Sorry it took so long to get back here, it's been a busy week. A little about our family: I am 27 years old with a history of depression (mainly during and after pregnancy), my husband is 32 with a history of depression, anxiety, and learning disabilities (he was never properly diagnosed and his parents didn't really care when he was growing up), in addition to our 5 year old (with ADHD, sleeping disorders, Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), and a seizure disorder), we have a 3 year old daughter (her only issue is a heart murmur). The only recent changes around here have been summer vacation. As a preschool teacher, I have the summer off, and both my children were enrolled in preschool, so they also have the summer off. We have been keeping our children on a strict schedule similar to that of preschool, while including many opportunities to socialize with other children. My son usually does a great job socializing with children his own age. Before his dr put him on the Adderall, he was having extreme difficulty with socialization, to the point where none of his peers wanted to play with him or even sit by him. I had a meeting with his teacher, and discovered that he was not understanding the concept of personal space, and was constantly jumping around and touching all his peers. His dr then put him on Adderall and it was such a wonderful change. He was interacting great again, and no longer had the issues with his peers. It wasn't until the past few weeks (after 8 months of being on the medications) that he had the problems. I was FINALLY able to get him in to his psychiatric and he doubled his Adderall XR dosage to 10 mg per day, so we'll see what comes of this. We go back again next week to reevaluate how the new dosage works.
As far as his interests go, he has always had "obsessions," whether it be a movie or certain toy. For a while it was anything having to do with trucks, and for the past few years it has been Toy Story everything. When his latest issues developed, he seemed to lose all interest in pretty much anything. He will watch tv for about 5 minutes, color for 5 minutes, play with a puzzle for 5 minutes... you get the point. He is jumping from activity to activity, complaining that he is bored, then working himself into a meltdown. When he doesn't get what he wants, it's a full blown meltdown. Doesn't matter if he just wanted to shower before his sister took her bath, or wanted ice cream at 2 AM. I am trying to pick my battles, but it's hard.
In regards to April's comment, yes 3 is very young to get the diagnosis. His behavior was so extreme that they were able to get the diagnosis. He would literally spend hours running back and forth through the house, wouldn't sit down for more than 30 seconds, wouldn't eat (because he didn't want to be still for that long), and even more. It was horrible! It was a battle just to get him into the car for the 20 minute drive to the doctor. We had one dr who thought he might have some form of autism, but the first psychiatric we saw said that he didn't, but I am going to ask for a neuropsychologist exam, and I have ordered a copy of The Explosive Child.