She's been home for three days

from her vacation, which she hasn't mentioned. Except that she is glad to be back and all her stuff is here.
She started school on Monday, she starts the day out well, but by lunch, she is pretty spent. And she sleeps in late and has thirty minutes of medication to do. Which means we get a good two to three hours out of her and then she is defiant and uncooperative. Which means, MommyT gets "PE" (go outside and run, run, run, then come inside and do yoga 20-30 minutes total) Then MommyM gets language arts, and a little of whatever else is on the schedule (45-60 min, total) then "recess" and lunch, then she's been up for three hours and is done cooperating but she has three to four hours of assignments left and did I mention shes DONE? Who decided that five year old children were ready for 6 hours a day of school?
And with RAD???
I'm feeling bad that she ends up spending almost her whole awake day working because she refuses to do the work.
This is stuff that we know she knows.
Let's discuss "observe"
Sunshine learned the word on Monday.
She used it fifty times.
she used it ten times on Tuesday.
after lunch, MommyM got to the progress "test" and Sunshine did't know the word.
MommyM did the whole "pretend she surely doesn't know" game after three tries and says the answer is "observe, when we observe we look at the parts of something and try to describe it." SUNSHINE...ah sweet Sunshine... she says, "I KNEW THAT THE WHOLE TIME I just didn't want to tell YOU that. Duh."
She used the word at least ten times today. And she was at Respite from noon to six.

We also tried something else new tonight.
Creative Journaling.
She sat quietly on the floor of the office listening to soft instrumental music while I gathered supplies, so that she could find her calm.
I pulled out a clear plastic box and opened it.
Speeking softly I showed her the brand new box of crayons, box of colored pencils, and sketch book."These are just for Sunshine. You get to use these items for making a journal. (Hold up the book) This is YOUR journal. No one else gets to use this journal. You don't have to share anything you write in this journal. (Hold up the crayons and pencils) These are your journaling supplies. No one else will use them, and they can only be used for your journaling."
Sunshine nods her head.
"Now, you will not get directions for whatever you do, but you need to listen to the directions. You only get ONE page every day. So if you decide not to follow the directions, can you change to this page and start over?"
Sunshine shakes her head.
"That's right. But am I going to say anything if you aren't following directions?"
She doesn't respond at all.
"NO. Because it's not.my.journal. It's Sunshine's journal. You can't use more than one page per activity, but if and how you do that activity, is your choice. The only reason I care about your journal is if you are doing something and if you want to tell me about that something. Any questions?"
Sunshine asks, "and you're gonna check that I did it right after I's done?"
MommyT, "Nope. If you need to talk about something you did, or you need me to write down your words so you can remember them later, that's fine, I will write words for you until you are ready to write for yourself. Every day we do this, I will write the date at the top of the first page we do, after that it is up to you. Okay?"
She looks distrustfully but nods.
I write the date at the top of the page and hand her her journal. I read the most basic activity to her, "Scribble. No pictures of things, just draw shapes and lines and feel how the materials feel." Then I let her go.
I turned around and started my own activity, letting her do her thing.
She spend twenty minutes coloring in black, checking my face regularly to see a reaction. There was none but after twenty minutes, I "noticed" her checking on me (for the fiftieth time) and said, "it looks like you're winding down. I'll give you ten more minutes, then we will put things away." I returned to my project.
All of a sudden, the black crayon was put away and things were in color. After the ten minutes, I saw that she was loosing interest and told her it was time to clean up. She quickly put everything away neatly. I asked, is there anything you want to talk about? Did you feel anything while you were working?"
She told me she felt "happy". I have realized this week, that "happy/good" is Sunshine's way of saying 'I'm not opening up to you'. I don't really know how to respond to that. Ideas??? Tips from the trenches?
I let it go, then showed her where I was putting her stuff, and reminding her that it is hers and no one else will use it.
I made sure she saw me put it away, turned off the music, and we left the room.
Sigh... Art is supposed to be good for healing. I hope this works. We sit close together, but each have our own space, she can't really get in trouble (unless she gets violent/destructive), and she can't fail because there is no assessment. It stays pretty well on her own time span, unless she is still engrossed but wearing down, then the project gets paused until the next session.
So it gives her a lot of time, freedom, control and attention.
Isn't this supposed to be the magic recipe?

Here's hoping.