Today my son went for an evaluation at Children's for OT (occupational therapy) to see if he would need it or not. I, for the life of me, could not see why he would need OT. We got there and the lady asked me a few questions, she talked to my son, and I filled out a survey type thing. The lady had my son write out his name to see what his handwriting was like, its horrible by the way, and checked his balance and a few other things.
I kind of thought this whole thing was to give my son some coping skills for his ADHD and ODD. I didn't think that he needed help with fine motor skills or anything else like that. At the end of the meeting the lady said that my son could benefit from more appointments, once a week at first then bi-monthly. They could help him with his handwriting and strengthening his core, he was a little weak in the stomach and back with a few of the things that she was having him do. She had mentioned that there were a few sensory things that could be dealt with. My son picks his fingernails down to the quick and is sensitive to bright lights and loud sounds. But I never thought that was considered a 'sensory' thing and needed therapy to work on it. So I guess we will see how this works as the appointments progress.
This whole thing is new for me and I am, I guess you could say, in denial a little bit. Since my son was 5 I have always had a feeling that there was something up with my son that needed to be looked into and I had him tested a few years back by an old pediatrician. The old pediatrician said that my son was ADHD and wanted to put him on medication, but I thought my son acted like that because of what he had gone through with moving to a shelter. So I walked out of the office and didn't talk about it ever again. Now, part of me wonders if I had accepted the diagnoses back then if things would be better now. Still after accepting the diagnoses I have a hard time seeing my son as hyper-active. I guess that is normal though. No mother wants to hear that her child is getting diagnosed with something or have their child put on medication.
I have noticed that he eats way less than he ever did and he never had a big appetite anyways. He is more emotional than he used to be, he is brought to tears over things that never affected him that way before. He goes from not being hungry to being so hungry he feels like he is about to get sick in less than a second. He has a hard time falling asleep at night now and wakes up with the sun, so he is getting only 6 hours of sleep and night and for being only 8 he needs 4-5 more hours than he has been getting the past two nights. I started a notebook to keep notes on this stuff so I can bring it up the next time he sees the lady that prescribed the medication (I forget her job title).
Even though I still have my concerns my son is happier that he can concentrate and do better in school. He hated school until two days ago and now he loves it because he is the type of student he always wanted to be and he isn't getting in trouble all the time. I talked to his principal today when I picked him up and talked to her about what is going on. She is happy that he is getting the help he needs, but she is not happy about how much school my son is going to be missing with coming in late when he has morning appointments and leaving early for afternoon appointments. That is something I am concerned about too so I am going to try to schedule all the afternoon appointments as close to the end of the school day as I can. Today he ended up missing the last two hours of school so he missed 1/3 of the school day.
On a happy, less stressful note, my son is doing better in school, so far, since he started the medication yesterday and has gotten his first ever A+ in school. I am excited, curious, and anxious to see what the future holds for me and my son.
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