It’s something I’m learning about each day.  It ‘s also something I have known a little about for a long time.  As a teacher, you can’t escape it.  Also, as a teacher, you see the “real” cases versus the “not-so-real” cases as ADHD and ADD is so over-diagnosed.  I did learn that there is technically only one term: ADHD.  There are variations as the patient doesn’t always have the “H” (hyperactivity) in his/her ADHD case.

I have suspected Emma had true ADHD for quite some time.  Getting her to focus made me want to bang my head against a wall.  Literally.  And it still does, truth be told.  She didn’t have the “H” in her situation, nonetheless, ADD was hard enough without it.  The interesting thing is that I had more than one healthcare provider tell me “NO”.  They didn’t think she had it.  And, literally, one developmental pediatrician told me this after Emma’s evaluation in which Emma was ALL over the place and not able to answer any questions.  I still wonder if they denied my beliefs because perhaps they thought I was “just another mom” looking for that diagnosis.  That maybe I was “just another mom” who couldn’t handle the normal behaviors of a preschooler.  Each time they would tell me no, I would try to push it into the back of my mind…try to forget about the feelings that I was having such a hard time ignoring.

Finally I had enough.  I decided I needed to do more.  I made an appointment with a neuro-psychologist at PCH.  Joy Goldberg. I ♥ Dr. Joy.  She is so kind and compassionate…and that’s with me the parent!  She did amazing with Emma.  She ended up doing 7 hours of evaluation over the course of 2 different days.  She did cognitive, behavioral, speech, focal, everything.  And in the end, we sat down for at least 1 1/2 hours as the parents and she went over everything.  We learned just how delayed Emma was.  And finally, I got the diagnosis that I knew was coming.  ADHD (without the H).  It was such a relief for a few reasons.  First: That was the only thing “wrong”.  In my mind I was wondering if it was something worse, a confirmed case of Austism (something I’ll save for another post).  Of course ADHD has no easy “cure”.  But it was something we could work on.  Second: I was so happy that I wasn’t going crazy!  That my motherly instinct was spot on.  To all those naysayers, I kind of want to say, “told you so!”.  But I’ll refrain!

Emma’s been on a myriad of medications to try to help her focus.  One of our biggest problems is that she can’t swallow pills.  Remember this post?  So unfortunately, the medicine that worked the best, also tasted the worst.  And I tasted it.  It was truly horrible.  We hope to work on pill swallowing this summer and perhaps try Strattera again.  Right now she’s on a patch (yay! no pill!!) that sticks on her bum.  It’s time-released and works for about 9 hours.  It does pretty good.  You can see a HUGE difference when she doesn’t have her patch on.  But there are roller-coaster days at school.  Sometimes she has focus…other times she doesn’t.  At all.  And you never know what you’re going to get.

If you want to learn more about ADHD, Knowledge Safari has a great Friday Facts post on it today.  You can find it here.  And feel free to ask any questions!!  Emma and I are an open book!

Have a great weekend!

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