PLEASE HELP!

[KC but no sunshine band]

OK, I'm new at this so please bear with me. First of all, can someone please tell me what is a difficult child? Now for my natural born son who is 11 yrs old. (turning 12 in Dec) He has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, mild tourettes, and now the psychiatric doctor is concerned about Asperger's Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He normally is such a sweet and wonderful child with small bouts of difficulty. Recently however, he has been more prone to extending these small bouts into very large ones. Within the last week or so, he has had a bus infraction for making inappropriate gestures and being defiant when asked to stop, will not bring home his homework, was in a fight in school, is totally unruly and unteachable... need I say more? Is this what I have to look forward to in adolescence? Today with many tears and much frustration, I called his psychiatric doctor telling him that we need to do something as all of this is interfering with my marriage and my career. The psychiatric doctor tells me to increase my son's risperidol so as to settle him down a bit and then he will get my husband and I in to see him to explore our options. Anyone out there have any kind of advice??? Please??? I have never seen such behaviour in a child before. (We have 5 kids between us and this one is the youngest) I'm ready to pull my hair out. I even asked my son's aide at school what avenues I can look at as an option for relief. She said that although I'm not the type, I could consider a group home. Hey! I'm so lost right now that I'm even considering that as an option. Today I have not been able to stop crying over all of this. Someone, anyone, please help.

 

[KC but no sunshine band]

OK, I'm new at this so please bear with me. First of all, can someone please tell me what is a difficult child? Now for my natural born son who is 11 yrs old. (turning 12 in Dec) He has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, mild tourettes, and now the psychiatric doctor is concerned about Asperger's Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He normally is such a sweet and wonderful child with small bouts of difficulty. Recently however, he has been more prone to extending these small bouts into very large ones. Within the last week or so, he has had a bus infraction for making inappropriate gestures and being defiant when asked to stop, will not bring home his homework, was in a fight in school, is totally unruly and unteachable... need I say more? Is this what I have to look forward to in adolescence? Today with many tears and much frustration, I called his psychiatric doctor telling him that we need to do something as all of this is interfering with my marriage and my career. The psychiatric doctor tells me to increase my son's risperidol so as to settle him down a bit and then he will get my husband and I in to see him to explore our options. Anyone out there have any kind of advice??? Please??? I have never seen such behaviour in a child before. (We have 5 kids between us and this one is the youngest) I'm ready to pull my hair out. I even asked my son's aide at school what avenues I can look at as an option for relief. She said that although I'm not the type, I could consider a group home. Hey! I'm so lost right now that I'm even considering that as an option. Today I have not been able to stop crying over all of this. Someone, anyone, please help.

 

[nvts]

Ok, deeeep breaths!

And although I don't know you, pulling your hair out won't help anything.

You have found a group of really great people who've been there done that on all of the issues that you have going on. You'll get a lot of support! :flower:

You sound like you've truly got your finger on his pulse. Your difficult child (gift from God!) has a lot to handle with all of the issues that he has. You being calm will help disarm a lot of the goings on at home. Do yourself a favor - go get Ross Greene's book "The Explosive Child". Even if you don't agree with everything he suggests (which work for some and not others) he'll give you unique insight as to how your son's brain processes things. It's written in "plain, old English" (not psychiatric-speak) and it's like he's sitting in your living room while he's writing the book.

Try and fill out your profile (it's in the 1st forum - it helps people remember your family dynamic) and there's one that tells you all of the "short speak" (like difficult child).

Go see the p-doctor.

Has he had a neuropsychologist exam?
Does he have an IEP?
Is he enrolled in General Ed or Special Education?

Remember: this is a great group who's always willing to help.
:smile:

Beth

 

[Sheila]

Hi

I'm suspecting that "puberty" is a major component of your difficult child's recent behaviors. If it is, hang onto your hat.

Puberty can be difficult under normal circumstance, but throw in a neurological disorder and is seems amplified 100 times. Raging harmones and interferring with-chemical imbalances that are already adversely impacted.

Before you start adjusting medications, you might want to talk to the psychiatrist about the possibility.

Welcome aboard. :smile:

 

[tiredmommy]

Hello & welcome. difficult child means "gift from God"... the difficult child that has brought you here. My first question for is when was he last evaluated? Most of our kids are works in progress so the diagnosis may change as they grow. This is especially true during puberty.
I'm going to move this thread over to our General Forum as it is the more appropriate place for this post. You'll get tons of support and advice.