hospitals for kids

[cepilson]

I've never done one of these things, but I'm running out of options with my 3 year old son (my difficult child?) We have been seeing a psychiatrist for about 9 months because my son is ADHD and ODD. He's also 65 lbs and as tall as a 7 year old and very strong- not a good combination. Recently our DR. recommended hospitalization to stabilize our difficult child, deal with medications, etc. However, he's 3, and I would not be allowed to stay with him- very traumatic for him and for me. Does anyone know of a good children's psychiatric hospital that we could have him admitted to that would let me stay with him? It doesn't matter where it is. Thanks for your help.

 

[SRL]

Hi Cepilson,

I've not heard of a hospital program that lets parents stay with the kids. Some do have day treatment programs which allow kids to come home for the night.

Any parent who has contemplated this option has felt terror at the prospect of leaving a young child alone but the experience of parents here has been that the vast majority of them do better at being separated than the parent does. Most young children do very well in that setting--it's a safe, secure environment with someone watching over them 24/7.

What else has been done for him in terms of evaluation and treatment beyond seeing a psychiatrist?

 

[smallworld]

We do not recommend treatment facilities on this site, and I am in no position to know if the quality of the treatment at this facility is positive or negative. However, I happen to know from a friend that the Virginia Treatment Center for Children in Richmond, VA, allows parents to stay with their children when they are admitted for psychiatric purposes.

 

[cepilson]

As far as other treatment goes.... he's been on clonidine, dexadrine, risperdal, depakote, and now abilify (which was supposed to be in combination with the depakote- had a reaction to depakote). Thanks for the advice. Right now he's taking Abilify and we're using the clonidine three times a day just to keep him slightly sedated so that we can get through each day until we figure out what to do. His psychiatric. is in Prague and will be back 9/29. His pediatrician had to stop the depakote while the psychiatric is on vacation because of the reaction. Right now I'm just really sad... he's so intelligent and so loving, and I want so badly for him to just be "normal". This is just tearing my heart up! I know he wants to be good, he just can't.

 

[SRL]

I'm so sorry--I know this has been tremendously difficult for you.

I've been here for five years and I've never had a parent come through here with a 3 year old who has been on so many medications so alarms are going off all over the place. What kinds of doctors or other specialists has he seen besides his pediatrician and this psychiatrist?

Has he seen any of the following, and if so what were their findings?
developmental pediatrian
pediatric neurologist
geneticist (or has any genetic testing been done?)
pediatric neuropsychologist
occupational therapist
audiologist
speech/language therapist
behavioral therapist

Has he been through an assessment with the county or school district for services/Special Education preschool?

Besides the difficult behaviors, hyperactivity (?), and large size, is there anything else unusual developmentally about your son?