In addition to finding the right pediatrician, I recommend you contact
Project Enlightenment. They were a HUGE difference maker for my family and my youngest son, now 17. We had been attempting to home-school him (as we were doing with our older son), but it became pretty clear very quickly that we were well out of our depth in dealing with his issues. Our "spirited child" was out of control, impulsive, paid no heed to ANY kind of punishment, prone to tantrums when he didn't get what he wanted, had sensory issues, and, worst of all, was violent towards me, his dad, and his brother. I had many sleepless nights thinking I was literally raising a serial killer.
It was like he was stuck in the terrible twos. One of our biggest issues (and instigators for his violent outbursts) was when we transitioned him from one environment to another. For instance, on a day filled with errands with a "normal" child, we might plan to stop a few places, then hit McD for lunch, then plan to finish our errands and go home. Our guy would tolerate the early errands as long as they were quick, in-and-out stops, but once at McD (or the train table at Barnes & Noble), it wouldn't matter if he played 10 minutes or 2 hours, we would have to drag him out of there kicking and screaming.
Our wonderful pediatrician referred us to PE, and they were a godsend. He was 3 or 4 when we started the process. PE helped us in the short term by teaching us alternative ways of coping with these outbursts and other issues. Looking back, it was very similar to a weekly therapy session; the coordinator would spend time alone with Josh, then with the rest of us as a family.
Over the long term, PE arranged for comprehensive psychological assessment through WCPSS, which revealed that he was developmentally behind by 18 months, almost completely non-verbal (something we'd erroneously attributed to him being the 2nd child), and "probably" on the autism spectrum. They arranged for him to attend a pre-K program part-time, with them transporting him back and forth. Initially, he was in a class with a broad range of special needs children, but he was bumped up to a mainstream pre-K class about 6 weeks later. Once he was in the WCPSS system, he had a formal IEP with multiple interventions until he aged out at 7. These initial years were wonderful; he received a lot of one-on-one attention with the therapists, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, and reading assistance. At age 7, he had met all the milestones of his plan, so they didn't continue his IEP; however, he did continue to receive interventions throughout elementary and middle school.
Despite having met his milestones, he continued to demonstrate behaviors consistent with ADD-inattentive type. Our pediatrician prescribed Adderall, but my son refused to take it. We tried getting him to take it with applesauce, pudding, ice cream, etc., but he just wouldn't do it. The violent outbursts were a direct consequence of trying to force him to take it, so in the end we gave up on that front and tried managing it in other ways, always advocating for him with his teachers and school staff so the interventions continued.
Ultimately, we had to wait for him to mature enough to participate in the process of treatment, and willingly try the meds. One of the best days of my life was when he came to me after starting the Adderall again and
admitted it was making a difference and he
liked what the drug was doing for him. Halla-freakin-lujah!
Truly, the best thing you can do is call Project Enlightenment.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
actually, i like all the docs there
ADHD Toddler help? Where to start to seek help?
