I had a crazy dream early this morning.  I was in a company parking lot looking for my car.  All of a sudden a man started running wildly through it; he appeared to be in his twenties.  He was attacking people at random but it didn’t appear like he was trying to hurt them.  It seemed more like he was trying to get himself noticed.

The problem was that he was hurting them and no matter how much we tried to tell him this he ignored us and kept on with his play.  It got so bad that someone called the police who arrived and took him into custody.  They stayed long enough to question us before dispersing everyone. Afterwards the police left and I found myself alone.

Well, not alone, it seemed like the man had been forgotten.  But he hadn’t stopped playing; he continued running around the parking lot.  Now you could see how much fun he was having.  He was laughing as he started smashing things in his path.  I pulled out my phone and called 911.  When it was answered I told them what was happening.  They were very interested and started asking me questions.  I answered that we needed the police and for some reason when they were here before they did not take him with them.  This surprised them and they questioned me some more.

All of a sudden I had to interrupt the conversation; the man was now lifting up windshield wipers and snapping them off as he moved from car to car.  I spoke to him several times but it was if he couldn’t even hear me.  He then started running up the street and yelling exuberantly.  I tried to get the people on the phone to commit to sending another police car but they were still interested in asking more questions.

“Are you awake?”

It was my wife coming into the bedroom.

“Um, yeah, ” I muttered.

“I’ve been up since 4:30 with that boy.  Can you take him now?  It’s 5:30.”

I struggled out of bed still groggy.  I went downstairs to find him watching a video on the computer a friend had sent him.  Max is 8 years old and has been diagnosed with, among other things: adhd, bipolar disorder, and asperger’s syndrome/pdd-nos.  He is also very high energy; but this is not surprising since each of these disorders includes this as a symptom.  And we never know when he is going to get up in the morning; it can be any time between 3 and 7:30.  But when he does we expect a wild time until his meds start working.  This can include screaming, swearing, smashing things, or just happily doing marathons in the house.  Coupled with the med change he is going through right now, this has led to some hectic times.

By the time I got up he was calm and enjoying the video.  When it was over we moved to the living room to watch a fun movie starring Jackie Chan called “The Forbidden Kingdom” before he got dressed and headed off to school.

The dream has stayed with me this morning; does it have a meaning?

Like this man, Max likes to:

• Get into people’s space.

• Smack his Mom in the butt as he passes or run at me and bounce off my stomach while saying “Fat Daddy!”

• Toss things around but doesn’t expect them to break.

• Be noticed.

• Ignore people when they are talking, as if he is deaf.

• Run exuberantly around the house or down the street while yelling.

It seems like that this man could be the future Max.  However, I was talking to Max’s therapist this morning and I told him the dream.  He says that, even though this could happen, we still have time to change things.  The frontal lobe in his brain is still forming.  In boys it doesn’t become fully developed until they are 25.  We, as parents, will be taught the skills we need by the therapist to help develop it.  We will do this by helping Max learn the coping skills he will need later on in life to survive in the world.

What is the frontal lobe?

It is the part of the brain that is at the front of the head.  Scientists believe it may control the personality, emotions, and long-term memory. If it is damaged at all it can affect problem-solving and reasoning abilities.  Disorders such as adhd and bipolar disorder appear to be symptoms of this problem.

Why is this where we concentrate our efforts?

It seems that very young healthy children learn problem-solving and reasoning through play; this in turns develops the frontal lobe.  However, this result may be inhibited in children with a disorder.  If we teach Max these skills it will help it mature more properly.

Will this cure him?

Probably not but if we do our jobs correctly then Max won’t become the man in my dream.  He will have learned to control the behaviors that can cause these outbursts.

How is this going to work?

Max’s training started several months ago with his therapist and child advocate, and we have seen some changes.  But this is our first day of training.  As we continue to learn and apply our new skills I will write more about how it is progressing.