the good, the bad and the ugly

Well, we are now into the third week of Cody's new meds. I just increased the dosage today and am hoping that I see more results from the meds in the next few days. I am happy to report that we had a follow up SST with the school on Monday and it went very well. The school seems very willing to work with us. We also filled out the paperwork to get Cody started on a 504 plan. This plan will give him special accommodations to be able to be more successful with his academics. We are a little bit bummed that we didn't get this done sooner but there hasn't been very good communication between us and the school prior to me really starting to question how well Cody is doing.

Daniel and I were able to meet with the therapist yesterday that directs the camp that he will be attending this summer. We told her all about Cody and she gave us some recommendations, including that we should request a full Psycho educational evaluation from his school to see exactly where he is in his academics. We will take Cody to meet with her in a couple of weeks. We are very hopeful that this camp will help Cody.

This morning I left Cody at school fighting with another boy that he doesn't get along with and his teacher being totally overwhelmed by them and trying to get her class ready for library time. It's so frustrating because I can't do anything or stay to help until my background is cleared by the district and it's been 3 weeks now. It's not like I have some major conflicts in my past that should be holding this process up! Being a Mom you want to take control of the situation but you have to step back and let the teacher handle it. I stayed in the hallway until her student teacher came but as I was leaving I heard Cody tell the teacher that his so called friends were hurting his feelings. UUGGHH!!! I really wish he would make some new friends. This group of boys he plays with are just the worst! One minute they are nice and the next minute they are mean. So much drama for being in the first grade!

I left with such mixed feelings, wanting to help but knowing that there's nothing I can do...

Day two on new meds

Today marks the second day that Cody has been on his new meds. So far we've had no side effects. No decrease in appetite, no tiredness at school and no anger like previous days. So far things are looking up. Only one thing...no huge results with the hyperactivity so that's either telling me that the dosage may be too low or it's not working. We are hopeful that the dosage is too low. We will be able to increase it in a few days. Lets keep our fingers crossed!!

Next bit of good news is that I found this summer camp that is offered to kids with ADHD. It's called Quest Camps and is directed by what seems to be a very well qualified Psychologist. I spoke to her today and already got Cody all registered. They do 36 hours of therapeutic exercises made into a day camp. They also have little outings to Knotts Berry Farm, Wild Rivers, The Aquarium of the Pacific and other little adventures. The camp is located in Huntington Beach and we are very excited for Cody. I think it sounds like a lot of fun. We were contemplating putting him into the after school/summer program at school just for the socialization practice but this will be much more productive. The camp has research and is backed by studies that have shown these kids have great improvements made in a summer. I had to fill out a very detailed questionnaire about Cody's behavior and goals to make at home and at the camp. They have a good reward system too. They also do some type of therapy sessions through rock climbing...interesting in the least. We are very excited also that it will keep him busy for 6 weeks (give me some rest time)in the summer and make some new friends. Above and below are a couple of the pictures from the website.

A doctor visit

Well, here we go again...we are switching meds again. At our SST (student success team) meeting the school psychologist suggested that we look into switching Cody to a non-stimulant medication. Shows how much I knew and did my homework...I didn't know that there were non-stimulant ADHD meds. Right now Cody is on Adderall which is making him react very emotionally to every little thing and he is still getting distracted in class. After hearing that his Dr. talked to us about switching to Strattera. The only down side is that this med only works for about 50% of people that take it. It doesn't affect sleep and appetite like the Adderall did. We are keeping our fingers triple crossed that it works on Cody because it would mean that his emotional issues will at least be a ton less intense and frequent. It could be 1 week or up to 4 weeks before we know what the full benefits could be if any at all. We are really hoping this med does work on him. His teacher counted how many times Cody would get angry at the other kids in his class for things such as kicking the leg of their desk or tapping their finger on their desk. The total was a whopping 24 times in 6 hours. He's having sensory overload. There are some days where he doesn't react so many times but I was blown away. Daniel and I are still waiting to be approved to work in Cody's class. I am very anxious to see how he behaves when we are there helping. Please keep us in your prayers that this new med works for Cody. It's hard to know how upset he gets and sometimes at night when we talk about things that happened that day he tells me "I just couldn't help it, I can't control my body". On a brighter note, we are happy to report that Cody has passed all of his tests and is on his way to graduating 1st grade.

Like a lamb to the slaughter house

Today I sent my son to school knowing that he isn't getting along with his friends and hates recess time. We had a talk last night before he went to bed. He feels like his friends are mean to him and the other kids don't want to play with him because they think he's a bad kid. It's heartbreaking but what do you do...he has to go to school. He's been suffering socially and it's affecting his school work. Last week report cards came out. He hasn't made any improvements socially from last semester. We have our follow up SST (student success team) in a couple of weeks. I am frustrated with the slow process of trying to get my child on a 504 plan. All of the hoops you have to jump through are ridiculous. I am trying to help my child succeed in school and the school year will be over soon. I have been working an extra hour a day with him on things that he needs practice on and he has a tutor session once a week. He has improved his reading up to grade level which was a concern a month ago. It seems like you make progress and then there's something else that comes up like this friend thing now. I left him this morning and he was walking with another kid to class so that is hopeful. It still feels like I am sending him off to the slaughter house.

Welcome!!

I decided that it was time to set up a blog to journal my family's experiences dealing with ADHD. I am not an experienced writer nor a medical expert. I am only a protective Mother who loves her son with all of her heart. I make mistakes just like everyone but am trying to give my son the best life he can have. Life with ADHD in your family has it's own unique struggles. I hope to find others in the same situation. My son who is 7 years old was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5. We always suspected something was up because he was always very hyper/active, didn't sleep well, had many ear infections which we believe set him on a path to be speech delayed and led to aggressive behaviors. As he aged he began to show more signs. He wasn't very socially comfortable. He hit, pushed, took toys away from others and really valued his personal space. He also wasn't able to convey what he was trying to say through words so he would try to show by actions. His vocabulary was very limited. He was very impulsive. As his Mother I tried to shelter him and avoid play groups so that we wouldn't have to face any difficult situations, like a fight with another child, but come to find out that wasn't helping him. He had a wonderful Preschool teacher that put us in the right path to get him tested for ADHD. What is sad is that there are still people out there who do not believe the disorder exists. Just spend a day with my family and you will change your mind. I invite others to share their stories and struggles. We can learn so much from each other.