A little update about us, for those of you who are interested:
My shrink wrangled an appointment for us with the kiddie shrink during the holidays and we talked together, the three of us, for an hour.
DS8 had initially been terrified of the appointment "what if he finds out there is something badly wrong with me? What if it turns out I have an addiction to melancholy?!" but was able to discuss his thoughts and fears, and the way his thoughts crowd one another and turn upsetting and scary, very well with the man.
We discussed previous ASD evals, a possible ADHD eval (I'm sure it would be just as pointless as the ASD eval, how would a child with real ADHD be the model student he presents as in elementary?), possible medication (no and no at this point) and he finally suggested a round of cognitive therapy, which he felt DS8 was cognitively advanced enough to profit from.
He admitted to having trouble believing his IQ score (not because he was doubting Ds8 is gifted, which he clearly didn't) but because it was just so sky high (154 FSIQ, which only on this board wouldn't make anyone blink I guess) and suggested retesting with the new WISC. I admitted to still having trouble believing the score too, but not seeing the point in any more testing at this junction - I argued we all agree that however high it was, it was high, and high enough for him to struggle (a friend later told me the man used to have a clinic exclusively for ADHD so I guess it's what he's automatically looking for).
However, we agreed on trying out the cognitive therapy first and DS8 has had one appointment with one of the therapists I the clinic and will have another before school starts, after which we are to switch to a therapist in another clinic who he felt was ideal for the situation and which I have heard comes highly recommended. Only it's one hell of a drive. Eye roll. I guess it will have to count as part of his "enrichment" for this academic year.
DS8 is much calmer these days. The appointments? The vacation? Who knows, I am just breathing.
On the physical side, we have had fun In the mountains and did a lot of swimming and climbing and building in the creeks. Back here, he's had his first proper coaching sessions with the kayakers. He was moaning and complaining all the way there, crying about being afraid of being the last and the weakest - and the coach managed to reassure him anyway, got him in the boat and all the way up the river to the whitewater canal, where the more advanced kids where training.
While chatting to some random guy on a bike who dropped by, I watched him turn over In the canal, get out and swim to the bank, shrieking to high heaven that he was DONE with kayaking for the rest of his life, wanted to GO HOME RIGHT NOW etc. Random guy on the bike turned out to be one of the coaches who lives locally and likes to drop by on fine evenings, talked to him, talked him into getting back in the boat, going down the canal and all the way back to the boathouse - he didn't even wear a wetsuit, just ordinary sportswear, and finished the training session dripping wet. For the rest of the week, he told everyone happily about how he'd fallen in. I was SO proud. He wants to try again! We will have to see how the underwater training in the pool goes this winter. I really like the people at this club.
He also had his first day of climbing class and LOVED it. He's been happy and relaxed all afternoon! The kid NEEDs stimulating exercise. He can't continue after this week because there are no advanced classes for kids currently offered, so we will have to wait for the next one scheduled, as he needs to have completed the advanced class until he can start biweekly training. But it's another option waiting in the wings. Exhale.
Looks like it's all outdoor and mountain sports for him...Kayaking, climbing. Skiing, guess we are lucky we are not that far even for European standards. An hour to the foothills, another to serious mountains, the river and a brand new climbing facility on our doorstep.
Last edited by Tigerle; 09/08/15 05:57 AM.
