Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Progress? Kindergarten PM problems and Dr visit

Polar bear - his teacher felt like a half daylight be a feasible option especially since he is ahead and not behind.
Counselor is afraid he will start to use it to his advantage.
Today I sent snacks and he will get a wind down time in the bean bag chair in the special Ed class.
I'm thinking of calling the principal and asking for a half day option. He could have a nap and still do a little work at home if necessary.

Teacher thought a half day would be a feasible plan. Especially since he is ahead and not behind.
I think it is a tired/hunger/overstimulation issue. Naps do amazing things for this kid. He is in kindergarten and they did allow naps back in more reasonable times. With the iron deficiency he may not be able to handle a full day. Add to that not eating well.
I put a call in to the principal to see if we can go to half a day. I REALLY wish we could so flipped classroom. We read at home and he is progressing right along. He likes goals like reading x number of stories to get a prize etc. I think partially he is ready for more. He is tired of handwriting and the sight words he knows. He needs to progress into being taught blends, the silent e at the end of words makes the vowel say its name, etc. I imagine its a long day when you have ADHD and are very bright and bored with the curriculum.

But it's totally possible. What med is he taking and where does the "12 hour release" come from? DD's "extended release" med lasted only about 5-6 hours when she was taking the lowest dosage. and about 9 hours at the next dosage. How long meds last will vary by individual, and by the strength of the dosage.

If you go to the Quilivant XR website it tells you it as a once a day med that continues working for 12 hours. However some medications don't dissolve properly in XR form so they often don't last as long. I'd rather give the med 30 minutes later and give him a MT Dew at lunch versus increasing the overall dosage. At the rate we are going he will need an increase 4 times a year. He hasn't gained any weight so we will continue to increase a dose that has diminishing returns. We feel the withdrawals are worse than his typical behaviors.
Medicine certainly isn't a miracle cure in this instance.

Is Kindergarten required where you are at? What happens if you pick him up at lunch time, feed him at home, give him a nap and do some after schooling as needed? IMO flipping a K classroom is a not an easy ask.

Where I am, children who still need to sleep (perhaps that best medicine!) are kept back... you find wide range of ages and abilities come K (this creates its own issues of course).

Regarding the iron, what I have found that works best is ‘Floradix'. The gluten free variety has the most iron per serve. I split the dose between two servings. Dairy has a big impact on absorption of iron. You should avoid serving milk (and apple juice!) within an hour or so of giving the Floradix. The vitamin B will also help with energy. Of course, discuss this all with your own doctor!!! For my DS11 we treated him with Floradix only, his levels were even worse that your DS’s at the time. You can buy it online at iherb.com for example, or at Wholefoods, etc. You can also take it yourself :-)

Certain dried fruit, e.g. raisins are a good source of iron as well pumpkin seeds -- keep these in mind for snack time.

I bet your little guy is super tired and uncooperative as a result of his iron counts, not to mention his age and activity levels. I don't have personal experience with ADHD but wonder how greatly his symptoms are impacted by the anaemia???

I also wonder whether the anaemia and/or the iron supplement effect the absorption of the ADHD meds.

I don't know about iron and ADHD meds interacting. His teacher says he isn't mature enough for a full day. I've been anemic before and it was exhausting.

Sleep works magic for him. Mid day when he gets hyper, it's a symptom of being tired and overstimulated. He awakes calm and focused. I've often heard that kids with sensory issues need a lot of sleep due to overstimulation. I've read that gifted kids can often be overstimulated also. And his class has. Lot of commotion. Lots of centers as switching. Kids in and out, two teachers etc. it would drive me crazy. I need structure and quiet to have that inner calm. It doesn't distract me, it irritates me.

I am asking the principal to move to a half day. He doesn't need the day for academics. If they would test him today he would pass all the 4th quarter requirements with flying colors. But if he was at home we would work on reading his little stories, new words, and maybe things he is interested in like geography and science.

I just wonder if he will be able to survive 1st grade. I hate all this. That's why I need this group. It's killing me to see this kid always in trouble when he is tired and bored. He wants to learn. He loves to learn but he hates school. What a conundrum.

The last time my DS was anaemic, I serious thought something was wrong with him. He played football/soccer at the time and the team manager was a school psychologist serving several high end privates near me, and we discussed in detail the possibility of ODD on a number of occasions. We also heard 'I am bored' constantly!!! I can not tell you how often, he would tell you nothing interested him.

We went to heaps of appts with different types of doctor's... they didn't find anything other than anaemia.

He is not an easy kid, has never been. That didn't change. We did work to get him more appropriate work at school as a result of testing we did trying to get to the bottom of his issues. This took a bit longer to come about, but our situation improved greatly when the anaemia was solved (before the changes occurred at school). Hyper and tired... not a good combination.

Most of your issues *could* clear up when the anaemia is solved. Like I said before, it could take a good 6 months.

Have they checked for celiac, as well (this test can take a bit longer to come back)?

We haven't check for celiac. What type of doc tests for this? Thanks for the kind words. Sometimes I just want to give up.
We will keep working on the iron. We are also staring juice plus which may help with some nutrition issues also. Guess we will see.

There are different blood tests to check for celiac. I would think your GP or ped could help you. Do they have an idea was caused the anaemia in the first place? Our doctor checked to see if DS had a 'the gene', which he did not. He if had it a second test would have been required to see if he celiac at that point in time. I don't know a whole lot about this, but there is more than one way to test for it. They were checking to see if celiac was causing the anaemia. Obviously, it helps to know what caused it to try and prevent a recurrence.

Did they check other vitamin / mineral levels... B-12, zinc, D for example? (Blood test.)

Apple juice (maybe their are other juices or juice plus???) and dairy will interfere with iron absorption. Ideally, you need to be really, really careful about his diet and the timing of the supplements (iron or Floradix, juice plus) for the next 6 months and then retest. You can continue the Floradix after the anaemia has disappeared.

You can't give up :-) Just get really organised! Maybe a nutritionist could provide you additional support?

Best of luck.