Turtle calls me via Skype every day. Multiple times a day.
The 3rd call last night went like this:
Turtle: I'm calling to say Hi. I love you. My staff told me I can't have my snack.
Me: I love you too. Why can't you have a snack?
Turtle: I didn't take a bath when I got home. I went to rest because I was tired. That's not the deal. I get a snack.
Me: Did you explain to your staff that you always get a snack?
Turtle: No. What am I supposed to do?
Me: Calmly go tell her that you get a snack no matter what. Call me back if you need to.
....3 minutes goes by....phone rings....
Turtle: My staff wants to talk to you
Me: Put her on the phone.
I then launch into the food rules and tell the staff where the menu is posted. They ask me how to control her "behaviors", like slamming doors and cursing. I explain that they need to stay calm and re-direct her. Food is not a reward or a punishment. They gave her a snack. Turtle didn't call back.
Big Daddy then pondered if there are methods for discipline that we haven't tried. There must be consequences for bad behavior, just as with anyone else. Does she get a pass because she is IDD? I suggested that her behaviors are reactions to the inability to cope with anxiety due to changes in the routine. Think back to her response: "I get a snack, that's the deal". Slamming a door over a forgone banana is an excessive response to normally functioning folks. But to her, them's fightin words and you better believe she's slamming doors and cussing you out to get that snack.
Genetically, she tested negative for Prader-Willi Syndrome, but clinically, she's PWS all day.
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