ADHD, Here We Are...

I haven't posted in quite some time. I've been overwhelmed with things since the twins started kindergarten and I've gone back to teaching after the summer. Also, I haven't had that much "news" to report. Except for the big elephant in the room called ADHD... We've known for 3 years now that Drew has been a "highly spirited" child, full of creative ideas and energy to go with it. But then there are times when he is attentive and actively involved in projects like puzzles, Legos, and now K'Nex. He didn't seem to fit in the ADD or ADHD category, at least to me. I've seen both sides of types of the disorder in full scale in my years of teaching. But Drew didn't seem to match these behaviors. Or was it because I'm his mom and not his teacher that I'm skewed?

After many, many different interventions including behavioral modifications at school, sticker charts, Occupational Therapy, teacher conferences, a Child Study meeting, "social group" with the guidance counselor, and observations by social workers, counselors, and special educators, we finally got some clarity.

A co-worker told me about similar challenges she was facing with her son and told me about a study NIH was conducting on ADHD. I called and after about 5 minutes on the phone with the social worker, we were emailed checklists and forms for us and for his teacher to fill out. Long story short, we had his appt. last week and after 6 hours of interviews, testing, a DNA sample and a MRI, he was given the diagnosis of moderate ADHD combined type. Woah, there it was... a ton of bricks in black and white and even explained as, "There is NO doubt in my mind this is not what it is," by the child psychiatrist. We were stuffed into a tiny office where it must have been 100 degrees and I was sweating like crazy. Wait, did I hear that right (because the doctor is British and maybe they call some other milder problem ADHD over there)? Oh yes, we heard it right.

After I took a breath, looked at Darrell (who, by the way, has been diagnosed with ADHD himself through this process), I must say that I was.... RELIEVED. Really? Relieved? Yes, it's true. Relieved. Because now we know where we are headed. Even if it means the daunting decision of what to do next. Medicine or not?

To be continued...