Hi - I moved this thread from the Testing anxiety for the parent thread - becasue I wanted to share information I found this month in "Natural Awakenings" . Article by Dr. Mark S. Smith who works here in VA. He has 32 yrs practice in non-pharmacological treatment of both neurological and general health disorders and does free phone consultations. (I plan to call today). But this is the first thing I've come across since we got the ADHD diagnosis last week that mentions that all kind of coordination problems, including eye sight are linked to ADHD - so maybe Auditory is too - don't know.
My dad had almost complete deafness and acted very ADHD and also taught hismelf to read by 4 and ultimately speak 5 languages - so talk about 2E !!
DS6 has the "eye control" issues - with alignment. The article I mention is the first I've seen where someone says that ADHD and ODD fall into the Autistic Spectrum Group. So I'm slightly less skeptical of ADHD, knowing that they mointored the Alpha waves on an actual machine and didn't just "observe" DS6's behavior subjectively.
I've tried to read up on Aspergers and Autism the last few weeks too - and read a book about the left and right side of the brain by the scientist in Cambridge University who I think is the one that defined "Aspegers" as a very left sided condition/ male brain condition - so it was just interesting to see someone link everything in this way and take a non-pharmological approach.
To answer giftedcyper's earlier questions in the Testing Anxiety Thread.
Yes, DS6 was diagnoed ODD - oppositional defiant - and not OCD. However, not having experience of kids with OCD - hard for me as amateur to know what to look for I wouldn't have been entirely surprsied to get OCD too - just due to the "obession" level I see in regards to whatever inerestes DS6. He will literally build Lego right now - non stop for 8 hours + if you let him. Anyone else going through this with "regular" gifted kids? Or a 2E kid?
I read that ODD, ADHD, OCD and sensory integration nearly always present together if your kid has Asperger's - so I was leaning in that direction the past few weeks. DS6 is not exactly "in a world of his own" like Asperger's kids tend to be - but at the same time has done seemingly uncompassionate things or weird things - like stealing part of someone else's art work by ripping it right off which I hear Asperger's kids often do - becasue they want just one thing they are fascinated by.
So - DS6 is sort of in his own world in that even if he is sharing - it's all about him to the extent that he is almost not aware of anything else the other person may want to say, or do. At least at times. (It's not a consitent behavior).
The ODD sounds drastic and the behavior has definitely gotten worse in school and since Fall. However, there has always been behavior issue since early 4 - but not so much before. There was "constant movement/curosity/hyperness" if you want to call it Hyperness -but to me that was just an active very bright toddler.
Only after being exposed to older kids, and I think ED kids who yelled at Age 3 in Montessori did we see true behavior issues appear - in that DS6 would get more oppositional, yell, shout, have tantrums (but then, at 3- some tantrums still normal.) He complained of boredom and that he didn't like the teachers even back then.
Now - confined spaces on bus and "open spaces" like Hallways and Recreation area are still HUGE areas of contention where stuff went wrong more than in class - which got me thinking Asperger's /sensory overload- but apparently, right now anyway, doctor doesn't think Asperger's. It's really the level of language that DS6 uses that caused the suspensions - he has never been afraid of adults, won't automatically respect adults, and sadly following exposure to older troubled kids at Montessori learnt to say "I want to kill you, shoot you, blow up the school" etc. Coupled with TV - and you have recipe for disaster!
At Church school last year - we tried to explain why he coudln't say "kill people or blow up the school" ANYMORE by being honest about Columbine etc. despite his tender age. I figured maybe an honest approach of telling him the true story would help. He asked lots of quetsions about who did the killing and why for a several days. Unfortuantley - it did backfire - in that he now knows exactly what to say when ANGRY! And boy does he have a temper. Without that ability to use words - often out of context- and often without I think the full extent of their meaning in mind desipte his intelligence - I'm not sure the suspensions would have escalated - but all this leads to the ODD diagnosis.
Welcome feedback from anyone with similar issues or just an opinion and especially from anyone with experience using a non-drug appraoch to ADHD!!
