For the past four months, we've been seeing steady, if jerky improvement. difficult child (turns 8 tomorrow, no precise diagnosis, they offically say he is ADHD-not otherwise specified, which means he doesn't actually exhibit any ADHD symptoms; we brought him to psychiatrist last fall because we suspected bipolar; psychiatrist says no) is now on two medications, Tenex and Risperdal and is in play therapy as well. (We've also implemented the 1-2-3 Magic system with both our boys (including our 4 y.o. easy child). The past month and a half has been really remarkable--difficult child has been experiencing an ordinary childhood! We've been seeing only ordinary little boy misbehaviors, and those fairly infrequently. Our calendar tells the story--he gets a sticker for his "good" days (in our housem that means any day when he doesn't have to be locked in his room, and, to tell the truth, in the past month when he has had to be locked in, it's been only because he wouldn't stay in when he was sent for his five minute time outs, and then he was released five mintues after he calmed down.) We've been having a really good time--he's finally getting to experience a "normal" childhood.
Except for yesterday. Starting right before lunchtime and lasting until just before bedtime, we saw every scray behavior that started us on the road to therapy in the first place. There was violence, destructiveness, egomania, hysterics. There was screaming and tears (on his part). There was the complete ruin of our plans for a fun afternoon (due to work schedules, Sunday is the only day we're all together, so we frequently try for some sort of fun outing). Dad tells me there was a little of this Saturday morning (I was at work), and there was a tiny bit of this morning, but yesterday was the worst.
He's homeshcooled, so I know this doesn't have anything to do with what's going on at school! He was well behaved at Sunday school and church yesterday morning, a little quiet even. So I can't help wondering--what's up? Is it normal for a kid on these medications to have sudden, brief, intense setbacks? Dad told difficult child it was like when difficult child won a rollerskating race last week at a homeschooling event--about a third of the way around, difficult child took a nasty fall, but he got right back up and skated his very hardest and tied with another boy for first place.
Except for yesterday. Starting right before lunchtime and lasting until just before bedtime, we saw every scray behavior that started us on the road to therapy in the first place. There was violence, destructiveness, egomania, hysterics. There was screaming and tears (on his part). There was the complete ruin of our plans for a fun afternoon (due to work schedules, Sunday is the only day we're all together, so we frequently try for some sort of fun outing). Dad tells me there was a little of this Saturday morning (I was at work), and there was a tiny bit of this morning, but yesterday was the worst.
He's homeshcooled, so I know this doesn't have anything to do with what's going on at school! He was well behaved at Sunday school and church yesterday morning, a little quiet even. So I can't help wondering--what's up? Is it normal for a kid on these medications to have sudden, brief, intense setbacks? Dad told difficult child it was like when difficult child won a rollerskating race last week at a homeschooling event--about a third of the way around, difficult child took a nasty fall, but he got right back up and skated his very hardest and tied with another boy for first place.