mgl, I think he holds it together at school using every ounce of self-control he has and then falls apart at home. I've read a lot about how being gifted can help kids compensate for other things. We've tried doing a rigid schedule at home to no avail.
Mumofthree, my husband was VERY resistant to the ODD and prozac. It basically came down to "we either put him on medication or we put me on medication because I can't cope with this any longer, and, oh, by the way, he'll be going to work with you every day this summer if he's not medicated." Hard fought.
This oppositional behavior started when he was 5 and now he's 11. I'm afraid we've waited too long to treat it, although we've seen 4 physchologists and 3 therapists, plus two phone consults and now the psychiatrist. I'm just worn out.
I guess I'm wondering if anyone sees anything in his testing results that would point to something other than ADHD? And also how to know if it is gifted behavior vs. ADHD? The psych didn't do any evaluations or rating scales before going to the ODD and ADHD diagnosis. He just said it's obvious based on his years of working with these kids. I brought up the giftedness issue and even showed him the book but he said "so, what? if it's a problem for you, it's a problem for you". He said that since son isn't having problems at school we don't have to treat it but if it's bothering me enough then we can treat it.
I know I'm not making myself clear; I just don't know what to do to get him to do the things that need to be done. The school is no help (except for the speech disorder) because he's not a behavior problem there. They think it's all just a "power struggle" at home and I need to assert control. We've also heard "you have a hierarchy problem" and "he's just a little immature" and "stop expecting so much of him".
I had my husband read a couple of articles on ADHD (I can't get him to read a book) and his reponse was "I think I'm ADHD, maybe I need medication". Yeah, well, duh! Could have told him that!
Sorry for the rambling and thanks for your responses.
