A.D.D.

This is my adorable son, Ian. He is 12 and the oldest. He is a wonderful kid. He's very smart and has always done well in school on tests and such. He struggles with homework and getting assignments handed in. He is the offspring of two people that did as little school work as possible, Don't tell him that. I've always felt that he was trying even though he wasn't actually changing. Does that make sense? I didn't feel that he was being rebellious or being lazy. I felt that he was trying, maybe not his best, but not doing bad on purpose. This is something that I can remember dealing with since his 3rd grade year. In regular public school I probably wouldn't have noticed that early. Anyway, we have struggled these almost 4 years with many things at home and school that were so trying for us and Ian. I've prayed and cried many times about what the possible answer could be and what we could do to help him. Since I didn't feel that he was behaving badly on purpose the only possible explanation was that we were doing something as parents that we needed to change. We tried many different things over the years to help him in school and at home, we really tried to focus on the positive, but sometimes it was so hard. I felt like we were always on him about something. I felt that he probably felt that he could never do anything good enough for us. I felt like we were ruining this kid.

Last month we received his school progress report that let us know that we were in the same position as every other year. He was doing well on tests, but was failing because of work not being done and handed in and shoddy work when it was handed in. We, of course, got all over him about it. I can't even remember the number of times we have had this discussion, too many. I thought and prayed about it that week just searching for what we could be doing differently to help him. The last straw for me was the day that he left his backpack at school. He is always leaving stuff places and losing things. Things just disappear around him and he doesn't know where they could possibly be. After driving back from dropping them off at school I was crying and just saying to myself, "I am blowing it with this kid. I am just blowing it." A thought then came into my mind, "Maybe he is ADD like Eden." Eden is Kenneth's younger sister. I must admit that my experience with ADD is more the hyperactive type and I pretty much thought that Eden's diagnosis was a cop-out. Sorry, Eden. Trust me, I am really sorry for ever thinking that. I never would have thought of ADD on my own. I can only say that it was an answer to my prayers. When I got home I told Kenneth. I researched it that day on the internet and was shocked to be reading a description of my son. That was my child under the Inattentive ADHD symptoms, more commonly known as ADD. I couldn't believe it. I was so grateful. I felt so much love from my Heavenly Father for answering my prayers. I never thought that I would be so happy to think that my son was ADD. That might be why I needed the years of struggle, so that I would be fine with a label such as that.

I was amazed by how it just rang so true and felt so right. I think when I told people that they might have thought I was a little crazy because of how excited I was. I am just so happy to have some answers and some resources to get more help.

I scheduled an appt. with our pediatrician, who also happens to be the practice's ADHD expert. Ian and I talked to him for a little while. He said that it sounded like Ian probably was ADD. He gave us some surveys to take and one to give to Ian's teacher. After we filled them out we went back to the Dr.. Kenneth came with us this time. The Dr. looked the surveys over and said that it looked like Ian definitely had ADD. Next we talked about treatment options. My thought after initially thinking that Ian might be ADD was that I didn't want him to be medicated. Well, after researching, I came to think that it might be best. I realized that if there was a way to help him through medication that I would most likely choose to do it. The doctor recommended medication and talked to us about what the studies showed. We are currently trying a medication called Concerta. We haven't seen any side effects and he seems to be doing really well. I haven't noticed any incredible changes, but Kenneth said that he has noticed some changes and Ian said that he has noticed some changes as well. We'll see how it goes.

I am so grateful for answers to prayers. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father is mindful of me. I am so grateful for my son. I am so grateful that the problems that we were having weren't because I was being a horrible mother, seriously.