Crazy New Idea

C has a friend at work who is ADHD, she is in her thirties, I think, and had it so severe she got expelled from schools and fired from many jobs because she couldn't pay attention to anything. (how frustrating, right?!) She has a daughter who is about 9K's age who is also very ADHD. She discovered about 10 years ago that high doses of caffine counter effect the ADHD. She drinks red bull in the morning and afternoon and it works the same that ritalin does, it calms her down and lets her focus. She lets her daughter do the same, and it works the same on her as well. Now, C and I are debating giving this a try before we do meds. Both of us are worried about the affects taurine and caffine have on kids, but I started drinking coffee when I was 12 or 13...only a few years older thank 9K. Then again, I'm severly addicted to coffee and only 5 foot 1. *sigh* I'm gonna have to do more research on this, but it looks like maybe it could be an avenue that keeps us away from medication. We shall see...

9K and his diagnosis

Thank you Lacey for reminding me I had yet to post that! :)

9K was diagnosed by the school psychologist, who has been meeting with him weekly all year, as ADHD and ODD. Now, I was a child psych major for 2 years, but I had never heard of ODD. I don't know how I missed that, or why I didn't think there was a diagnosis for this issue, but it makes perfect sense. ODD stands for Oppositional Defiance Disorder. You can read more about it here:http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_with_oppositional_defiant_disorder

I don't know how to put a link in. I am just not that skilled. Sorry.

It defines 9K. I should have caught this and now I feel guilty and determined to seek help for him now that I am aware. Like I said in my last post, he has his first meeting with a child/family psychologist in 2 weeks. We are addressing this issue. We are working on the diet, and we feel he is doing better at home. But of course as soon as I feel that way this happens...

I recieved this e-mail from one of his teachers today.

Dear K and C,

We have been working with 9K since we met at his IEP. He comes into room 23 from 8:30 to 9:30 Monday through Friday. We work with him on Language Arts. It is quite a struggle for him to attend, even in a group of one teacher to four students. In his classroom, he is impulsive and inattentive. His MAPS scores went down and we'd like to share those with you. He scored lower on a math Posttest in class this week, than on the pretest. I would like to invite you to come to His School and observe or "shadow" 9K some morning during his academic time in my room 23, and in his classroom. It would help us open up further dialogue with you on how we can best help him to attend to instruction. For example, he was chewing gum in my class on Monday. I told him on Tuesday that this was alright to do, in my room, since it is a strategy that helps some ADD/ADHD people focus better. How do you feel about this strategy for him? Please call me at His School at... and let me know when you can come in and observe and/or shadow 9K working. It will give you a better picture of how challenging it is for him to learn in school. Thank you for your interest in working with us, for 9K's learning.

This is a ploy. I know a lot of you read that and think, "oh what attentive and caring teacher this lady is" But no. See the bold text. I know what she means. She means...PUT THIS BOY ON MEDS! I see it loud and clear. We know he struggles. And if C went in to shadow him like she was suggesting he would do just fine, be on his best behavior. It would not give us a good idea of how it's working. It might be the same if I went in, but usually he is much better behaved for his father than me, since he is still testing the waters and figuring out what he can and can't get away with. We will see. I'm going to call the teacher and see if I can come in on a thursday because I don't work and don't have classes till 2:30. *sigh*

I'm gonna go veg on the couch now and debate how much healthy choice ice cream you can eat before it's no longer a healthy choice. :)

-K

Ahem I'm not dead.

So I know I said I would post regularly since I was back online at home, but the thing is, I have always done most of my posting at work, (aka on other peoples time) and since they decided I was spending too much time on their computers (yeah yeah whateva) they turned them off/locked them up. So I've gone 3 weeks with out even so much as LOOKING at blogger. Well muah-ha-ha they left it on today and baby is sleeping plus my homework is done so here I am. Typing away. I've missed writing so much. I've starting having angry dreams, you know the ones where you wake up and glare at the perfectly innocent party lying in bed next to you? I think it's because I've been neglecting my writing. Last night I dreamt C had scattered my neatly color-seperated laundry ALL OVER the house looking for one shirt. I mean it was everywhere. Dirty clothes everywhere. And the worst part? He didn't care! This is one of my biggest pet peves. I have between 4 and 5 laundry baskets out at all times to keep it from even touching my floor, not to mention the big one in the closet. So all together I have 3 in the closet, (one of those large seperator ones) 1 in my bathroom, 2 in my bedroom (one of me, one for C) and 1 in the kids room. That is 7 laundry baskets. I'm a nut case, I tell you. So I woke up this morning angry as a cat in bathwater glaring at him. That was when I decided I needed to get back to my writing. :)

Updates:
We had a big meeting at 9K's school with (deep breath) the principal, the school psychologist, the assistant school psychologist, the school nurse, the head of the Special Ed. department, and of course, his teacher. C, the Ex and I all came too. We squeezed into this tiny little room and sat in little bitty chairs. It was very informative but on the same level C and I got quite upset. They were all pushing for 9K to be put on meds. They argued with C and I up and down about the diet he's on and how we are holding him back by not puting him on meds. I felt like I was in 7th grade again being asked to smoke pot. The guilt trip was immense. We went home, sat down and took a deep breath and talked for about 2 hours. We think the diet is helping. We think it would help a HELL of a lot more if the Ex didn't screw it up every other weekend and on thursdays by giving him pure crap. We think the vitamens are helping. We think the consistant schedule is helping and we think the fact we put him in sports is helping. (His first soccer game was last thursday! sooooo awesome!) He has his first appointment with a child psychologist next tuesday. We are doing everything possible to keep him off meds. We had a talk with the Ex and she is going to 'try' to do the diet as well and we will see if that helps. The school people said we are running out of time and he needs meds now but C and I begged them to let us at least try this for 2 months. So we are fighting basically the whole school board and his mother to keep him from being a little drone. We are working so hard, and I feel more and more everyday like there is this big countdown clicking over his head until he gets taken in and perscribed drugs for something I KNOW we can control with out them. *sigh*

As I've mentioned since 9K has moved in with us, the Ex is now calling every night to get C to control 4K. It's rediculous. I've had it to here with this crap. I'm furious she wants to put 4K in kindergarten because it's free and she doesn't have to pay for daycare anymore. 4K has not gone to preschool. Her daycare provider does "preschool things" but it is not in the strictest sense a preschool. 4K does not know her colors, she does not know her numbers, she can't write her name, she cant' stand in line, she can't sit still during circle time, just to start the list of reasons she needs Preschool. Her daycare provider even said she's not ready. So last night I told the Ex this. She said she knows I'm trying to help but it's her decision. I replied, Her and C's, correct. But by now she should know that C's choice is what we have discussed or basically, my decision. I'm so irratated she keeps calling me because she doesn't want to talk to C. I have told her countless times it's between them mostly cause I just don't want to get in the middle. But at least this way she won't call me for a while cause now she's mad at both of us. lol...

Other than that life is busy crazy as always..I hope everyone is doing great and Happy early Valentines Day!!!