Fiona's New TV

I talked to Fiona last night and she has her TV set!  She has been through many TV sets since moving to her group home.  Previous ones have typically fallen victim to her anger, swept off a table or kicked when she was not able to control herself.  I bought the first two for her (off of Craiglist so they were not new but were really nice)  After that, I told her she was responsible for the replacements of any that were damaged due to rages.  If it just died, I would replace it.  A stream of TVs have followed, found by the side of the road, found on line.  Most met very untimely fates.

Part of it is the dynamic of group home life.  Her room is the space she is supposed to go to when she is out of control.  This makes her belongings at higher risk for destruction or damage. The Great School in the Big City had amazing "time out rooms" so this happened less.  Kids could go to their rooms, but there were also these rooms scattered through the school with gigantic bean bag chairs in them where they could also go to regain composure.

So back in the late fall, Fiona called and said she wanted to buy a TV set and wanted to save her spending money for it.  She subsequently showed me the TV set she wanted and it was gigantic.  Our living room TV is 42 inches and this was bigger than that. Crazy big, but to Fi, this was the TV of her dreams.  Staff and I worked out a budget so she could save for it, but I didn't really think she would follow through.  Long term planning is so very hard for Fiona because she has no time sense. So everything feels like forever to her,   Tomorrow, next Friday, a month from now?  It is all hugely far away to her.

I am excited though because she did it!  She now has the TV.  Best of all, staff came up with a plan to mount the TV on the wall (I think with a plexi glass shield over it) so it may even be protected when she is out of control physically.

This is such a positive experience for Fi.  She saved for something; she can literally see the fruits of her efforts.  I am beyond excited!