I never thought I would medicate my own child. I taught school for 7 years and preschool or childcare for 10 more. Yet I didn’t see attention deficit happening right before my eyes. I missed all the signs. They were all there. How could I miss them? I’M A TEACHER! I have been trained in all things children! I should have seen the signs.
My sweet boy has always had an anger issue. I took him to a sleep specialist when he was in the first grade thinking maybe there was a sleep disturbance not allowing him to get fully rested. Nothing. He was fine. We spent the night at a sleep study clinic. Him in a nice comfy bed with all kinds of electrodes hooked up to him. Me, in a not so comfy chair. Let’s just say I didn’t sleep at all that night. The techs were constantly coming in and redoing some wires while he slept. He rarely woke up. Ok, so we got an all clear there.
We brought him home and just dealt with it. We couldn’t really pin point what would set him off. It was usually after school and on weekends mid-day. We tried to give him tools to help. Nothing really seemed too though. Every year, since he has entered school, we have had conferences with the teachers. I’m not used to having conferences with the teachers, not yearly any way. I couldn’t figure it out. The teachers couldn’t seem to pinpoint it either. He gets by doing ok on his school work. He’s not really a distraction in class to himself or to the other kids. These are the children that tend to fall through the cracks. I mean, really, he’s had 4 teachers (not counting all through preschool) and even his mama was a teacher and none of us saw it.
Find out how we finally got him diagnosed.
Stay tuned to be continued next week! Diagnosing ADD in children… the post continues!
My son has been dealing with attitude issues lately. We feel like it’s a food allergy issue and have been working on eliminating wheat from his diet!
Being a parent is truly the hardest job!
My daughter has ADHD. The neurologist that diagnosed her told me to give her melatonin at night to help her sleep. She seems to only require a small amount of sleep, like 5 hours at the most. It was horrible when she was younger but she is 11 now. She gets up, gets a drink, goes to the bathroom, and falls back asleep watching TV.
I need to try the melatonin for my son. He needs his sleep but it takes him awhile to fall asleep! Thanks for the tip Lauren.