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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 291103" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>Welcome! I read this last night and have been thinking about my response. It sure sounds like you have a difficult child.</p><p></p><p>I think a new neuropsychologist evaluation (including having old testing reviewed and any new testing the neurospych recommends), a PRIVATE Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation and therapy, a therapist she LIKES, and some issues you are willing to fight tooth and nail over are called for.</p><p></p><p>I can't say she needs medication for sure. I suspect that it might really help her, but I am not a psychiatrist. I would make it policy that if she balks at medications she loses everything until they are taken. She sits at a chair at the kitchen table and cannot do anything else until she takes the medications. NOTHING. It will be a vicious fight, but it will be worth it in the long run. Explain ONCE that the new policy is that you will get the medications and give them to her. She will take them. If she says no then she has to go sit at the table with NOTHING to do/eat/drink/watch and no one talks to her except to see if she has taken her medications. Tell her that medications are an adult decision. If she feels odd or bad after she takes them, you will listen and evaluate if they need to be continued or stopped. But SHE will take any medications you give. Period. </p><p></p><p>This NEEDS to be a big deal for you. medications may very well make her life better. medications could SAVE her life (the suicide rate for kids with bipolar is staggeringly high). If she gets sick with strep or something and won't take medications she can end up truly ill. Dead type ill. Whatever reason has her refusing to take medications, it should NOT be accepted. I don't know if she is bipolar, haven't a clue, but it is still a risk. I used to have to break up capsules of antibiotics to divide them into doses for my youngest. He can't tolerate the artificial sweeteners in kids medications. I poured the dose into a spoon and then put a half teaspoon or so of chocolate syrup into the spoon and stirred it with a toothpick. thank you got to lick the spoon until clean. If it was a really nasty tasting medication he got a second ahlf teaspoon of chocolate syrup if he didn't complain before he took it.</p><p></p><p>Maybe you can use m&m's to teach her to swallow, or use sprinkles in chocolate syrup to practice taking medications. BEcause what happens if she really NEEDS a medication and you are alone with no one to help you force them into her? As she grows it will become a bigger and bigger issue unless you do your best to stop it now. That is ONLY my opinion.</p><p></p><p>As for school deciding she doesn't need an IEP, well , I would send a letter formally requesting another evaluation. It MUST be sent certified mail with signature confirmation. This puts legal protections into place for her. It also establishes a start date for the timeline. Schools have a certain number of days from the date the letter is received to get her tested and to schedule a meeting. I am willing to bet that she needs an IEP. For more on this check out the Sp Ed 101 forum. The mods there are incredible.</p><p></p><p>She is a few years older than she was when the evaluations were done. At her age the change over those years is pretty dramatic. New things will likely show up. this give you more info to help figure out exactly what help she needs. A new neuropsychologist is very much needed. Same for the private Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation. </p><p></p><p>Don't rely on the school testing. They only test for a few things, not how everything in her life is impacted. They focus only on how academics are affected. A private Occupational Therapist (OT) will test for all the sensory problems seh shows. I totally "get" the refusal to wear underwear, anything tight around my waist is painful. If you can find out what her sensory issues are you can do a lot of things to help. They will help in ALL areas of her life. In other areas you should also not trust school testing or their interpretations of the results. Often they don't know what they are talking about, from my experience.</p><p></p><p>As nebulous as her diagnosis is, I strongly recommend writing a parent report. It is a way to organize and present all of the problems and gifts she has, all of your hopes and dreams for her, all of the things you have already done, and all of the testing that has been done. Some parents here developed an outline for it. My only addition to their outline was to add photos of my difficult child at the front of the report and at the befinning of each section. I used a big one for the front of the report and smaller ones at the start of each section. I didn't use a 'real" photo, I just taped it on the master copy and xeroxed the photo on other copies. </p><p></p><p>Here is a link to the Parent Report: <a href="http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10" target="_blank">http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10</a></p><p></p><p>I want to recommend some books. Many are in libraries, but you can also order them from amazon or from some of the online used bookstores. Sometimes you can find them in regular bookstores, but I haven't always had luck with that.</p><p></p><p>The Explosive Child by Ross Greene is essential - it gives you a whole different way to approach parenting, because the traditional method just doesn't work with difficult children.</p><p></p><p>The Bipolar Child by Papalous is essential reading for anyone with a child with a mood disorder. It explains a lot and has vital information about how the brain works and how kids present very differently than adults. </p><p></p><p>The Out of Synch Child by Carol Kranowitz is going to be the best way to understand what your daughter is going through when she can't stand the feel of her clothing, or the taste of something, or needs to sit on her head on the couch to watch tv. It also describes ways to help this kind of problems, including one technique that is proven to rewire how the brain handles sensory input.</p><p></p><p>The Out of Sync Child Has Fun is also by Kranowitz. It is packed with fun things to do with your difficult child. The activities provide various kinds of sensory stimulation that she needs. Best of all, many of them are very cheap or have ways to modify them to be very cheap. </p><p></p><p>Have a good weekend!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 291103, member: 1233"] Welcome! I read this last night and have been thinking about my response. It sure sounds like you have a difficult child. I think a new neuropsychologist evaluation (including having old testing reviewed and any new testing the neurospych recommends), a PRIVATE Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation and therapy, a therapist she LIKES, and some issues you are willing to fight tooth and nail over are called for. I can't say she needs medication for sure. I suspect that it might really help her, but I am not a psychiatrist. I would make it policy that if she balks at medications she loses everything until they are taken. She sits at a chair at the kitchen table and cannot do anything else until she takes the medications. NOTHING. It will be a vicious fight, but it will be worth it in the long run. Explain ONCE that the new policy is that you will get the medications and give them to her. She will take them. If she says no then she has to go sit at the table with NOTHING to do/eat/drink/watch and no one talks to her except to see if she has taken her medications. Tell her that medications are an adult decision. If she feels odd or bad after she takes them, you will listen and evaluate if they need to be continued or stopped. But SHE will take any medications you give. Period. This NEEDS to be a big deal for you. medications may very well make her life better. medications could SAVE her life (the suicide rate for kids with bipolar is staggeringly high). If she gets sick with strep or something and won't take medications she can end up truly ill. Dead type ill. Whatever reason has her refusing to take medications, it should NOT be accepted. I don't know if she is bipolar, haven't a clue, but it is still a risk. I used to have to break up capsules of antibiotics to divide them into doses for my youngest. He can't tolerate the artificial sweeteners in kids medications. I poured the dose into a spoon and then put a half teaspoon or so of chocolate syrup into the spoon and stirred it with a toothpick. thank you got to lick the spoon until clean. If it was a really nasty tasting medication he got a second ahlf teaspoon of chocolate syrup if he didn't complain before he took it. Maybe you can use m&m's to teach her to swallow, or use sprinkles in chocolate syrup to practice taking medications. BEcause what happens if she really NEEDS a medication and you are alone with no one to help you force them into her? As she grows it will become a bigger and bigger issue unless you do your best to stop it now. That is ONLY my opinion. As for school deciding she doesn't need an IEP, well , I would send a letter formally requesting another evaluation. It MUST be sent certified mail with signature confirmation. This puts legal protections into place for her. It also establishes a start date for the timeline. Schools have a certain number of days from the date the letter is received to get her tested and to schedule a meeting. I am willing to bet that she needs an IEP. For more on this check out the Sp Ed 101 forum. The mods there are incredible. She is a few years older than she was when the evaluations were done. At her age the change over those years is pretty dramatic. New things will likely show up. this give you more info to help figure out exactly what help she needs. A new neuropsychologist is very much needed. Same for the private Occupational Therapist (OT) evaluation. Don't rely on the school testing. They only test for a few things, not how everything in her life is impacted. They focus only on how academics are affected. A private Occupational Therapist (OT) will test for all the sensory problems seh shows. I totally "get" the refusal to wear underwear, anything tight around my waist is painful. If you can find out what her sensory issues are you can do a lot of things to help. They will help in ALL areas of her life. In other areas you should also not trust school testing or their interpretations of the results. Often they don't know what they are talking about, from my experience. As nebulous as her diagnosis is, I strongly recommend writing a parent report. It is a way to organize and present all of the problems and gifts she has, all of your hopes and dreams for her, all of the things you have already done, and all of the testing that has been done. Some parents here developed an outline for it. My only addition to their outline was to add photos of my difficult child at the front of the report and at the befinning of each section. I used a big one for the front of the report and smaller ones at the start of each section. I didn't use a 'real" photo, I just taped it on the master copy and xeroxed the photo on other copies. Here is a link to the Parent Report: [url]http://www.conductdisorders.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10[/url] I want to recommend some books. Many are in libraries, but you can also order them from amazon or from some of the online used bookstores. Sometimes you can find them in regular bookstores, but I haven't always had luck with that. The Explosive Child by Ross Greene is essential - it gives you a whole different way to approach parenting, because the traditional method just doesn't work with difficult children. The Bipolar Child by Papalous is essential reading for anyone with a child with a mood disorder. It explains a lot and has vital information about how the brain works and how kids present very differently than adults. The Out of Synch Child by Carol Kranowitz is going to be the best way to understand what your daughter is going through when she can't stand the feel of her clothing, or the taste of something, or needs to sit on her head on the couch to watch tv. It also describes ways to help this kind of problems, including one technique that is proven to rewire how the brain handles sensory input. The Out of Sync Child Has Fun is also by Kranowitz. It is packed with fun things to do with your difficult child. The activities provide various kinds of sensory stimulation that she needs. Best of all, many of them are very cheap or have ways to modify them to be very cheap. Have a good weekend! [/QUOTE]
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