New- 7 year old son w/ adhd
his ears at 2.5 and then started to to talk, not sure it was related. But he
caught up fairly quickly to his age level.
He does have an IEP under it was allowed under other conditions for his
ADHD. But it seems lacking and the school just seems very stretched
with ESL students and the such. They think he is doing fine; but I want
him to feel good too. His handwriting has improved but it is still bad; of
course his dad is 34 and his handwriting is terrible also. They tested him
last year and he came up in teh K range for most things but on some
listening comprhension he scored as high as 7th grade. So he is a bit of
an enigma.
Kohl's social issues are very slight. He is in other's personal space and
does not read cues well. He is overtly friendly and his feelings are easily
hurt if others aren't as entusiastic. A lot of the kids at his school are also
allowed to do things he is not. Play Teen rated video games say bad
words and I will not allow this just so he can have friends. But since he is
so wanting to be excepted he still wants desperately to be friends even
with kids that are not the best choices.
My daughter is another story. She is overtly social, loves to talk, and is
also very high functioning. Her speech path doesn't even whole heartedly
beleive she is apraxic but they did the Kaufman evaluation and she scored
in the range for it. I can not see her beeing Autistic in the slightest. But
maybe I should push for an evaluation for them both. Trouble is my
insurance fights me on everything; being an HMO if they dont have it in
house they deny it.
I am new to the board and am hoping to find some kindness and empathy
along with some good advice.
My oldest of 4 children, Kohl, was diagnosed with ADHD at 5. He has
been on ritalin LA since. He will be 7 at the begining of Oct. Last year I
finally got the school district to evaluate him for OT and the OT said he
has Sensory Integration Dysfunction/Disorder, can't keep up with what
they are calling it now. He has poor handwriting, seems in slight ways;
different then the other kids in his class/grade and thus has trouble
making friends. All this is heartbreaking for me, his father seems to be
taking the lets just hope for the best approach which is leaving me with
little support on the home front. The ped doesn't seem to concerned b/c
he is different in slight ways; and for lack of a better word normal enough
not to blend w/o a glaring need for extra help.
At school he has an IEP but I am not convinced that they know
what to do with him. He is in a regular education 1st grade class, as he
did K twice. We did this with the hope some maturity would help him, but
it seems to have been in vein. And I now wish we hadn't. He is in speech
for minor articulation S and z, gets OT, supposively 1x a week but that
doesnt always happen. He does well in small groups and when there is a
ton of adult praise, supervision and structure.
I feel as if no one knows what to do with him and I am sinking trying to
figure it all out on my own. I also have 3 younger children, another son-5
a daughter that is appraxic -4 and a 11 mos old (that I now watch like a
hawk for every developmental milestone there is with a heavy heart
hoping and praying nothing will be wrong with him) and I am trying to
take care of them in the process. I think I am begining to be resentful
and I know I feel guilt.
We currently live in soCal and all our extended family lives in Wester NY.
My dh has a great job here but I am considering selling the house in CA
and taking the kids back to NY for some family support and hopefully a
better less stressed education system. But dh has yet to find a job back
there and I am wondering if I could take all this plus a dh in another state.
but my parents do live there and both said they would help.
I hope I did not babble on to much but thought I would put at least part
of my story out there. Thanks for reading.
Did he have any speech delays? He could have high functioning autism, especially if he has social cluelessness. Regardless of his diagnosis, he should be getting OT/PT/social skills for his various problems. Does he have an IEP? How does he do in school (academic wise?) Does he obsess on anything? Does he copy the television shows or what others say (this is called scripting). Ever play strangely with toys? Your daughter who has apraxia should also be evaluated for ASD. Apraxia and SID combined with social problems are big red flags for ASD. Here's another site you may want to visit.
www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_topics.asp?...
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