WBRepo-Ship of Thieves-Remember the Magic Pt3

[edna mode]

OK...Here are the details: His official diagnoses (yes, plural) are mild ADHD - nonspecific (he said that basically means it's only a small part of things and that there are multiple other issues), ODD (oppositional defiance disorder) - moderate, learning disabled (which we already knew-for math, reading, writing), Emotional Impairment - mild, Sensory Integration Dysfunction (which we already knew and is why we go to occupational therapy), and Adjustment Disorder w/Anxiety.

He said if Tyler were an adult, he'd give him Celexa (an anti-depressant) but that there are too many studies about anti-depressants in kids and increased suicidal thoughts. Now it's recommended that drs. don't give them to kids under 18. So he gave us Risperdal. It's an anti-psychotic drug, and he said of course Tyler isn't psychotic, but that in low doses it's been found to reduce anxiety and aggression.

He said the diagnoses will likely change as Tyler grows and his brain matures, and he had to decide what were the most serious issues at this time. He said the aggression and the inability to focus were the 2 biggest issues in his opinion. He wants to only treat one area at a time to see what's left after eliminating some of the issues. It's his thought that it's possible that Tyler's inability to focus could be related to extreme anxiety and that if we eliminate that anxiety, he might be able to focus better, but there's no way of knowing until we start working on each thing. He'll re-evaluate in the fall (with many med-checks in between now and then) to see if he needs to add a med to help him focus.

I think that's about all! I'm giving him his first pill tonight at bedtime. YIPPEE! Oh....one more thing....he said unlike anti-depressants or other meds that can take weeks to take effect, he said with this drug, we'll see results in a few days to a week! I'm about to cry with relief. Yes, I know it might not work for him, but it's such a huge step in the right direction.

These are manageable disorders!

This is great news! Now that you know your challenges you can meet and greet them.

I work with kids with these exact issues and I watch the professionals work with them on a daily basis. The progress is slow. Remember this is not a quick fix, it is your life and you will learn the tricks as you learn about him. Just when you know what you are doing, he'll develop and you change again.

Here are the keys, Holly.

This is the secret to behavioral therapy:

• Be Flexible!
• Keep both of you on an exact schedule. (When he goes to Dad's give them a printed time schedule - include when to eat, when to potty, when to take the pill, the same exact everything every day.)
• Stay as organized as you ever thought you could be.
• Learn as he learns. He will change throughout this process, so you change with him.

Organization, organization, organization. This is the key to keeping kids on an easier path for them (and for you.)


Keep a daily schedule journal of details to draw from for his schedule. You'll start finding patterns that work and don't work. USE THIS.

Post the time schedule on the fridge for Tyler. Let him mark, check, stamper, or sticker each item on the schedule to make him responsible for his own behavior.

This will all work in conjunction with the meds and you are so on your way to helping him deal with the daily challenges that he experiences.

Deep breathing every night before bed. Practice in the quiet times and it will come back to help you when he is frustrated.

 

[edna mode]

Holly

I am glad to hearing from you and glad that you are

Glad that you have found what wrong with Tyler.

I was thinking that when I saw him, he seem normal child and you never know what people's think.

Same with my son, when he was little, he was so thin and unable to finish homework. My family and I thought he was so LAZY until Ian's dad went to lecture for the meeting and he realised that something problem with Keith.

He came home and gave me paperwork, when I read, I got very upset and we found that Keith's have dyparaxia and dylexia (sorry wrong spell). He is not normal child. Hospital want him to have mri scan brain but I don't want to because I don't know to know. Now he is label for Dyparaxia.

Good for you to got the times now for Tyler before too late.

I hope the tablets will work out for him, might take a while.

I am not very good to write a nice english. I always short english. I hope you understand my english.

NOW YOU KNOW NOBODY IS PERFECT!! As Tyler look so lovely when you took the photos of him.

Scottishwee35

Dyspraxia is frustrating, but also manageable. There are many people who believe you can retrain your brain with this type of disorder. With daily therapy people can learn by using a different part of their brains.

Deborah, I'm trying to get my internship for my doctorate at a place that does nothing but brain imaging for these types of issues. As I learn more about it I'll let you know. You may find that with the brain image you can learn more about how to help Keith.

For Holly and Deborah:

http://www.amenclinic.com/

 

[MouseFaninQueue]

All this talk of Croatia ...

My stepmother is from Croatia and her and my dad go there quite frequently. In fact she just came back in late June from spending 3 months over there.

 

[edna mode]

Lots of drama here. We came down 99 thousand and have stood firm we are doing nothing, repairing nothing. We think this guy has cash also. We have seen nothing on loan applications.

OUCH

This is well said and I appreciate hearing that children with difficulties can become successful as adults. We have to worry about so much as parents and I hate worrying about my kids in school because, really, is kindergarten really the big picture? I know many people, my husband included, that just did what they had to do to get by in school but ended up being great workers in life.

Holly, if it's any consolation, up until I was about 7 years old or so, I wrote backwards, and could not tell the difference between the letters M and N and W, the letter E and the number 3, the letter S and the number 5.

In the third grade they wanted to put me in a special school because I was so far behind in reading (somewhere around the second half of the first grade or first half of the second grade).

I also was horrible at math.

In the second half of the third grade, they called my mother into school towards the end of the year because I tested out with the reading comprehension of junior year of high school.

I never got over the math difficulty, and believe it or not, still cannot multiply. I'm not kidding either, most of the multiplication tables are still a mystery to me.

However, I did develop coping mechanisms and made it through 2 semesters of statistics in university, and later created product pricing algorithms as part of my part of my job as a marketing product manager.

I guess I'm saying is that with love and patience things do get better, and perhaps Tyler may just be a diamond in the rough, just waiting to sparkle and shine.

There you go Holly, Ian and I are perfect examples of kids with difficulties learning how to overcome them. Ian, this sounds very much like my story, I have dyslexia and ADHD, but not diagnosed until 27. I was just a loser student who "didn't pay attention and wasn't very smart." My parents encouraged me to marry well because I wasn't very smart and so wouldn't be going to college.

Yesterday on CNBC's The Big Idea, they had all extremely successful people who were voted "least likely to succeed" Each person had dyslexia and became worth hundreds of millions. The psychologist on the show quoted that 15% of CEO's in America have Dyslexia, but are successful because they think outside the box.

Wow, that's great Ian! Way to go! Well, he'll be getting help starting in the fall by going to special ed classes for an hour a day most days a week, but I'm hoping the learning problems are related to all the other issues going on. Those other things make it too difficult to sit and learn. He's a very smart kid. In fact, listen to this! I was just reading his bedtime book, something about the history of firefighting all the way up through current stuff, and it said that Benjamin Franklin is who came up with the idea of the first fire department. Tyler then informed me that he invented electricity too. Now, I don't know if he did or not, but we all know about the experiment with electricity involving the key on the kite string and lightning. OK, that amazed me that a 6 year old would know that. THEN, the book was saying that before there were real fire departments, all firefighters were volunteers, including George Washington. He told me, "Oh, that must have been before he was president, no wait, president was the last thing he did, he was a general in the army before he was president". Now, I don't know if he has it backwards or not, but I was amazed again!

So I told him we just found something else he's good at -- history! Of course, then he asked, "What's history?"

I'm just amazed at how much kids know at an early age that I didn't know until middle school.

This shows he has the ability to retain information. Most of us with learning difficulties just have trouble retreiving it at the right time.

 

[edna mode]

Amadeus. (1984)

I didn't say it was the year I was born -- it's just a great movie.

Woody

This would mean you would look terrible for your age!

 

[edna mode]

One of the kids I used to babysit went to the CIA (Culinary Institute)... They just ate incredibly... and after the first year he had brought home (in his luggage...) and entire set of dishes for service for 12...

I'm listening to a book called the Making of a Chef - its all about a reporter taking lessons at the CIA.

I would love to go to one if you have one coming up. I'm greatly interested in the subject.

I'll let you know which ones are in Orange County so you can attend.

[/IMG]

I even miss this

Your bag is so empty, ours is always filled to the brim with crap!

 

[edna mode]

they aren't bad, just another thing of clutter in my house that makes my butt look fat.

After finishing that book, I've decided it is my house that has a fat butt.

 

[taysmom]

And this:

[/IMG]

why do you have to post this????? Memories in my head should not be captured on film!

 

[edna mode]

Deborah, Jonathan wanted me to add that the MRI is noninvasive with no radiation. It is magnetic and very safe. It may give you a lot of important information that may help him. We find that with the kids who fully understand their difficulties have less problems socially because they don't feel the anxiety of feeling different. they are empowered by knowing how to help themselves. This makes it so they don't grow up feeling stupid, like so many of us did in the 60's with learning disabilities.

Cheri, You may have some insight here as a teacher as to how to empower kids who are different types of learners.


This is the poem that sits on my desk to the left of my computer:

Kids Who Are Different
copyright 1982 by Digby Wolfe,
All Rights Reserved



Here's to the kids who are different,

The kids who don't always get A's,

The kids who have ears twice the size of their peers,

And noses that go on for days...



Here's to the kids who are different,

The kids they call crazy or dumb,

The kids who don't fit, with the guts and the grit,

Who dance to a different drum...



Here's to the kids who are different,

The kids with the mischievous streak,

For when they have grown, as history's shown,

It's their difference that makes them unique.​

 

[edna mode]

I must now get to work researching drugs and brains, see you kids later.

 

[gaylean93]

My dad talks of how, in the winter, he used to go around to the doors where the milk was delivered and have creamsicles.


When the milk was delivered it was usually early in the morning and the cream at the top would would freeze and move out the top of the bottle. He would break this off and have instant creamsicles.

I was wondering how the milk didn't spoil I guess they didn't have the same thing here!

 

[gaylean93]

Shannon's nickname in highschool was Blondie.

I used to be a little tow-headed boy growing up.

If you scroll through some of the pics on my facebook you will get an idea of what I mean.

For instance here is me with Mickey Mouse in 1978 (It's a little blurry but hey it was 1978)

I sure do miss those horrible clothes our parents dressed us in! Jon's mom saved some that were Jon's and gave them to me for Ethan. Everything was REALLY tight back then.

 

[gaylean93]

Your bag is so empty, ours is always filled to the brim with crap!

I think I had just hung it up. I mean the bathroom looks so clean, I can only imagine it was the first day! Plus there aren't any little toys in there

 

[gaylean93]

why do you have to post this????? Memories in my head should not be captured on film!

I miss you, that's why!

 

[gaylean93]

I must now get to work researching drugs and brains, see you kids later.

That is a nice poem. Unlike your mom, my mom told me to NEVER depend on a man. I needed to have my own career and life outside of my man. She was a complete feminist, to the point of bashing men. My dad is the sweetest guy around and I picked a man just like him. Jon appreciates me taking care him and I love for him to take care of me. I'm not really sure why you wouldn't want your man to be your life. But it sounds like I need to start telling the kids the opposite of what I think they should do so they end up doing what I want

 

[HollyTyler]

Kelly, I always appreciate all the great info you have to offer! Wow, we sure fell into the right group of people here at the right time. There are so many people here with such a varied background, you have all been so helpful and informative this whole time.

That brain website is very interesting too. Cool how they have brain scans to look at and the story of each person.

Great poem about kids being different!

OK, I'm feeling a bit of information overload and need to process it all over the weekend and come up with a plan.

 

[gaylean93]

Cheri, about what you asked about the teachers being able to prescribe ADD meds, they can't. I've seen a few news programs that say that all of elementary school kids are medicated because the teachers can prescribe the meds but that is crazy. I think they recommend you get them checked but they can't prescribe anything. My friend, that I speak of a lot, had to go through many years and doctors to get her son medicated and he has severe learning problems. He is in 8th grade and can only do like 2nd grade math. I'm not sure of the exact ages but you understand what I mean. He is also monitored very carefully while on those medications. She has to hide the medication from her MIL because she was so against them. I do have a friend that is a junior high teacher and she said she will tell parents if she thinks there is an issue. She also said that most of the parents tell her that every teacher so far has said the same thing but the parents don't believe in the medication. I would think I would listen if 6 or 7 teachers told me the same thing. But I do know it is a scary thing too.

 

[edna mode]

That is a nice poem. Unlike your mom, my mom told me to NEVER depend on a man. I needed to have my own career and life outside of my man. She was a complete feminist, to the point of bashing men. My dad is the sweetest guy around and I picked a man just like him. Jon appreciates me taking care him and I love for him to take care of me. I'm not really sure why you wouldn't want your man to be your life. But it sounds like I need to start telling the kids the opposite of what I think they should do so they end up doing what I want

Kelly Ripa is always saying that if she like something she has to tell her daughter it looks awful on her. Always the opposite. Very funny. Thankfully we haven't had that happen yet. I can tell you I'll be a different mom. I've always believed you can have both a career and a loving home life: balance.

Kelly, I always appreciate all the great info you have to offer! Wow, we sure fell into the right group of people here at the right time. There are so many people here with such a varied background, you have all been so helpful and informative this whole time.

That brain website is very interesting too. Cool how they have brain scans to look at and the story of each person.

Great poem about kids being different!

OK, I'm feeling a bit of information overload and need to process it all over the weekend and come up with a plan.

You are so welcome. Glad it helps. Information overload is how I end every day!

 

[gaylean93]

Kelly Ripa is always saying that if she like something she has to tell her daughter it looks awful on her. Always the opposite. Very funny. Thankfully we haven't had that happen yet. I can tell you I'll be a different mom. I've always believed you can have both a career and a loving home life: balance.

I respect people that can balance both but I don't understand how they get it all done. I have to figure it out soon since I will be working a lot more once Brooke starts first grade. I'm a little scared that something will suffer or I will resent having to do it all.

 

[HollyTyler]

I respect people that can balance both but I don't understand how they get it all done. I have to figure it out soon since I will be working a lot more once Brooke starts first grade. I'm a little scared that something will suffer or I will resent having to do it all.

You'll just be exhausted by 8pm every night, but won't be able to go to bed because you'll have to stay up late making cupcakes for the next day at school or something.