I'm losing my mind!
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| Wed, 06-08-2005 - 5:07pm |
Hi - I'm new here and am slowly losing my marbles! With that said, my name is Becky and I used to enjoy lots of different hobbies ... until this last school year.
My poor son, recently dx with PDD, is having a very tough time at school. Our school district is allegedly inclusive but they call Spencer an "anomalie". What kind of thing is THAT to say about my child? They're basically saying they don't know what to do, I guess. I have spoken to the principal numerous times, had numerous meetings with an entire team of school people - psychologist, counselor, teachers, PT, principal, IEP coordinator - I just can't see that my son is doing better since these meetings.
The school psychologist has basically thrown up her hands and asked me to find a medication for him!
He displays behavior such as inattention, lots of impulsivity, inability to hold still, some muscular weakness/incoordination and lots of trouble making and maintaining meaningful relationships. The worst thing he does is blurt out naughty words and touch kids inappropriately.
I don't know what's going on.
I have a meeting set up with his private psychologist and am thinking of putting him on rispardol to help him with the aggression and impulsivity.
Thanks for letting me vent. I'm going to make a call to PAVE right now. I need some advocacy help - big-time!
My story aside, I hope to find some friends here. Bet I could offer a few cyber hugs to all you out there going through similar issues ...
Cheers!
Becky
Whoever can see through all fear will always be safe.

Becky-
I wish I had some words of wisdom, or solutions for you, but I have not experienced what you are going through. I wish the school district could be more helpful. Hopefully the psychologist will be able to offer some good advice and be able to tell you if medication is the right direction to go in. And it sounds like you really do need an advocate with the school district.
Since I cannot offer any good advice, I can at least say welcome to the site, and encourage you to vent as you need to here! It sounds like you are in a very tough spot.
Becky,
Welcome to the board!! I'm from Eastern WA. My sister lives in the Seattle area, so we visit there a couple times a year. My boys love going to the zoo, the space needle and riding on the ferries! I don't see many people here from the Northwest on these boards, glad to have you here!! Anyway, my youngest was dx'd HFA last year. So I've been on the board for a year now. There's so much to learn here, and lots of mom's who can relate!
Sorry to hear about all the trouble at school. Hope your son's psychologist can help work things out for him. My ds, Nathan, is just in kindergarten this year. We haven't had any major problems with behavior, just a few meltdowns. But I know there are some other mom's here who have had alot more experience than I have had! Best of luck!
Michelle
Becky,
Well, I have a son with PDD-NOS and lots of behavior problems. We are also trying medications at this time. Are you working with a child psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician? I'd try to find a psychiatrist who has worked with similar kids, if I were you. They do specialize. Do you do any in-home therapies? See private therapists? We are doing some RDI and floortime at home, and we see a private speech therapist and OT.
Schools vary. I have found our school district to be very willing to help my son, but I also find them to be behind the times in autism treatment methods. I am a psychologist (PHD), who used to work in early intervention services. For the past few years, I have been educating myself on the newer treatment methods for ASD's because of my son. Our school seems to be be at least 15 yrs behind the times from what I can tell. They use mostly behavioral methods with a lot of emphasis on consequences. I have made numerous recommendations that they use cognitive methods, sensory and vestibular stim, different settings, etc. for my son. I am hoping for better luck next year when they transition him to an autism class, where the teachers may understand him better. Eventually, we may end up homeschooling, but with a new baby due in August, I couldn't get organized for next fall.
I don't know what the answer will be for your child, but I think the best you can do right now is to learn all you can about methods that may help him. Then, make suggestions to your school. Consultation with private therapists would be a good place to start. Oh, and welcome to our board!;)
Suzi
Golly Gee, I know lots of anomolies like that! I get the same, my kids are anamolies too. Particularly my 9yo son. He is AS/HFA type and they created a program for kids like that but it is a horrible program for him. We ended up having to get creative with programing for him this year and now he is doing great.
Other than medications (which do help many kids, not knocking them. Oldest is still on some meds) have you tried diet, supplements at all. We had bad luck with meds for Mike, but omega 3's, supps and a low sugar organic diet is really working for us. Better than meds ever did for him.
Welcome
Renee
Becky: School turned out to be the defining impetus in both our children to get help. The oldest is Aspergers and his very good private K threw in the towel - much as you described. By the time our 2nd hit K, we knew more, but we have still had a disasterous year. We will be moving schools next fall and starting K over in a program that stresses OT and sensory time for kids with attention/behavior/cognitive issues. Amazingly, it's our public school! Our youngest is not diagnosed with autism because he is very communicative. However, he fits into most of the things you describe (except blurting out naughty words). What has helped him TREMENDOUSLY (and also us) is the pediatric OT practice we have found (they specialize in autism spectrum disorders). Our youngest's OT is working on 2 areas with him - one is sensory integration so that he doesn't have to be so uncomfortable in school (he is sound, visually, tactile, and oral defensive so a class is a very tough environment for him) - and she is also working this summer on sensory modulation. That is his ability to control his own behavior when one of his sensory issues is taxed. What we did learn this school year was that no amount of punishment or positive reward could stop or help with the modulation control. It's not within DS's abilities right now to control what he is doing - no matter how hard he wants to - if his sensory processing issues are amok.
You might look into an OT evaluation. We will probably eventually be visiting the psychiatrists in this practice as well, but there is no sense working on the behavioral stuff (and self-esteem issues) until DS is more phsyically in control.
Also, we found a great picture book from "Sensory Comfort" for autistic kids that show correct and incorrect scenes of the typical "social" situations in which our little ones get into trouble. This has helped a lot with our youngest to be able to see the pictures and talk about things like "Space Invaders" (he gets way too close to others - actually he usually wants to touch and hug them), how to listen to others, etc. It's amazing how effective seeing photographs of real kids his age either modeling the correct or incorrect behaviors has gottne the message across that we have tried and tried to explain for all year with words....
Good luck!
Jackie