Hi, I'm the mom of 4. My oldest ds (now 12) was diagnosed with ADD when he was 7. We've controlled the symptoms with diet, exercise and patience. Our 2 dd's don't have ADD or ADHD. Our youngest ds just turned 6 and I'm wondering if he has ADHD.
I asked about it during his school physical and was denied testing. The doc doesn't believe in ADD or ADHD- just bad parenting. (DH is in the Army so our docs change very frequently).
DS is in first grade and is having a very bad time. His grades are excellant, but very poor behavior. We went to a parent-teacher conference and the teacher had the gym teacher, a student teacher and the librarian come in. For 15 minutes all ds and I heard was that he was horrible. They made him sound like some sociopath or some kind of demon.
Since then I've been trying to get an appointment with the principal to let him know what the teacher did and how it affected ds (nightmares about the teacher and librarian chasing him through the school and not wanting to go to school because his teacher hates him).
I don't know what to do for him. He is very smart and shows all the classic symptoms of ADHD. I want him to get the help he needs and I'm not sure how. The doc wasn't any help and he can't see someone else unless the first one ok's it and I haven't been able to make an appointment with the principal (who never calls back and hasn't been in his office when I go in).
Sorry this has been so long, but any help would greatly be appreciated.
Thanks!
Ugh! Is there another school he could go to? It sounds like he will just have horrible time around these unprofessional teachers!
I grew up in a military family, my mom had the run around with all the different drs. ect. Can you go outside of the military hospitals? My mom had to take me to several different drs. outside of the base hospitals. Is your school a base school or a public school with military attending it. I think schools with military kids deal with a lot of different problems, I would pursue seeing the guidance office of the school. Where are you stationed? That also makes a big difference as to what is available to you.You may need to go outside of your insurance network, but you should be able to take your child to a pediatric psychiatrist to get a diagnosis. It would probably be money well spent to get him the help he needs.
If possible, you might have to go to a psychiatrist in the private sector to get a diagnosis. Your son should qualify for 504 accomodations and protections, but you need the diagnosis. Is there a school psychologist available for you to talk to? Some of them are very helpful (and some not so helpful), they won't diagnose but may be able to help get a behavior plan in place (ours pushed the IEP team for this before my daughter was diagnosed with ADHD).
Check out wrightslaw.com, especially the behavior and discapline section:
http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.index.htm
I'm not army, but used to live in Fayetteville, NC, home of the 82nd Airborne, and a lot of women who were having babies went through CHAMPUS. Would that be a possibility? Does your ds go to a base school? If so, can you get the teacher to write a letter to the doc?