This actually took place last week but August has been Crazy around here, as you can clearly tell by my lack of posting anything past the first week of August!
Better late then never!
They don't categorize ADD anymore. Everything is ADHD with two added letters at the end that specify how the ADHD is manifested. Since Jane doesn't show hyperactivity and she's not consistent with her concentration, her specification (I think it's "os" or "so") says it's non-specific meaning it's not consistently either hyperactivity or concentration but acknowledges she does have a struggle.
Confused?
It gets even more fun. While discussing her results, I mentioned that I wasn't even sure she should get tested because it was hard for me to tell where her learning disability begins and ends. The doctor gave a small laugh and mentioned they had the same problem during testing! It was genuinely hard to read her results because that darn learning disability kept popping up.
It was very interesting to note that Jane struggles with oral instruction. Something I've personally noted since she was two. No surprise there! However with written material, she scored much higher, which seems to contradict the school's finding during her IEP testing last school year.
It was lapses in her work containing written instructions that allowed the psychologist to comfortably give her a diagnosis. It may be ADHD that actually pushed the IEP through. It doesn't matter one way or another because no matter how it's interpreted, she obviously needs help with school. She just can't handle the mainstream classroom without extra help.
Meds may or may not help her. I have yet to discuss her options with her regular doctor, who will do the prescribing. The good news, ADHD meds are fast acting, working precisely the day of and by evening are out of the system. None of that "building up" a dosage level that you have with other meds. This means that we have the option of trying something out and we will know immediately if it's making a difference. If it's not, we just quit after a few days, no big whoop.
My oldest has also been diagnosed with anxiety. Another, no big surprise for mom. I jumped at the chance for her to go to one on one therapy to hopefully help her learn some coping techniques. On the grand anxiety scale, I really don't see meds as an option, it's not even moderately severe but it does hinder her sometimes, mostly manifesting itself as occasional insomnia or the even rarer freak out that she has to be talked down from.
The psychologist sees her needing maybe a few months of weekly appointments for her to learn the tools she needs to handle her anxiety and like the use of ADHD meds, if it's not working, we just stop. There's no long term commitment.
I opted to stay in that office and have her therapy managed by a new PHD that will be working under the psychologist that interpreted her test results. Once again, if it doesn't work, we always have the option of switching offices if that's what we choose.
I'm thinking once I have a copy of her test results I need to photocopy them and march myself down to Jane's school and have them submitted into her personal file with her IEP. You know, just in case I need to argue her IEP down the line.
There's still high school to deal with.
All in all, I'm happy we opted to have her tested. Even though we're not 100% sure on what actions will result from her testing, a clearer picture of her struggles is extremely helpful for me, as her mom, in knowing how to best parent her.
My beautiful girl. My amazing, blond haired, funny, quirky, loving, nurturing, practical joker of a girl.
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