My day got better yesterday.
I bought Stephen some birthday presents on ToyRUs.com and got him a gift card on line for Barnes and Noble for his birthday.
At lunch Pat brought home the Autism Awareness magnet. One of his coworkers thought it would be amusing to put it on our hood. We never noticed!
I took Olivia to her appointment for ADHD screening. He asked her some questions, had her do some tasks and asked me some questions. He gave me two very thick assessments to be filled out. One by me and the other by the teacher. I filled mine out yesterday. It was not only about ADHD but also, Asperger's, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, Turret's, Bipolar, OCD, etc. Boy, I was thinking that some of those things pertained to me! Especially in the ADHD category. Someday I'll get a referral to get checked out. I can't even get off my butt to get a yearly check-up and follow up appointments for all my ailments. This will also go on the back burner.
I just really hope that her teacher fills her assessment out accurately. She really seems to have blinders on because she loves all the positive aspects of Olivia's personality. She does have a lot of great qualities and talents but she has some things she really needs help with.
I'm really worried that as she gets older her school performance, self-esteem and ability to function in life will be affected if she doesn't get some help now. I have had concerns about her behavior for years and have really tried to wait as long as I can to get her looked at for ADD/ADHD. I was hoping that she would outgrow the behavior. Her brother has matured a lot and gained a lot of self control with age. I feel really guilty about getting her "labeled". Have any of you had similar feelings about having your child diagnosed with anything? I just hope I am doing the right thing and that it will help and not hurt her. I just want her to have a happy healthy life. I feel like I should have had some diagnosis's as a child, ADD or ADHD and Asperger's maybe OCD, and that my experiences in life have been very painful and traumatic because I didn't get the help I needed. I don't want her to look back at her childhood and feel like she struggled and needed help that she didn't get.
So we got back from her appointment and it was almost 85 degrees outside! I put on my bikini and Olivia put on her bathing suit and we went out to sun ourselves. I got to use my new lounge chair (my first one!). I have always laid my bony little body on the hard ground to lay out in the sun so this is really a luxury for me!
I went to the store and bought 5 packages of Perdue chicken flavor bites and 3 bags of Wacky Mac for $3.70 by using my coupons and the stores double dollar coupons!!
My husband and I watched American Idol and had some much needed alone time.
Thank God tomorrow is only a day away when you are having a bad today!
2 comments:
Wow, you got an ADHD screening the next day??? Where do you live, I need to come there! WOW!
Warning - the teachers NEVER seem to fill out the questions honestly. I think they think it reflects on THEM if they are not honest. Plus, if they fill it out saying the child is having problems at school, the school is responsible for providing services to help her!
I tend to do all the appts for myself in chunks. I put them off for months and months, had one doctor calling me threatening to break out the wet noodles (lol), then called and made every single one of my appts at the same time. So then everything comes up within a couple of weeks usually - and if someone gets sick I have to cancel them all lol.
I feel the same way you do about not getting help as a child really affecting my adulthood. I do not think I would be dx with almost every anxiety disorder known to man if I had gotten help as a child.
But... first of all they weren't diagnosing Aspergers when I was a kid - they didn't even know about it. If I had been dx with Autism back then, they would have blamed it on my mother and tried to convince my parents to put me in an institution. So... it really only applies to NOW... if I were a child NOW I would have benefited from being labeled - not when I was a child.
I felt the same way you do about labeling the kids, too, at first. But that is the only way they will get the help they need. So I gave in. So far, things didn't turn out too badly.
I am so glad your day went better than yesterday!
I still haven't gotten the assessment back from her teacher. Even if she doesn't fill it out accurately and the pediatrician decides she is "ok" based on both assessments and his examination of her, we will try to be more consistant and use reward charts, chore wheel, etc. If those techniques don't improve her behavoir than I will get her a neuropsychological evaluation.
I really need to make my own appointments! I have been putting off really important stuff for a while. The kids always come first, but if I'm sick or dead because I didn't take care of myself than I'm not much help to them, am I?
Thanks for your thoughts on all this : )
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