About Andrew

Spring Break has commenced!  One of my goals for the week is to try to make progress on finishing some blogging from 2013.

Life  has reached a whole new level of crazy this year with Kaitlin starting school and having her own "life" complete with activities and when did Kindegarten start giving so much homework???  Matthew's homework reached a new intensity this year as well.  I am counting down until summer.

I wanted to record a little of Andrew's journey for those who follow along with care and concern and also for my own reference.

 Andrew has started gymnastics and LOVES it.  I wish I would have started him sooner!  It is SO good for his motor skills and just feeds his needs for sensory input and movement.  He is learning a back tuck on the trampoline and so my paranoia of a broken neck has officially commenced.  It's less expensive than OT and works his core and many of the skills we were doing there.

He has had a pretty good year.  He has a great teacher who is so patient.  I thought for a long time that things were better/easier for him, when it turns out his teacher is just the type who handles things and doesn't feel the need to constantly report to the parent.  Which is both great and a challenge, as that feedback helps me to regulate his medication.

We've had to increase his medication and add on another one this year.  We had to change doctors due to an insurance change and I do not like our new physician.  This is one of the hardest parts of managing ADHD ~ building a good professional team.  We might resort to seeing a Dr. not covered by insurance, but highly recommended and closer to our home.  I would rather make financial sacrifices and have quality care for Andrew that would require him to miss less school for appointments.

One of the things I am thankful for is that Andrew does not have the social challenges that many ADHD kids have.  I always send up a prayer of thanks on that portion of the Behavioral survey where all of the numbers indicating "never a problem" are circled and I am reminded that things could be much more challenging.  He is continuing to do well in school academically speaking (he LOVES to read! ~ I am so thankful for this) though his teacher thinks he'd perform even better if he could focus longer.   The exception is writing.  It is still very difficult for him and he is now a full grade level behind.  I met with his teacher this week and we are retesting him to see if we can get him qualified for services.  She said she is hoping to be able to have someone come into the classroom and work with Andrew individually on assignments and possibly modify the requirements to be more appropriate for his abilities right now.  It would help a lot as the gap between him and his peers is quickly widening and his frustration is greatly increasing. 

School is hard for him behaviorally as well.  Thankfully his teacher sees that "he just can't help it at times."  Although, he had a substitute teacher today and tried turning in two writing assignments with only the words "blah blah blah blah" on them.  I know his history and can surmise that it was friday, he's tired, writing takes a lot of effort and energy for him and he was just done.  However, it's not okay to do that.  But honestly, I saw the note on his daily behavior report (we've started those too) and just laughed (Andrew was not there to see).  There are consequences of course, but I have to keep my sense of humor.

It takes us a long time to get through homework on days that he has writing assignments as I still have to help him correctly form letters.  I am seeing that as Andrew gets older and the academic demands increase I am going to need to release myself from committing to things that aren't necessary.  I can see that I will need to have dinner prep done early so that when Andrew is home I don't get frustrated and impatient with his needs and that I can better invest myself into reinforcing good habits for him that take  s  o  o    l  o  n  g   to establish and so much energy to maintain.  It is NOT easy.  In fact, I am challenged daily.  And I fail daily.

I joined a website called CHADD for parents/kids with ADD in the hopes that I can learn more and find helpful resources.  They are hosting a webinar that has information on 504/IEP plans and what kids with ADHD are legally entitled to.  I am hoping to learn more so that I can better advocate for andrew.  All that to say, I'm learning that this journey is going to require a lot of time, energy, patience, and resources.  I recently attended a meeting about helping kids with Executive Functioning challenges (kids with ADHD have this).  They presented the statistic that 35% of kids with ADHD drop out of high school, along with many other sobering facts.  They are an at-risk population for many, many undesirable things.  It is so easy to get sucked into fear as a mother surrounding that.  But I have to just pull back and look at today.  Just today.  And what I can do in this one day to help move Andrew toward a life where he can be the best possible version of himself.   And then I'll wake up tomorrow and do it again.  And when it stops working or he changes and has different challenges, then I'll figure out how I need to change and adjust as well.  And I hope each day and each decision will build on one another until one day a man poised for a happy, successful life will leave my home and blossom.