging era, a.k.a last week ]
