Malika
Well-Known Member
that J is not going to go down the medication route, at least for the time being. Of course I can't know for sure until it is tried but my intuition is that the side effects, particularly inability to sleep early and diminished quality of sleep, would be worse than what we live with now. I can't drug him to make society like him and welcome him or to make my life easier and less exposed - in saying that I am really not downplaying the benefits of medications for some people and some children. We flew back from Morocco to France yesterday - it is probably folly bordering insanity that I travel as much with a hyperactive child as I do as it is like some exquisite torture form for us both with all the required standing and waiting (with which J cannot comply) - and I can see how it goes with him now, more clearly than I have... he tries hard to be good and to please but the hyperactivity/impulsivity is just too much for him and he can't reign it in.
It seems to me that living with that and adapting to it, trying to help him learn ways to cope and compensate, is going to do him more good in the long run than putting him on medication. School may be the big problem... he is already at the limit of being able to deal with its rigid structure and need to concentrate. I play again with the idea of alternative school. I don't think the social group does him any good at all... he met a little boy in Marrakesh that he has known since babyhood and instead of talking to him or trying to play he immediately went into fighting with him and doing crazy things... the other boy, also six, didn't seem unhappy about it but the adults certainly were.
I think I feel more of a sense of... this is J's life to lead, this is how he is and this is the hand he has been dealt. It's not an easy one but it might not be without its benefits and interest also. I think I need to help him accept his hyperactivity and live with it rather than suppress it and try to make it like it isn't there. Make any sense?
It seems to me that living with that and adapting to it, trying to help him learn ways to cope and compensate, is going to do him more good in the long run than putting him on medication. School may be the big problem... he is already at the limit of being able to deal with its rigid structure and need to concentrate. I play again with the idea of alternative school. I don't think the social group does him any good at all... he met a little boy in Marrakesh that he has known since babyhood and instead of talking to him or trying to play he immediately went into fighting with him and doing crazy things... the other boy, also six, didn't seem unhappy about it but the adults certainly were.
I think I feel more of a sense of... this is J's life to lead, this is how he is and this is the hand he has been dealt. It's not an easy one but it might not be without its benefits and interest also. I think I need to help him accept his hyperactivity and live with it rather than suppress it and try to make it like it isn't there. Make any sense?