You guys were so helpful/caring that I wanted to give you a (good) update.

Yesterday DS had a meltdown right when school started (during announcements) but the principal was able to calm him down. He went back to class and stayed there all day.

Today he's not had any issues so far! He's been calm and quiet. HORAAY.

He did tell his teacher he didn't want to do his work because it was boring. I was able to talk to the principal about that yesterday. She asked if he was in the g/t program and when I said no she immediately was "because of his behavior, right?" She said she was going to speak to the g/t teacher about getting him some different work. I am hopeful that helps some. I don't have any expectation that he'll get truly challenging work in that program, but something not quite so tedious/boring would help, I think.

He's also been eating a lot more this past week, which is great. He's super skinny and actually managed to not gain but like 2lbs over the last year, despite growing 3" taller.

Thanks so much for everyone's good thoughts/vibes/prayers and help. I'll keep y'all updated - next week he should be taking the WJ-III.

aww, bless him- hope the calm seas continue!

Hope the principal gets him some better work, and
more vibes to you!

Epoh, glad things are going better. Now you can regroup!


May be a side effect of the Risperdal. If he were already heavy, you'd want to watch it, but hey, if it helps him grow, that's something.

Hang in there,
DeeDee

Yeah, I saw weight gain was a side effect of the risperdal, so we'll keep an eye on what he's eating. He's at like 3rd percentile for weight (and 95th for height) so he's welcome to eat as much healthy food as he likes at this point!

Epoh -- so glad to hear things are going better.

Another good school day! I got a call from the school right after my lunch (12:30 or so) and was ready to curse, but it ended up being the nurse letting me know he cut his lip at recess. I've never been so relieved to hear my kid was injured!

(It apparently wasn't a bad cut at all, btw. The nurse calls anytime a kid is bleeding.)

So glad to hear that things are going well. I hope it continues and I hope you can get him some more challenging work!

I had experience working in the school system. Sadly, some schools just have it wrong.

I've seen kids placed in Special Ed due to "ADD." These kid's behavioral problems oftentimes would evaporate if they were in accelerated classes.

One student I remember distinctly talking and fidgeting and moving about the classroom. The other students were struggling with an assignment on polygons, but the ADD student was already done.

He would always finish early and usually got everything right. Did he have ADD? Perhaps. Did he belong in that class? No.

He was anxious and fidgety because he was understimulated. It was too easy for him. He was very intelligent.

Once he moved up to more challenging classes, his ADD symptoms almost disappeared entirely.

Another update - things are getting better, a little at a time. We added Tenex which seems to have helped. I am hoping we can get things calm and at some level of normal by the end of the month, then we can hopefully see about slowing bringing him off the meds. I am hoping that if we can get him into a good pattern, and doing the GT work at school he won't need the meds (or at least as much.) DS is nearly done with the WJ-III (should finish next Tues) and I am very interested to see the results.