alphabetsoup
New Member
Hi everyone,
I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a mom to 6, one of whom, my oldest son, has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, EDD, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified, and, I strongly suspect sensory processing disorder (SPD) or Auditory Processing Disorders (APD). He started off very badly when we first got him diagnosed at 7. He was violent (to the walls and furniture, never to a person or animal, but we figured it was only a matter of time), and had some really bizarre behaviors, like using our heating ducts as a toilet. Really weird stuff. The doctor put him on Ritalin, which he had a horrible rebound on. We had to take him off. His psychotherapist told me I needed to hug him more and put him in school (we homeschool, where, academically, at least, he does very, very well, and is advanced in most subjects). Eventually, we moved out of that community, and found a new pediatrician who put him on a non-stimulant that didn't work, and a counselor who told us that we were already doing everything she would recommend (checklists, charts, ect.), and didn't touch his ODD, since it wasn't problematic at that time.
Well, fast forward some, and we've had a crazy chaotic year. DCS has been called by an unstable family member who apparently had stopped taking her medications and began to hyperfocus on our family, we had to move out of our new home, it's been a nightmare year. And, probably due to a combination of stress and possibly pre-puberty (?), my difficult child has been acting out again, severely. This week, he's been caught looking at porn (he's 10), stealing our debit and credit cards to download apps to his tablet (which he no longer has), stealing our tablets (we need them for work), and the latest greatest: running away and being brought back by the police. If his mouth is moving, he's probably lying, and nothing is EVER his fault. Ever. According to him, I've crossed the line, and he's out of here. AT least he was an hour ago. He's calmed now, but I don't trust him. We got him to a psychiatrist, who gave him risperdal (sp?) and sent us on our way, no referrals for therapy or anything. We finally did find a therapist that supposedly (hopefully) has experience with ODD, and we have an appointment in 2 days.
I'm at the end of my rope. Right now, he's not allowed out of my line of vision, after threatening to run away and having a huge blow up agan this morning. It's exhausting. He's not wanting to go to therapy, because he says they're just going to give him drugs. I really, really hope not. We need some serious behavioral help, in our parenting, in his behavior, honestly, I'm willing to try anything.
I'm really grateful to find other families like ours. This is my little man, and I love him more than I can say. In some respects, he's an absolute angel. He can be sweet, and caring, he draws pictures and cards and makes his brothers and sisters birthday and Christmas gifts. He goes out of his way to be a wonderful big brother. And then... a switch flips, and he becomes this absolute monster that holds us all captive. There's no in between. The roller coaster has me exhausted.
I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a mom to 6, one of whom, my oldest son, has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, EDD, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)-not otherwise specified, and, I strongly suspect sensory processing disorder (SPD) or Auditory Processing Disorders (APD). He started off very badly when we first got him diagnosed at 7. He was violent (to the walls and furniture, never to a person or animal, but we figured it was only a matter of time), and had some really bizarre behaviors, like using our heating ducts as a toilet. Really weird stuff. The doctor put him on Ritalin, which he had a horrible rebound on. We had to take him off. His psychotherapist told me I needed to hug him more and put him in school (we homeschool, where, academically, at least, he does very, very well, and is advanced in most subjects). Eventually, we moved out of that community, and found a new pediatrician who put him on a non-stimulant that didn't work, and a counselor who told us that we were already doing everything she would recommend (checklists, charts, ect.), and didn't touch his ODD, since it wasn't problematic at that time.
Well, fast forward some, and we've had a crazy chaotic year. DCS has been called by an unstable family member who apparently had stopped taking her medications and began to hyperfocus on our family, we had to move out of our new home, it's been a nightmare year. And, probably due to a combination of stress and possibly pre-puberty (?), my difficult child has been acting out again, severely. This week, he's been caught looking at porn (he's 10), stealing our debit and credit cards to download apps to his tablet (which he no longer has), stealing our tablets (we need them for work), and the latest greatest: running away and being brought back by the police. If his mouth is moving, he's probably lying, and nothing is EVER his fault. Ever. According to him, I've crossed the line, and he's out of here. AT least he was an hour ago. He's calmed now, but I don't trust him. We got him to a psychiatrist, who gave him risperdal (sp?) and sent us on our way, no referrals for therapy or anything. We finally did find a therapist that supposedly (hopefully) has experience with ODD, and we have an appointment in 2 days.
I'm at the end of my rope. Right now, he's not allowed out of my line of vision, after threatening to run away and having a huge blow up agan this morning. It's exhausting. He's not wanting to go to therapy, because he says they're just going to give him drugs. I really, really hope not. We need some serious behavioral help, in our parenting, in his behavior, honestly, I'm willing to try anything.
I'm really grateful to find other families like ours. This is my little man, and I love him more than I can say. In some respects, he's an absolute angel. He can be sweet, and caring, he draws pictures and cards and makes his brothers and sisters birthday and Christmas gifts. He goes out of his way to be a wonderful big brother. And then... a switch flips, and he becomes this absolute monster that holds us all captive. There's no in between. The roller coaster has me exhausted.