First, I have to say that I have found so much information and support in the last month, just from reading the forum. I am thankful to have one more resource in helping my child.
Long story short, my son is 8 and was diagnosed early-onset bipolar disorder at age 5. He fit every symptom (except hypersexuality and psychosis--thank goodness), and school has always been a huge anxiety inducer for him. Separation anxiety has been a problem since he was a baby, and leaving him in the mornings can sometimes require restraint on the part of school personnel.
This year we have had 4 days where, when I left, he had a panic attack/rage/meltdown and had to be restrained by the asst. principal and counselor--neither of whom seem to have a clue how to deal with a panicked child. They don't quite get the whole 'fight-or-flight response', and I believe that their reaction to the situation is causing it to be worse. We have a 504 meeting scheduled for this week, and I've requested IEP testing. Ironically, other than the panic attacks, he is a model student--straight As, never a behavior problem, listens, follows rules, etc. I try and remind myself how lucky we are in that respect, but it pains me that we can't seem to figure out how to get through this school refusal. On the medication front, he's on Trileptal, Atarax, Melatonin, and we added Buspar at the beginning of the year, which helped the anxiety tremendously.
Has anyone had experience in this and can give some advice as to what might work? The school has been trying to treat it as a behavior issue--threatening consequences, even calling me at one point to pick him up. I've told the asst. principal that The Boy has no trust in them and is scared of them because all he knows is that when he's trying to get to his mom, they are holding him down. I don't know how to make them see this for the anxiety issue that it is.
I appreciate any advice or input you all could give
Long story short, my son is 8 and was diagnosed early-onset bipolar disorder at age 5. He fit every symptom (except hypersexuality and psychosis--thank goodness), and school has always been a huge anxiety inducer for him. Separation anxiety has been a problem since he was a baby, and leaving him in the mornings can sometimes require restraint on the part of school personnel.
This year we have had 4 days where, when I left, he had a panic attack/rage/meltdown and had to be restrained by the asst. principal and counselor--neither of whom seem to have a clue how to deal with a panicked child. They don't quite get the whole 'fight-or-flight response', and I believe that their reaction to the situation is causing it to be worse. We have a 504 meeting scheduled for this week, and I've requested IEP testing. Ironically, other than the panic attacks, he is a model student--straight As, never a behavior problem, listens, follows rules, etc. I try and remind myself how lucky we are in that respect, but it pains me that we can't seem to figure out how to get through this school refusal. On the medication front, he's on Trileptal, Atarax, Melatonin, and we added Buspar at the beginning of the year, which helped the anxiety tremendously.
Has anyone had experience in this and can give some advice as to what might work? The school has been trying to treat it as a behavior issue--threatening consequences, even calling me at one point to pick him up. I've told the asst. principal that The Boy has no trust in them and is scared of them because all he knows is that when he's trying to get to his mom, they are holding him down. I don't know how to make them see this for the anxiety issue that it is.
I appreciate any advice or input you all could give