Karen & Crew
New Member
Its been a while since I've posted as things have been not too terrible since the Asperger diagnosis but things seem to have gone from bad to worse in what seems like overnight.
No idea if my siggy was fixed or not; this site has been giving me grief for almost an hour now but background is difficult child is 8.5 years old. He was diagnosis with ADHD-combined April '05. The extended release versions of Adderall & Focalin didn't work. We put him on Straterra and he had been referred to a neuro for evaluation because of tics in Aug 05. We went thru Katrina and wound up relocating temporarily. During that time he was diagnosis with Tourette's and put on Neurontin which didn't work. Moved back to NOLA January 06 and consulted another neuro who told us nothing was wrong other than he was just a normal behavior problem and he needed to be locked in his room until he repented. I took my son and walked out. We consulted another neuro who questioned Tourettes but agreed about the tics and placed him on Tenex. difficult child continued to get worse and we were finally referred to a psychiatrist. He kept upping the Tenex dosage until difficult child was pretty much catatonic. No behavior problems because he was for all intents and purposes in a walking coma.
Sept 06 we found a wonderful child psychiatrist. She diagnosed ADHD-combined, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) with some panic disorder and tic disorder-NOW. In April 07 she diagnosis Asperger's Syndrome. He currently takes 36 mg Concerta, 20 mg Celexa and 62.5 mg Seroquel (12.5 AM; 50 mg PM).
He had an awful year in 2nd grade but we muddled thru. Requested an IEP evaluation (request rec'd by school board 5/2/07) and a psychologist was sent to evaluate. School year ended, nothing more done. We're almost through 1st 9 weeks of 3rd grade and if things were bad last year they're exponentially worse now.
SBLC meeting was called and difficult child was pulled from his homeroom and placed in a homeroom where a SpEd resource teacher is available thru the day. Things got even worse after that change. Original SBLC meeting school board personnel wanted 504 accom only. Ha Ha (being very sarcastic).
Things escalated this week and he was issued a detention Tuesday. He received another detention on Thursday and right as the end-of-day bell was ringing the school secretary called and said that difficult child had now been suspended for Friday due to excessive behavior infractions and failure to serve detention #1 (I contacted the school on that one and said there was no way I could make it for the time and was told arrangements would be made for him to serve another time.)
When difficult child got off the bus Thursday he was upset (gee, I wonder why). We went to Occupational Therapist (OT) Thursday evening followed by Cub Scouts. He got in a bit of trouble during Scouts (I'm the den leader) for jumping off of furniture. As we left Scouts he started to whimper and said that he was sure I'd be happier if he were dead and that he was such a screw-up he didn't deserve to live.
When we got home 10 minutes later he acted as if he'd never said anything and that I was just imagining things. I wasn't sure what to think. husband slept in difficult child's bedroom that night just to make sure he was OK.
I called psychiatrist's office Friday and they sent her an emergency page. She said the thoughts were considered suicidal and we were sent to the ER for an emergency psychiatric evaluation.
I'm not sure how to figure out when to believe him though. He told the first doctor that he had thought of killing himself and described what methods he'd use and went on to say he'd contemplated killing his sister too. When the psychiatrist on call came in he denied saying these things and told her that the very idea was stupid and that people would think you were nuts for saying things like that. The psychiatrist on call feels his threats are idle adn he's not a danger to himself or anyone else so sent him home with no medication adjustments.
Friday am (prior to ER) we had another SBLC meeting. They no longer believe he needs 504 accom. They've now decided he needs a full IEP but are torn on whether its on the basis of OHI or full-blown autism. They have made it clear he will have to chage schools though. He currently attends a magnet school for advanced studies; they're trying to get him in a regular ed school that has a class for high-functioning autistic kids. We haven't told him this because right now any correction at all sends him into a rage.
He settles as quickly as he starts and he's not destructive; just says very hateful things and slams stuff around a lot. How do you determine when to get overly worried?
We have an appointment with his psychiatrist Monday at lunch (earliest she could see him). We're trying to decide if we should send him to school then check him out for the appointment or just keep him home until after the appointment. He has expressed numerous times since Thursday that he hates all 3 of his teachers and he hates the school principal. He's said he wants to hurt them. Personally I don't think he could but...
No idea if my siggy was fixed or not; this site has been giving me grief for almost an hour now but background is difficult child is 8.5 years old. He was diagnosis with ADHD-combined April '05. The extended release versions of Adderall & Focalin didn't work. We put him on Straterra and he had been referred to a neuro for evaluation because of tics in Aug 05. We went thru Katrina and wound up relocating temporarily. During that time he was diagnosis with Tourette's and put on Neurontin which didn't work. Moved back to NOLA January 06 and consulted another neuro who told us nothing was wrong other than he was just a normal behavior problem and he needed to be locked in his room until he repented. I took my son and walked out. We consulted another neuro who questioned Tourettes but agreed about the tics and placed him on Tenex. difficult child continued to get worse and we were finally referred to a psychiatrist. He kept upping the Tenex dosage until difficult child was pretty much catatonic. No behavior problems because he was for all intents and purposes in a walking coma.
Sept 06 we found a wonderful child psychiatrist. She diagnosed ADHD-combined, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) with some panic disorder and tic disorder-NOW. In April 07 she diagnosis Asperger's Syndrome. He currently takes 36 mg Concerta, 20 mg Celexa and 62.5 mg Seroquel (12.5 AM; 50 mg PM).
He had an awful year in 2nd grade but we muddled thru. Requested an IEP evaluation (request rec'd by school board 5/2/07) and a psychologist was sent to evaluate. School year ended, nothing more done. We're almost through 1st 9 weeks of 3rd grade and if things were bad last year they're exponentially worse now.
SBLC meeting was called and difficult child was pulled from his homeroom and placed in a homeroom where a SpEd resource teacher is available thru the day. Things got even worse after that change. Original SBLC meeting school board personnel wanted 504 accom only. Ha Ha (being very sarcastic).
Things escalated this week and he was issued a detention Tuesday. He received another detention on Thursday and right as the end-of-day bell was ringing the school secretary called and said that difficult child had now been suspended for Friday due to excessive behavior infractions and failure to serve detention #1 (I contacted the school on that one and said there was no way I could make it for the time and was told arrangements would be made for him to serve another time.)
When difficult child got off the bus Thursday he was upset (gee, I wonder why). We went to Occupational Therapist (OT) Thursday evening followed by Cub Scouts. He got in a bit of trouble during Scouts (I'm the den leader) for jumping off of furniture. As we left Scouts he started to whimper and said that he was sure I'd be happier if he were dead and that he was such a screw-up he didn't deserve to live.
When we got home 10 minutes later he acted as if he'd never said anything and that I was just imagining things. I wasn't sure what to think. husband slept in difficult child's bedroom that night just to make sure he was OK.
I called psychiatrist's office Friday and they sent her an emergency page. She said the thoughts were considered suicidal and we were sent to the ER for an emergency psychiatric evaluation.
I'm not sure how to figure out when to believe him though. He told the first doctor that he had thought of killing himself and described what methods he'd use and went on to say he'd contemplated killing his sister too. When the psychiatrist on call came in he denied saying these things and told her that the very idea was stupid and that people would think you were nuts for saying things like that. The psychiatrist on call feels his threats are idle adn he's not a danger to himself or anyone else so sent him home with no medication adjustments.
Friday am (prior to ER) we had another SBLC meeting. They no longer believe he needs 504 accom. They've now decided he needs a full IEP but are torn on whether its on the basis of OHI or full-blown autism. They have made it clear he will have to chage schools though. He currently attends a magnet school for advanced studies; they're trying to get him in a regular ed school that has a class for high-functioning autistic kids. We haven't told him this because right now any correction at all sends him into a rage.
He settles as quickly as he starts and he's not destructive; just says very hateful things and slams stuff around a lot. How do you determine when to get overly worried?
We have an appointment with his psychiatrist Monday at lunch (earliest she could see him). We're trying to decide if we should send him to school then check him out for the appointment or just keep him home until after the appointment. He has expressed numerous times since Thursday that he hates all 3 of his teachers and he hates the school principal. He's said he wants to hurt them. Personally I don't think he could but...