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.

Cody had a spirit assembly at his school today. The kids get awards if they've accomplished something in the past few months. Cody received an award for his Perseverance. He has worked pretty hard this year and we are very proud of him. All but one reading test is done for this school year. Next we are having Cody get a Psycho Educational Evaluation. These are subject specific testing to address behavior health problems and to see exactly where he's at in his academics so we know what to work on this summer and be prepared for come next school year. We were also informed that his principal will be retiring this year. We really loved our school principal and she has helped Cody out so much. We can only hope that the next one will be as flexible and loving towards Cody. We are anxious to find out who Cody's second grade teacher will be. I have been doing my research and hope I don't annoy his teacher too much. Daniel and I have continued helping out in Cody's class and we really enjoy it. The kids are very loving and are always excited when you show up to help. It's been a great experience this year. A lot has happened. We are very grateful for everyone who has supported us!

Cody getting his award from the principal

Back to school

I've spent two mornings at Cody's school this week helping out in the classroom. It has been so much fun but a huge eye opener to what this next generation could be like. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful teacher this year. She does an amazing job and believe me, she has her hands full!! What really surprised me, and I guess it really shouldn't but there are some kids in Cody's class that have real issues and it doesn't seem like the parents help them. I am in no place to judge others but I just know how important early intervention is. Some of these kids have real emotional problems. It's sad and makes you want to give them a big hug and help them in any way you can. It's a bit overwhelming. One of my jobs was to help one child with his spelling test. He totally shut down and kept saying that he didn't study and doesn't know his sounds. When I heard that it made me a bit angry towards his parents. I know that parents these days have a lot of their shoulders but if you choose to have children you need to help them be successful. I know what it is like to have a special needs child and how much support and studying he needs to do.
Any how, I will definitely be back to help out and am glad that I have the time to do so. My plea...parents, please help your children be successful!

last week

We are now in our last week of the new medication (Strattera). We go back to the Dr. on Wed to discuss the results. It's hard to say if it's working or not because he's been out of school for a week. The next few days in school should tell us something. But the Psychologist we talked to told us the full benefits of Strattera won't show until about 6-8 weeks.
I am trying to become as knowledgeable as I can so I've been reading a new book that the Psychologist we met with recommended. The book suggests having your child eat a good protein filled meal for breakfast and lunch. Protein is supposed to help with the inattention, and other behaviors that come along with ADHD. I took inventory of all the food Cody will eat and checked the protein and Iron levels. As healthy as Daniel and I are, we are way more relaxed with Cody's eating...which has become a bad thing. Needless to say there are now some snacks that have been thrown out. Cody isn't the best eater so we've been trying extra hard to get him to eat new things. He now wants a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast! The book suggests to buy some type of protein powder that you can put into food or drinks. We already happen to have a chocolate protein powder that we take so we've been putting it in Cody's milk. Cody is a big water drinker so we have to force him to drink the chocolate milk!
The book also recommends that you work on one behavior you would like to change a week. That way it gives them more time to focus on just the one behavior. This book was full of good ideas and I can't wait to start implementing them into our everyday lives.

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.