Audiology

A couple of weeks ago we took Cody out to Laguna Niguel to see an Audiologist. The recommendation came from the psychologist who performed his Psycho-Ed eval. Sometimes there are other factors that can affect the child's focus on top of the ADHD. Hearing problems have shown to contribute to hyperactivity and loss of focus. We were very anxious to have this testing done. This ADHD thing has really opened a new world to us that we didn't even know existed. It seems that we are lead from one thing and then another and sometimes feels like there's never an end.
Okay, so back to the Audiologist appointment. Her name is Maria Abramson, Au.D., CCC-A, FAAA (what all of those initials mean...I have not a clue) She was extremely nice and really seemed to know what she was doing. She had two sound proof booths, one for Cody and another where we remained to see how Cody performed for the first test. The first test was just your every day...push a button when you hear the sound test. He did fine with this one. Next Daniel and I went back to the front office while she continued with more tests. She took his snack and some water that I had brought with them and said, "he's going to need this".(luckily I brought something) About and hour and half later she appeared at the door to call us back to her office to discuss the results.

So we all know that the brain is an amazingly complicated organ. Luckily I had an good anatomy class in college so I understood everything. Most of us know that the right side of our brain controls the left side of our body. The same goes for your ears. But your speech center is on the left side. Cody has a left ear weakness which means that when he hears out of his left ear it takes more time to process the info. When you hear out of your left ear the sound has to go to the right side of the brain and since the right side of the brain doesn't "talk" the info has to be sent back to the left side of the brain to speak and process. If you have a left ear weakness and someone/teacher is talking fast or softly the right ear may be picking up noises from another source while your left ear is picking up what your teacher is teaching. The info takes longer to process and in that time you are already distracted by the other noise and therefore miss what your teacher is saying because you processed the right ear noise quicker and was distracted by it.
It sounds confusing the way I say it, but the Dr. managed to explain it very clear.
                                                             As you see in this picture the sound goes in the left ear and is

sent to the right side of the brain and then sent back to the left side to the speech center.

This condition is not caused by ADHD, but is it's own disorder that is added on top. There are ways to strengthen his left ear and we plan to try our best to correct this issue. But some reports have shown that this issue improves as the child matures. Like I said, the brain is a crazy, complicated organ.

Next step is to have Cody tested for sensory issues. We are going to cover all of our bases.

Finished with a smile!

Friday was Cody's last day of camp. He completed 5 weeks of "Therapeutic Camp" and I can report that he's made good progress and has learned some coping skills for when he gets frustrated. All of the counselors were sad to hear that Cody wasn't taking part in the 6th week Adventure week. I didn't think he was old enough to do the things they were going to be doing. Anyhow, all of them gave him a big hug or did their special handshakes. It was good to see what good relationships he built with them and a few of the kids there. This is a big accomplishment for Cody. Mostly everyday I picked him up he had a huge smile on his face. Daniel and I feel that paying the money that we did for this camp was well worth it.

 When campers have a good day they give them the award of Camper of the Day. He was pretty stoked to get this along with an Eagle award which is a big deal. I guess not a lot of campers get this. It means that the camper is making huge steps in the right direction and that they can tell. It took us by surprise but we were very proud of him and tried to make him know that it was a big deal. We celebrated with icees!!

 This is a cologe of the many activities they did in the 5 weeks. It consists of rock climbing (which by week 3 he was doing it blind folded), played soccer, went to the beach, had karate lessons by a trained Occupational Therapist, Cody was an Eagle in the short movie they put together. They went to Knott's Berry Farm and Boomers. They also met in groups and talked about the many ways they could make friends and cope with frustrating time.

We can't express enough how proud of Cody we are and how we can see changes here at home in the course of the 5 weeks. Besides having to drive to Huntington Beach everyday (most days in traffic) it was a good experience. I love my little man and I will do anything to make life as an ADHD child easier. I am really hopeful that this camp will continue to help him when he starts school again.

Week three

I am happy to report that Cody is doing very well at camp. The first two weeks were okay with a few issues but now he's a champ rock climber, happy soccer player and master at arts and crafts. They have gone to the beach were he rode a boogie board for the first time and loved it...Daddy wants to take him surfing already. They've gone to Knott's Berry Farm and this last week they went to the Science and Discovery Center. He is now having a lot of fun and getting really good reports from the counselors that his attitude has become much more positive and that he's progressing very well. I am also happy to report that things at home are running smoother as well. We are experiencing much less fits, he's doing chores, listening better, getting along with people better, and being much more independent. We've established new house rules that he's attending to very well after enforcing them very consistently. We are ecstatic with the results we are seeing. We love our little guy and always have, but now things around the house are much more peaceful and positive.

Day three

Day three of Summer Camp Quest, and thus far we are doing well. He was very scared the first day but was soon put at ease by the camp counselors. He had a good report that day. They receive points during the day that at the end of the week they get to use towards a treat from their store. The second day was the first rock wall climb day and Cody was having nothing to do with it no matter what I said or how I said it. I told his counselor that he was very apprehensive to do the rock wall. But turns out he did extremely well (he got bonus points!) and now has said that it is awesome! I was so relieved to hear that he did well and really liked it since they do the rock wall once a week. They also participate in physical ed. through a karate instructor. Another thing that Cody has really enjoyed. So, thus far, things are going in the right direction. We, as parents are also involved in the point system. He has the opportunity to earn 20 points a day at home by working towards his "at home goals". His at home goals are things such as doing his chores, and doing things independently like getting dressed, and starting his own shower water, etc...
We are so glad this is going to be a positive environment for him this summer to learn and have fun.

Cody had his first visit to the hospital (not counting the ER visits). He had to have an EKG to check his QT interval to make sure it isn't prolonged. We should hear back today to see what his results are. We are expecting everything to be fine and hopefully start some new meds to control the hyperactivity. Cody was very nervous but he did a great job. Poor kid has been through so much lately.
We also got the results of his Psycho Ed Analysis and all results point to a focus problem which we pretty much already knew. He did really well visually but auditory he struggled. Overall she said that Cody is a very bright kid but is going to need help learning. I've committed myself to working with him almost every day of the week this summer to keep him at grade level.
We were also referred to an Auditory Center which I am going to get an appointment as soon as his camp ends in August. They will be able to tell us if he's hearing things/sounds differently and how we can help him learn.

another med...

Well, just a short note to say that we went to the Dr. yesterday for Cody's annual physical/well check and spent the whole time discussing his meds. Cody now needs to have an EKG to see if he has a long QT wave length...or something with the QT and seeing if he has some heart problems before adding new meds. We may be adding a new med to tame the hyperactivity that his meds (Strattera) now is not controlling. We also discussed turrets disorder and how it's a motion disorder. We spent about 30-45min. going over what meds control what symptoms. It kind of made my head spin because there are so many different symptoms lumped under ADD disorder. I am grateful that I have Daniel to talk calm me down when I leave the Dr.'s office. He processing things quicker than I do. I need some time to let all the info sink in and then I am ready to start doing more research on the new info.
Daniel and I are also going to Cody's psychologist tomorrow to discuss the results of his Psycho Educational Analysis. I will admit I am a bit overwhelmed and am hoping we get good news that he's on track and should be prepared for the second grade. I will update after we have our parents meeting tomorrow.

We made it!!

Celebrate good times...COME ON!!

Oh what a relief...1st grade is done! Second grade here we come!!

After a short break of course!

Here is Cody's awesome 1st grade teacher Mrs. Deegan.

I felt a deep need to make a big deal of Cody's accomplishment since he hates school and struggled so hard. Cody finally stopped playing with the kids he was having trouble with. The last few days of school Cody behaved very well and his teacher said it was because one specific boy in the class that bothers Cody wasn't there. I am hoping that Cody will have a new group of kids in his second grade class to see if his behavior improves.

 I spent most of the last day of school with Cody at his class while they played in their mini gym and had a pizza party for lunch.