Another Acronym

Just wanted to let everyone know that the psychologist told us that Brady has ADHD. Not a huge surprise, but having a professional say it really brings it home.  I'm glad she's not seeing any other issues, though. So, now I'm doing all my research on our next steps. I guess I'll be calling the pediatrician today after giving it some time to sink in. Looks like we're going to be trying some medication. I've read lots of articles about how much it can help, but I'm still scared. Hoping that we'll be able to find the right one for him very quickly.

Oh, and the psychologist, who works in the same office as the OTs, said that SPD isn't a real thing. I kind of expected that, but it still made me mad. I kept my mouth shut, though. Told our OT about it the next day and she was surprised. I told her that I haven't read anywhere in the ADHD research that says that these kids like to smell everything, freak out at loud unexpected noises, or have to touch everything, crash into walls on purpose, etc. Ugh. I feel okay with the ADHD diagnosis, though, since we feel like we have a decent handle on the sensory issues through OT and a sensory diet, but he's still having huge problems with focusing on needed tasks and still gets out of control hyper at times.

So, if anyone has any words of wisdom dealing with an SPD/ADHD kid, I'd love to hear them!

Psychologist Appointment Tomorrow

We have another appointment in the morning, and I'm nervous. We've had our inital appointment where we discussed our concerns, and then we had one where it was just the doctor and Brady playing and talking. We've filled out tons of forms, had his teacher fill out a couple, and kept a journal of his difficulties. Tomorrow, we're supposed to go over her findings and discuss a plan. She wants Brady to come, and he will, hopefully, sit out in the hallway and play by himself while we discuss the grown-up stuff. I'm thinking we'll have to come up with a bribe to get him to do that. He seriously hates being left out of conversations. But she wants him there for part of the conversation, so he has to come along.

So, I really have no idea what to expect tomorrow. Will she give us a diagnosis? Will she say we need to see another type of doctor? Will she suggest medication? Will she tell us he's just a normal kid and we need some parenting classes?

Seriously, I don't even know what to hope for. A formal diagnosis of some sort would help us understand more what he's dealing with and possibly get us more help at school. I'm also scared of a diagnosis because I don't like the idea of him being labeled, especially in the school system. I'm scared about the possibility of medication. I also know that, depending on her findings, medication could help. I'm scared that she'll say he's a normal kid in need of some discipline because that means we're at least partially to blame. I'm worried that she'll just have us try yet another reward system. Trust me, we've tried and I don't need to spend tons of money on coming up with another one. But maybe she has some magic system that'll work for him and he'll actually internalize some of the lessons it's meant to teach. Who knows?

Cooking with a sensory seeker

I meant to write a post about this back when we baked Christmas cookies, but never got around to it. I was reminded of it the other day when school was closed due to ice and I decided baking brownies would be something fun to do to entertain the boys for a little bit. Plus, stirring the batter is good proprioceptive work for Brady.

So, I pour the mix into the bowl, and it starts. And I rememer why my patience was seriously tested back when we were baking for Christmas, for other people, who didn't want all of Brady's germs.

"Mom, can I smell it?" "Mom, can I feel it?" "Mom, can I taste it?". Constantly, after every addition of an ingredient. This time, since the end product was just for us, my answer was yes to most of his questions. Really, I'm super glad that he asks before doing it, but, really? Why does he just HAVE to scoop up a fingerful of brownie mix (just the powder) to smell and taste it? I did stop him from trying to immerse himself up to his elbows in it, though. Then, we add the oil, and have to re-smell the mixture (basically putting his nose INTO the mixture), stick fingers in it, and then lick the fingers. Luckily, there are only a few ingredients that go into a box mix of brownies because I'm remembering the constant no's I had to tell him when trying to bake cookies from scratch, with loads of ingredients, for other people. He begged to touch, smell, and taste EVERYTHING. He'd probably stick his ear in the bowl if he thought it would talk to him. I just couldn't, in good conscience, let him get all up into the dough that was going to be cookies for other people.

An SPD Christmas

I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this, am I? When picking out Brady's gifts for Christmas, the first thought is what would be helpful for his sensory diet. And most of the things he got were to help me help him. Like games with pieces that he can carry through his tunnel or take across the room on his scooter board. And "What's in Ned's Head?" to help him with tactile discrimination. And of course, his new crash mat!!

The best present of the year needs a little background....

Brady is obsessed with Spiderman now, and the top of his Christmas list was a web shooter. He's been trying to figure out how to climb the walls and shoot a web to swing on for awhile now. Less than a week before Christmas, he was talking about how he wished he'd asked Santa for sticky hands and feet to go along with his web so that he could really be like Spiderman. This is when we realized that he thought the "web shooter" was actually going to let him swing from the rafters. So, Daddy goes googling to find him something, anything, that he could safely swing from. We looked at zip lines, but it's a bit cold outside for that and I really needed something active that he could do in the house. Then, we came across the perfect thing for our little guy - The Twizzler II. Not only can he pretend to be Spiderman, he can swing and crash into his mat.  So now we've basically turned our "formal living room" into a gymnasium, and he LOVES it.