Thank you all for the welcome
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Thank you all for the welcome
| Thu, 07-21-2005 - 11:21am |
It's really great to know that many of you have found improvements in the behavior. My biggest concern right now is finding ways of reducing the aggresive tantrums. If anyone has any tips I would really appreciate it. Thanks, Amanda

Hi Amanda,
I missed your intro post below but just gat caught up today. I just returned to this board after a run of testing and numerous overlapping dx from various docs. Liam right now is dx with early inset bipolar (major frustraion issues, tantrumming and explosiveness), adhd (although we are beginning to think this was a catch all dx from the neuropsych and dev ped) and sensory integration dysfunction. Just recently Liam's new therapist suggested pdd which is what I have been expecting from the beginning, (heavily genetic here).
I fought the medication route until it became apparent Liam was slumping into depression and anxiety and began him on a mood stabilizer, trileptal, and just recently added abilify, also good with the agression and explosiveness. Ds is in therapy, begins a social skills group in the Fall and has been in OT for almost two years. It does take time for therpy to work, but stick with it. Have you thought about a social skills group? With your ds's new dx he may qualify for a group through your district.
My approach has always been to treat all the various dx at once as I firmly believe it is stemming from thw same place with ds, whether it be genetic (bipolar and pdd is here) or environmental.
GL,
Dee
Yes, actually it was recommended that he attend one of these groups. I'm still looking into one that has a summer program and after school program but it's pretty far away. Not that it's not worth it but right now I just don't know how I'll do it. I'm really starting to consider medication. I've always been against it for him, because getting into that just seems so scary. My dh is very against it, but I think if it could make him less irritable life would be so much easier for all of us.
Amanda
I know what you mean about the medication fear. We fought it for so long, but it became obvious that therapy and OT et al wasn't going to help with his irritability and oppositionsl defiance. I am actually still refusing the adhd med they want to introduce as I do believe this will only exacerbate his behavior. So you see we are very careful about the meds we choose and the reasons why. We went with trileptal because it needs no blood draws and has a proven record in Europe over the last decade, and abilify as we needed a neuroleptic (for explosiveness) and it had the least amount of side effects compared to others.
Do your research and find a good child psychiatrist who also has experience with pdd. GL
Dee