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DS5 who I have posted on before has the following DX. SPD, Language processing disorder, functional vision disorder and possibly CAPD.

In spite of all of that he crushed his WPPSI at 4.1 although the test wasn't given for IQ purposes (another story)

So anyway, for the last several months he has been attending OT for SPD, hippa for SPD, vision and receptive speech. In spite of all of this, Kindergarten is a disaster. We don't seem to be making any progress in behavior although academically he's doing fine. He has some issue with reading because of his vision but as that gets worked out he's doing better.

Two weeks ago, I attending a training required to maintain my foster parent license. "The nuerochemistry or fear" presented by Dr. Karyn Purvis. She might as well have been talking about my son. If this is the case, my son's brain is chemically altered and all the sensory work in the world isn't going to put him back together again. I feel like i'm beating my head against a post. How does one go about having brain chemistry tested? Her therapies for treatment were very specific and seemed to have amazing results. But how to know?

I'm ranting and I know it! But i'm frustrated and I'm at a loss as to help this little guy.......So please forgive my bitching, sometimes you just have too!

I don't why I was just reading about that a few months ago except because I have an iPhone I can't put down. It was in a blog and a neurosurgeon made what he called a rock song (not classic rock, definitely not modern, that out there stuff some people call rock). It was about the chemistry of fear and how fear can only get worse each time it happens. Something similar to what this site says
http://www.scepticthomas.com/fear/fear.htm
Which, according to this site, is why horror movies keep working.
The neurosurgeon with a garage band singing about fear used the word amygdala, that I recall. I googled that trying to find that blog with that song in it and found this;
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050106110624.htm
That suggests some conditioned fear can be permanately cured by training people to look in the eye area.

Persistence overcomes resistance and you were truly meant to be a mother, obviously. If I remember any more about that song I'll try to find it again, but I've even searched my sent folder from my e-mail with no luck. I thought the song was interesting.

Oh yeah, I meant to say something practical. Can you google the speaker and ask for more info from the contact us button on her webpage if you didn't get to ask your question at the seminar. Quick google. Yep, there's a webpage with an email button. Maybe she'll answer you.
http://www.child.tcu.edu/People.htm

BWBShari,

I'm sorry to hear about your son's difficulties!

Our DS had an awful year in K (he has Asperger's). He is an anxious/fearful guy and had a really hard time predicting and grasping a lot of the classroom customs and routines; he was terrified most of the time.

What helped him the most:
1. a low dose of an SSRI antidepressant. This fixed the brain chemistry/anxiety part and allowed him to learn and function.

2. cognitive behavior therapy. Starting to recognize what an anxious thought looks like, and how to counter them. He has learned to recognize how he is feeling and make "coping statements" to himself ("this won't be so bad, I'll just hang in there") to help keep himself on track. CBT is a very valuable and proven method for dealing with troubling thoughts and feelings.

HTH, hang in there,
DeeDee