It is looking alot like my son might have add and is having high anxiety in the classroom which he is not exhibiting at home. They are trying to figure out now what may be causing what. add/anxiety. He is crying alot in school, getting frustrated easily with his work and is having great difficulty following directions and staying on task. He is aware that he is having trouble, because he will talk about it at home. He is in first grade and they say he is a very bright child, just can't process the info, etc. I feel really bad for him that he is having so much anxiety in school. I feel kind of bummed thinking my child might not be "normal." I feel awful for feeling this way. Did anyone else here have a hard time grasping everything and coping when their child was going through testing and/oe first diagnosed? Thanks in advance!

Leah

__________________

I had mixed feelings. I was sad because of course we all want our kids to be "normal" (whatever that is) and I didn't want to think I was going to have to medicate my child. Plus I know that there are still a lot of people don't believe ADD is a real disorder and look down on parents who medicate their children.

On the other hand, I was glad. I had a brilliant daughter who scored well on achievement tests and who all her teachers said was really gifted, yet she was struggling to complete written work in the classroom. So I was glad to finally have some explanation for why that might be so, and hopeful that we could "fix" it.

I have shared my story on here many times, so I'll just give the short version which is that treating my dd is probably the best decision I ever made. She went from struggling in elementary school to being placed in gifted classes and is graduating HS this year and received academic scholarship offers from every college she applied to. While she still struggles some with being organized and using her time well, she has had a very successful school experience every since we made the decision.

__________________

Thanks aliadam for your encouraging words. I am nervous too about meidcating him if needed, but it if would help him I am behind it 100%. Congrats to your daughter and thanks again!

__________________

My DS wasn't diagnosed until he was 15, he really struggled through school, it was very difficult for him.

My first thought was total relief, at least we had something to work with. I wasn't sure about the meds at first, we decided to give the meds a trial run and he did so well on the meds that we continued them. He went from barely passing school to being on the honor roll this year.

__________________
DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3

First of all, take him to have his eyesight and hearing tested. Secondly, the school can do their own testing, along w/testing by the school psychologist. At the same time, talk to your child's pediatrician about the symptoms and see if meds are even warranted. Sometimes just a change in the surroundings can make a difference. Anxiety can be helped by occupational therapy, too, if it's fairly mild. The school does OT w/our son, and it has helped. I also had my son go to a regular psychologist. She wasn't great, as she focused mostly on a bullying issue he had, although his anxiety was bigger than that issue, but she felt it had to be addressed first. Kids will often tell an outside person something they won't tell you. Also, I found the best time to really get things out of my son is just to have him alone with me and let him talk, usually before bedtime when he's relaxed brings some things out.

__________________
Make someone's heart smile today.

Would you like to join our Mommysavers' Holiday Ornament/Decoration Swap? Details and signup:
http://mommysavers.com/boards/chit-c...p-sign-up.html

Hurry! Deadline is Near way before Santa comes!

I fully understand what you are going through. My son started Kindergarten this year and right away began having a rough time. He had shown mininimal signs of anxiety at home (mostly when we were at at places that were overly stimulating) but nothing that I considered out of the ordinary. Within the first week the teacher recognized problems and informed me. I made an appointment with a psychologist and discussed the issues with her as well as meeting with the teacher and a team of school professionals. In January he was diagnosed with anxiety and expressive language delay. Honestly, I wasn't surprised by either diagnosis and was glad that they would enable him to get additional help as needed. The part that ended up hitting a raw nerve with me was his IQ score. It was 78 which is very low, near retarded. It was hard to hear. I honestly still don't believe it. Since getting his diagnosis, we have met with our psycologist and she has been very helpful in implementing things that help to ease my son's anxiety. His teacher has reported to me that he is down to one crying episode every week or two and can easily talk himself out of it. This is a huge improvement over his daily ones where he would just breakdown and be unconsolable. He also gets OT, PT and ST.

If you every need anyone to talk to, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks again everyone for all of their encouraging words and sharing their stories. We have been going to numerous appt's, over the last month with the school, the pedi, the outside side of school psych. At first Joey's behavior in the class was chalked up to immaturity and he was place in a social skills group and was doing well less crying etc. His attention issues have waxed and waned all year, but are revving up again to the point that my husband and I said something is going on lets rule in/rule out etc. I feel as if we did not push it, they might have just said maturity for the rest of the year. I feel relieved that they are seeing something is wrong, because we can now figure out how to best help him, but a little sad at the same time. Joey has been now meeting with the outside psych. and has been doing great meetiung with him. No anxiety at all with him, and the doctor noted that. He does not have anxiety across the board but when doing his work in the classroom. I think he is going to rule in with ADD. Thanks again!

__________________

My now 12 yr old DD was diagnosed with anxiety 4 or 5 yrs ago. I having a hard time keeping things straight these days. Anyway one book that was recommended was The Anxiety Cure For Kids. i can't remember the author but if you check on Amazon I know that they have it. Anyway one thing the therapist did was have DD name her anxiety. I believe DD's was called the dragon and she talked alot about how big it was for the day and how she would fight withthe dragon with coping skills that she learned. Eventually she put the dragon in a box and locked him up. Sometimes he gets part way out and talking in the dark at night helps to control him. (Talking in the dark is easier for her because she reads peoples' expressions & doesn't want to hurt or upset anyone.) The other thing we do besides see the therapist & psychologist (meds) is we see a OT one a week who deals with her sensory issues along with learning new and society appropriate ways to deal with anxiety.

DD also has a mentor that is paid for through our states wraparound program. She spends 6 hrs a week with the mentor and they do fun things that include things that raise DD anxiety levels. (Crowded rooms, people she doesn't know, new places, etc) That way she has an outside the family person she is learning to trust (anxiety issue) along with dealing and learning with anxiety prone situations.

How did i feel when dd was first diagnosed with anxiety? Horrible, like what did i do wrong during pregnancy? What did i do wrong when she was an infant/toddler? All kinds of things go thru your mind.
I just want her to be a normal kid who has no worries or fears. She's 12yrs old, she should be having tons of fun at her age,ya know? It's still very hard to explain to family members about her being on medication. I made the mistake of telling coworkers about her being on medication, they kind of snickered and acted like it was ridiculous for a child her age to be on anxiety medications.......she's been on and off them for 2 years now. I don't tell many people now, i'm tired of their judgements!

__________________
"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

My DD is 6 y/o and was just dx a few months ago. It had mixed feelings b/c she was now in 1st grade and had problems all through kindergarten so I was happy b/c I had an answer, but there was also guilt and worry. She currently takes 10mg of ritalin twice a day and it has helped at school a lot. I still have times where I feel guilty for having to medication my child, but I try to remember that this has helped her.