Self esteem

Its heart breaking when you see how little a person only 8 years old thinks of himself. Right now Cody's self esteem is at an all time low. Sadly he has been branded a bad kid who is too hyper as many ADHD kids are. He now thinks everything that goes wrong is his fault. It really breaks my heart and i am very emotional about this topic. I know he is different, special in my mind is how i look at it. It's hard for me to watch something simple as an argument really get him down. A lot of kids can shrug off a disagreement in minutes. It takes Cody longer and he feels like a failure all together. I am sure he will start adjusting as he is continuously exposed the daily disagreements he may encounter and the everyday small failures but its hard to hear from his teacher at school that he cries in class when he gets overwhelmed because he wants to do a good job but is afraid he will fail. What do you do when your child has no self esteem? We are doing our best to reassure him that he does many things well and that everything that goes wrong is not his fault but that failures are very normal and that it is part of learning to survive in this world. It still breaks a Mom's heart to see her son's heart breaking. I think I have sheltered him too much as he's been growing up. I guess the Internet will be my best friend over the next few days to find a way to solve this issue.

Back in the swing of things.

Since my last post things have gotten better. I met with Cody's teacher last week and we went over his IEP and some things that could possibly be added. Cody's teacher has a son with ADHD so she understands my concerns. Cody is facing the fact that he has to go to school whether he wants to go or not. Once we get on campus he is usually fine. His teacher says that he is getting all of the concepts they are learning. Our big obstacle is going to be those darn timed math tests. It drives me crazy that they have to be timed and its not much time that they have. Wish I could change that. But things are looking up.

Discouraged

We started third grade last week and already Cody is doubting himself. He took a addition, subtraction, and multiplication test last week. He stressed about it big time after I picked him up that day. I reassured him that he did fine as long as he tried his best. I hate to start the new school year like this. He has complained that third grade is too hard. I am doing my best to be positive and give off a positive vibe so he doesn't know that deep down I am stressed that he's stressed. Not to mention I spoke to his teacher and they don't have access to the district files and they don't have a written copy of his IEP...what...seriously!!!?? I spent this morning talking to the office and the RSP teacher to let them know he qualifies for services. I have to bring in my own copy of his IEP to show his teacher. Needless to say, I am stressed.

knocked over filing cabinet

We just sat down with the student success team this past week and found out that Cody does qualify for Speech services. Instead of the 504 plan he now is on an IEP which I think will run just as smoothly as the 504 plan. Cody has made huge progress ever since he received the sit and move seat but we've been concerned now for a little while about his progress with expressive speech. He will start a sentence and not know how to say what exactly he wants to say so I have to help him by throwing out words that he may be thinking. The speech teacher explained it as though your mind is a filing cabinet. When organized you know where everything is but with expressive speech problems it like your filing cabinet was knocked over and everything was mixed up. You know that everything was in there but don't know how to find what you are wanting. I am glad that the problem is getting addressed. He already had his first speech session and seems to like it. I am sure he will be a lot less frustrated once he can say what he's thinking.

April and doing well

The months have gone by so quickly. Soon after the district OT came to observe Cody he was given a special sit and move seat. Ever since then he has been doing great. His teacher says she is witnessing a whole new Cody. A happy one who is getting all of his school work done and understanding everything so much better. I don't know if it's maturity or the seat that is helping him but we are ecstatic. He's been passing all of his benchmarks and is on his way to graduating the second grade! He's feeling pretty good about himself now as well. It has really boosted his confidence...but the attitude lives on. I think that's pretty normal for his age though. I am not worried.

Skinny boy still doesn't eat much as we'd like him too. But he thinks he's tuff.

O.T.

We had Cody tested for Sensory Integration disorder and recently received his results. She did recommend Occupational Therapy with a specialist. She also gave us some ideas to help him focus at school. I meet with Cody's SST every 6 weeks to check his progress. I brought a lot of these ideas to the table and they basically told me that the district O.T. had to evaluate him to get any services. Well, you can imagine how well the District O.T. has been cooperating....AS IN NO HELP AT ALL. She sat in on his class to observe him one day. First of all she came in the morning when of course he's well behaved because his meds are in his system strong. She told his teacher that he's doing fine and she doesn't know why he would need services. If she's a professional, then why would she come observe him in the morning. She's going to come observe him again about an hour later than she did the previous time. We shall see what happens next. I doubt the district is going to be too helpful. It's frustrating though as a parent, usually you know what's right and needed for your child's success. We may have to find and OT that specializes in this in our area now and hope that insurance will help pay...
But Cody is doing pretty well in school. Tons better than last year. He's beginning to like Math and getting better at it so it gives him some confidence where he had zero confidence about 2 months ago. Overall he is progressing in the right direction so we are pretty happy. We love his teacher who is so helpful and goes out of her way to help Cody.

Sensory Integration

What is it you ask? Good question. I didn't know much about it either but I have an Aunt that suggested we have Cody tested. It's the way we respond to our senses from out body and environment and how well they work together. They say that it is the foundation for learning and productive behavior. We took Cody to an Occupational Therapist to have some testing done on this subject. I will be very interested to see his results in a few weeks. Daniel and I sat and watched him do the testing, and I have to admit that we learned a lot ourselves just by watching him. It's very interesting. I will keep updating when we get his results.

Upcoming events!

SST and Sensory Processing testing in a couple of weeks. More info to come...