Last week was the last day of school for my kiddos. It was a long year. One that I do not want to repeat. This is the first year at these schools for both kids and while there have been good times, there have been issues as well. We have been battling medical issues with both kids as well.
Nick started middle school this year and his ADHD medication needed adjusted. He really needs to learn coping mechanisms as school gets harder for him as well. This is a big adjustment for us all, as we have to learn how to help him too. We have been super lucky as his teachers really seem to want him to succeed. He's super smart and that kind of makes the whole picture murky. It gets really frustrating because we all know he can do the work...but he forgets to do it or turn it in, or he loses it. His grades in no way reflect what he's actually capable of. He doesn't see the point in much of the work...especially homework. So, he just doesn't do it. There is only so much I can do as he needs to grow in responsibility. He's had some great success in choir and band. For the spring concert, he got a solo and ROCKED IT! He was fantastic! He's doing well on his trumpet as well. He's currently trying to figure out which he wants to continue in because they can't do both, apparently. He would like to march with the band, but he loves singing. I have left that decision up to him, so I don't know what he will decide. He's turning into an awesome young man. :-)
Wesley just finished up first grade and it's been a rollercoaster ride. He started out great, but with lots of focus issues. Now, because of his autism, evaluating him for other problems is fairly hard. Because Nick has been diagnosed with ADHD, we have really been wondering about Wesley. Is it ADHD or just another symptom of his autism? Then throw in the suspected seizure that he had last April and I just want to throw my hands in the air. I went to our general doctor, but she wasn't confident in dealing with the autism, so she sent us to a neurologist. The first one that we went to see didn't think that he actually had a seizure in April...she fixated on one small thing that was said and disregarded anything else that was said. So, luckily, I got her to send us to a different doctor to deal with the focus issues...this one's focus is on children with autism, so I was feeling better already. She is a behavioral neuropsychologist...that's a mouthful! Anyway, she was fairly certain that he DID actually have a seizure and was concerned that he was having absentee seizures that would cause the focus issues. Finally, someone was listening to me! Anyway, she set up us for a 24 hour video EEG. I was terrified. When we went to the hospital last April, it took 6 of us to hold him down to get the electrodes on his head for a 30 minute test...how were we going to get this done?? Just like any kid likes to prove mom wrong, that child sat right there and let the lady get him all hooked up! Unreal! I was dancing for joy! Now, I just had to keep him occupied and happy for the next 24 hours! Once he found the bed controls, he was a happy camper. :-) We went into this test thinking that we were going to be put on some kind of medication depending on the result...either seizure medication or ADHD meds. Well, true to form, he had to be difficult and show one 1 second burst during the whole time. This was not a seizure, but spoke to a tendency for seizures. So, we were at an impasse. Do we go ahead and start treatment for seizures that we don't know are happening or do more testing? I opted for more testing. We got to do a 3 day at-home EEG next. The silly child...when we went to get him hooked up he cried because he wanted to go to the hospital. Sigh. He did really well again...except he throw up all over the place after everything was done. I think we scarred the poor tech...he'd only been doing this for 6 months. :-) Results came back normal this time, so we were ready to start an ADHD medication. Then, of course, we had insurance issues getting it, so he started medication on the last full week of school. Not overly helpful to see if it was going to help! Oh well, whatcha gonna do? It's never boring around my house!
School was a trial, this was our first year there so they don't know him that well. He did fairly well in the beginning, but around Christmas he stopped talking. I still have no idea what that was about. There was even talk about Selective Mutism. I am fairly certain that is not the case. He is very willful and will try different things to see how far he can push and they were letting him get away with it. Once I finally got them to start correcting him, he started talking again. And then the defiance come to the forefront. He is such an independent child that he doesn't like to be told how and when to do stuff and he let them know about it too. Well, at least he's talking again. Here's to praying that next year is a better school year for him.
So, that's a pretty quick update of how our school year went. I hope that yours went well and you have lots of great stuff planned for the summer!
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