Most of you already know that Andrew has been diagnosed with ADHD. We were expecting an adjustment from Kindergarten to 1st grade, but after the first month and a half, things continued to go downhill. Academic wise, we couldn't ask for better performance from Andrew, it was the behavioral issues that kept getting out of control. The more he got in trouble at school (it was never anything major), the more things we would take away from him at home. The cycle only became worse each time we took something else away. After the second time his teacher used the word, impulsive to describe him, we knew it was time to talk to his doctor.
The day that Andrew's doctor told us we needed to get him evaluated with a psychologist, it felt like a flow to the gut. What his doctor was most worried about was his self esteem. He had gotten to the point that he didn't believe he could stay out of trouble and was accepting the fact that he stayed in trouble. I felt overwhelmed with the information that I was reading and started to feel sorry for myself at times. It finally got to the point where I got mad at myself. I have friends and relatives that have lost a child, had a child with cancer or rare diseases, plus thinking of all the health issues mom and dad had to deal with Weldon. It was time for me to suck it up and figure out the best way to help Andrew.
So far, we've had some luck with the non-stimulate that Andrew is on. The main problem now is he has traded not getting work done in class for being too hyper to daydreaming in class. His teacher has been wonderful to work with during this time. Some days, I'm sure she mumbles under her breath when she seeing an email from me asking what she is noticing in the classroom because I'm trying this or the doctor has changed his medicine dosage. I'm not sure if we are doing the correct things, but at least Allen and I are trying to help. We've tried to educate ourselves without overloading with too much information.
Today, was an especially hard day for us. Andrew is in the Cub Scouts and was looking forward to the camp-in at the Space and Rocket Center. He and Allen were going to sleep under the Saturn V rocket in the Davidson Center and he had talked about it for months. Andrew started running a fever, along with a runny nose and cough. Finally at 3:30, we had to tell him that he couldn't go. You could tell it broke his heart, but he didn't cry or throw a fit. It was like another day, another disappointment. You get at a point thinking, can he get a break? Just maybe if one thing could go his way, we would start to see a more happy child, instead of one coming home off the bus to say a kid took the shoe off of his foot and then threw it back at him. I cried more about today than he did. We promised we would make it up to him, but you can't make up every hurt. As one of his aunts said, he is going to have great character.
I figure I'll be blogging more as we go on this journey. It will be one that God will teach us about patience, along with appreciating the small things in life. The biggest lesson will be learning to finally grow up and realize it's not always going to be easy. If we didn't have these bumps, how could we ever grow.
