evan is 6 years old. he was such a happy child until the age of 3. thats when it all went down hill quickly:(
i started noticing how antsy he was all the time....he worried about food constantly, as if we were about to go into a famine and he was going to starve to death. at breakfast, he would ask what was for dinner the NEXT night, worry about when and what he was going to have for a snack and so on and so forth. he started hiding and hoarding food on a regular basis. he got around every cabinet lock i had installed; and the locks on the fridge i could find back then were very weak! he had an easier time than i did undoing them!
then came the lining up of cars....we had hundreds of matchbox cars. still do. he started lining them up by color and size and when i went to clean them up, he would either throw a fit or move his lines to a new area in the living room. and if you tried to play around with him by moving just ONE, he would get really anxious and have to redo the entire thing! not just the car you moved, the WHOLE thing....
he was in head start for 2 years in a row. he was unlearning just as quickly as he was learning things. i thought it was just the oppositional defiance disorder he was diagnosed with making him not want to show us what he had learned. so, he has his therapy to learn how to manage that. little did i know he really WASN'T retaining information at all....i went to the public school where i am around march of last year to start an IEP for him. a little early BUT i didnt want him starting kindergarten like this. academically he was a hot mess. he couldnt even write his own name by the end of 2 years of head start. it was concerning to me. so, we went through all the bells and whistles of the testing. he scored well below average on most of his testing; the only thing he didnt need was speech services. he has them now to help manage his tone and volume of his voice.
i brought him into a neuropsychologist for a complete workup. well, what i thought was complete. he was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, AT RISK for a mood disorder, and relative microsephaly. he now needs a psych exam for his mood disorder but this too will be done. evan was placed in CBAT (community based acute therapy) for about 16 days; he came home 2 days before he turned 6. he has hidden a butcher knife in his bedroom under his dresser and saw nothing wrong with that at all.....i was worried. so, i told his therapist what had happened and thats when we got the ball rolling on that one. it broke my heart; but it was a nice break for us AND we are receiving services that we needed! we would probably still be on a waiting list for his therapeutic mentor, in home therapy and all of the other services we now receive on a daily basis. he is doing better now that we have revised his IEP with the school and he is now on the proper meds.
about a month ago, he finally came home from school and had written his own name! without having to trace over the teachers writing of it! i was so proud of him! acedemically he is doing so much better; but behaviorally he is still struggling with his sensory processing disorder at lunch and recess. when there is no structure to fill his time, he has a very hard time transitioning. and the noise level of the cafeteria gets to him every day. we are trying ear plugs for lunch time after school vacation so we will see what happens with that.
we still have our 'moments" but i am glad we have come so far in the past year.
i will post jameses story later; i have to go do my volunteer work in a little while and the babysitter just got here:)
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
so, i got tired of overwhelming certain family members on facebook *half of whom have probably blocked me by now but thats their loss* so, i decided to make my own blog about my experiences of living with 2 boys with special needs.
i fought for YEARS for diagnoses for both kids...had to wait until my middle son was in public school or 6 years old *whichever came first* to have atleast an ADHD screening done...how frustrating!!
my 7 yr old was diagnosed with high functioning autism, ADHD and cerebral dysfunction when he was 6. i knew something was wrong, when, at the age of 2, he stopped talking out of the blue. my child had gone from almost speaking in complete sentences to being mute for almost a year and a half. they said it was emotional trauma. although i agreed whole heartedly, i begged to differ that that was all that was wrong with him. i jumped through all of the appropriate hoops for years. well, he turned 6 AND entered public schools all in the same week....so, we went to the pediatrician for his ADHD screening....they saw more than simple ADHD and sent us into boston for a proper neurological exam. i waited 4 months for my appointment and was shocked at the results! i suspected alot of what was in the report but never autism! how do you deal with a diagnosis of that? it explained ALOT once i did some research and learned about it....he is very high functioning but has alot of standard/not so standard signs of it.
my 6 year old...oh boy where do i begin???? he was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, at risk for a mood disorder and cerebral dysfunction as well as relative microsyphaly. he met all of his milestones on time so i wasnt as concerned as i was for my older son. he has been in CBAT once, at the end of last summer, and it broke my heart. but, he became a safety risk to the rest of us at the house. he hasnt been dignosed with autism YET but we are working on that; i have switched his psychiatrist because the other one was resisting me and made me feel like i was stupid when i asked her about it. she just had this air of "i'm the doctor, you're just a parent and i make the diagnosis, not you" well, lady, you dont live with what i live with all day every day. its like a war zone here and any little thing can set him off. we walk on egg shells around him. a day in my house sounds like a bunch of bipolar truck drivers because the language just escalates throughout the day. we have found a med that works for him so far but for who knows how long?
i call myself "cereal mom" due to the fact that we go through atleast a box or two of cereal PER DAY! it's what they will eat on a regular. we do alot of honey nut cheerios, and gluten free chex. when they are on sale, i stock up....even if i have no room in my cabinets, i will have cereal hidden in totes around my house so atleast i know they will eat something that day....we do alot of frozen pizza and chicken nuggets as well. certain textures are too much for them to handle. my 7 yr old will eat boxed mashed potatoes but NEVER fresh ones....the boxed ones are more of a pasty consistancy whereas the fresh ones might have a few lumps or a different taste. he loves broccoli and cauliflower which is a life saver for me! i make alot of casseroles in my crockpot so i can 'hide" certain foods that they would not eat if they saw it out in the open on their plates. they will eat raw carrots but never a cooked one....they love steak but loathe chicken *except for chicken nuggets*
this is just a birds eye view i will write more later and please feel free to share your own experiences and thoughts and feelings.
i fought for YEARS for diagnoses for both kids...had to wait until my middle son was in public school or 6 years old *whichever came first* to have atleast an ADHD screening done...how frustrating!!
my 7 yr old was diagnosed with high functioning autism, ADHD and cerebral dysfunction when he was 6. i knew something was wrong, when, at the age of 2, he stopped talking out of the blue. my child had gone from almost speaking in complete sentences to being mute for almost a year and a half. they said it was emotional trauma. although i agreed whole heartedly, i begged to differ that that was all that was wrong with him. i jumped through all of the appropriate hoops for years. well, he turned 6 AND entered public schools all in the same week....so, we went to the pediatrician for his ADHD screening....they saw more than simple ADHD and sent us into boston for a proper neurological exam. i waited 4 months for my appointment and was shocked at the results! i suspected alot of what was in the report but never autism! how do you deal with a diagnosis of that? it explained ALOT once i did some research and learned about it....he is very high functioning but has alot of standard/not so standard signs of it.
my 6 year old...oh boy where do i begin???? he was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder, at risk for a mood disorder and cerebral dysfunction as well as relative microsyphaly. he met all of his milestones on time so i wasnt as concerned as i was for my older son. he has been in CBAT once, at the end of last summer, and it broke my heart. but, he became a safety risk to the rest of us at the house. he hasnt been dignosed with autism YET but we are working on that; i have switched his psychiatrist because the other one was resisting me and made me feel like i was stupid when i asked her about it. she just had this air of "i'm the doctor, you're just a parent and i make the diagnosis, not you" well, lady, you dont live with what i live with all day every day. its like a war zone here and any little thing can set him off. we walk on egg shells around him. a day in my house sounds like a bunch of bipolar truck drivers because the language just escalates throughout the day. we have found a med that works for him so far but for who knows how long?
i call myself "cereal mom" due to the fact that we go through atleast a box or two of cereal PER DAY! it's what they will eat on a regular. we do alot of honey nut cheerios, and gluten free chex. when they are on sale, i stock up....even if i have no room in my cabinets, i will have cereal hidden in totes around my house so atleast i know they will eat something that day....we do alot of frozen pizza and chicken nuggets as well. certain textures are too much for them to handle. my 7 yr old will eat boxed mashed potatoes but NEVER fresh ones....the boxed ones are more of a pasty consistancy whereas the fresh ones might have a few lumps or a different taste. he loves broccoli and cauliflower which is a life saver for me! i make alot of casseroles in my crockpot so i can 'hide" certain foods that they would not eat if they saw it out in the open on their plates. they will eat raw carrots but never a cooked one....they love steak but loathe chicken *except for chicken nuggets*
this is just a birds eye view i will write more later and please feel free to share your own experiences and thoughts and feelings.
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