Art is a fantastic way to help some people reduce stress and calm their minds. Eight-year-old Lycan is one of those people, which gave Satan’s Little Helper a great idea…
Lycan is an intelligent boy with a busy mind. A “knowledge craver”, he has the capacity to learn much quicker than most other people, which presents some unique challenges. Lycan has been diagnosed with ADHD and displays several traits of autism.
“He was able to read and write really early,” explains his mum Erina. “And we recently discovered that he is ambidextrous, after he broke his arm falling off a seesaw and had it put in a shoulder-to-wrist cast!”
Tragically, at just 18 months old, Lycan also suffered the trauma of watching his father pass away in front of him.
Erina says that caused him to practically stop eating and develop an extremely restrictive diet.
“Seven years later, he has extended the range of food her will eat – but not by much.”
Many helping hands
Lycan is under the care of dietitians, paediatricians, psychologists and mental health social workers, and it’s thanks to their hard work that he has been able to make progress.
Erina says he “loves learning and his friends” but, as his mind is working at twice the pace of the students around him, it can lead to frustration.
“He needs to be under supervision at all times because the mixture of frustration and overstimulation in the classroom can lead to him lashing out. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened in a while and he’s been able to make a good group of mates.”
Stable environment
For some time, Erina has struggled to find a permanent home due to New Zealand’s tough rental market; a situation that has unsettled Lycan and contributed to a period of frustrated behaviour.
Thankfully, Erina now says they finally have somewhere they can call home, which has really helped.
“We lived in five houses in five years, but he’s a lot calmer now that we’ve been in the same place for a couple of years.”
When Satan’s Little Helper heard about Lycan’s story, we asked how we could help. Erina said that a few art supplies would be useful for when Lycan needs to be alone and calm his racing mind – and we loved that idea!
Creating calmness
Lycan says his new art supplies have been really helpful.
“I draw every time I feel angry and I know that when I do, it’ll help me feel better. Art helps to calm me down and keeps me calm.
“I don’t have a favourite thing to draw. I just do whatever comes into my mind at the time. I like using pencils the most and then I’ll do some colouring in. I love that the art sets have so many colours and different things in them!”
Erina says Lycan having his own set, rather than sharing one with his sister, has made the house a quieter, happier place.
“His sister sometimes has a tendency to push his buttons, so now that he has his own art set, the house has been a lot more peaceful!”
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