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"Faking" It????




We recently went through something with Dominic that really had me perplexed.  He was battling a stubborn stomach bug that kept him home from school on and off for about two weeks or so.  After he started feeling better, I got a few phone calls from the school that I needed to go pick him up because he was not himself (crying, complaining, whining) and it appeared he might get sick at school.  When I brought him back home, he would perk up and pretty much be back to normal.  This past Monday, he didn't even last a half hour before his teacher called.  Tuesday, he woke up, but then as soon as I mentioned the word "school" he started saying his head hurt, etc.  It was beginning to really affect the entire family. Lauren thought Dominic was "faking" his problems because as soon as the word "school" was mentioned he starting the crying and the whining.  I wasn't so sure. Dominic does get migraines, but he usually has a whole different set of symptoms attached, so I was stumped as to what was going on.  Frustrating and stressful to say the least.  I asked the teacher if anything different was going on in the classroom and he said no.  Every time I asked Dominic "why" he didn't want to go to school he couldn't answer me.  Those types of questions are still hard for him to answer.  I tried explaining to the hubby and Lauren that we had to approach what was going on with Dominic differently since he has Autism and couldn't fully verbalize what was going on.  Wednesday, he acted normally until school was mentioned and then he broke down.  I was going to be with Lauren at an appointment all morning, so I had to make the hubby come home from work to watch him. My husband was not happy with me, because when I called him, he had been at work less than a half hour.  I started to get a little suspicious of Dominic's antics when I told him that if he was really "sick" he would have to lie down on the couch (no television, etc.). He lasted less than ten minutes and then when my back was turned, he snuck into the living room and got on the computer :)  Thursday, Dominic woke up and again, as soon as I mentioned the word "school" he started the "sick" routine.  I told him that he was getting pizza for lunch and after school he would see me again.  He managed to pull himself together, got on the bus and made it through the whole day. His teacher reported back to me that he did great. Friday, he tried again to "fake" it.  I didn't give in and sent him on the bus.  Again, the teacher reported back to me that he was fine all day. Now that Dominic knows he isn't getting any sympathy from us when he's pretending to not feel well, I don't think he'll be trying to "fake" it anymore!
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