In February, Beckham's parents (Ryan & Marna) noticed that he had started to pull his hair out. They asked why he was doing it and his response was, "I don't know." They asked if he noticed when he was pulling it out or if it hurt. He didn't notice and it didn't hurt. They knew something was going on, something was triggering the hair pulling. Initially they thought it was boredom. Beckham is two to three grades above his reading level and they thought he might just be bored in class, so he was pulling his hair out.
The following day they asked if the teacher had noticed Beckham pulling out his hair. At first the response was, "not really", then added that it was noticed while he was taking tests. Now they had another possible trigger, anxiety. They took him to the doctor and he was prescribed anxiety meds. They didn't seem to be making any difference and the hair pulling continued. They told him he couldn't pull out his hair anymore, so he moved to his eyebrows. They told him he couldn't pull out his eyebrow hairs anymore, so he pulled out his eyelashes. Once they told him he couldn't do that, he tried his arm hair, but that hurt too much, so he stopped that. The hair pulling continued and Beckham's parents continued to search for the trigger without any success.
About three weeks ago Beckham starting calling home during school, almost everyday. One time it was because his teacher told him he couldn't go to the bathroom. Ryan was upset about this and talked to the teacher to make sure Beckham wasn't denied anymore trips to the bathroom. The reasons for the calls turned to tummy aches and other aliments. About two weeks ago the call was about how "Joe" had shoved paper in his ear during class. Marna thought it was an excuse, because he had been calling home so frequently; she told him to go back to class. The next day he called home saying that "Joe" had put wood chips in his ear. Marna took him to the doctor to see what was going on. She was thinking that he might be doing this because he was bored, wanted a reason to call home, had an ear infection, or for some other reason. On their way to the doctor, Marna told Beckham that he might have to go to a different school if it was "Joe" sticking stuff in his ear. Without hesitation, Beckham asked if he'd still be able to play with one of his friends if he switched schools. Marna said he would be able to and Beckham said that he wouldn't mind switching schools then. This was another sign to Marna that something was going on; kids are usually not OK with switching schools. At the doctor's office they ended up pulling out a wood chip and piece of paper. The wood chips had scratched his ear canal and ear drum. It caused an infection, which he still has today.
wood chip and paper from his ear
Beckham's teacher told them he had been asking to call home at least twice a day for months. He had figured out that if he asked before centers, he'd be allowed to call home, because it was a different teacher. He had also been asking to go to the bathroom twice every hour for months. His teacher had given him a stress ball to squeeze when he got anxious/nervous instead of hitting himself in the head. This was all news to Marna; none of these behaviors were ever passed along to her. They considered ADD, OCD, or other disorders as the cause for these behaviors, because they could not pin-point where they were coming from, nothing was making sense. They also didn't know what to make of the wood chip and paper in his ear; they didn't know if he had done it or if it really was "Joe". Surely if "Joe" had put them in his ear during class the teacher would have seen or heard about it, Marna would have gotten a call from someone. Marna felt like she left that meeting with more questions to be answered then when she entered it. She had no clue what was going on, but she knew there was something.
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