I am 27 years old and the mother of three children. My oldest is 7 and has ADHD and odd. My next child is 5 and has speech delays. My youngest is 1 and she gets chronic lung infections and doesn't like to grow. They are my world and I wouldn't know what to do without them. I have now been married to the love of my life for four years and we have been together for 8 and a half now. I currently live in Greeneville Tennessee but am originally from New Jersey. I want to become a preschool special education teacher when I finish college.
Today has been another day of going to the doctors for my son. They are going to see whether or not his sleep patterns may be making his ADHD and ODD worse. So on December 12th, he will go in for a sleep study. I am hopeful to try to find out some answers, however nervous to find out if there is another problem going on with him. Every day is a constant battle with him and I just want things to get better, not only for his sake, but for ours and anyone who deals with him on a regular basis. I want to be able to get through a homework session without someone yelling at someone. He has the worst time focusing in school, and then when you make him focus to do homework, it is an all-out war at times. We have gone the medication route, we have gone the counseling route, the allergist route, the diet route, and punishment route. None of these made it better and easier for him to manage. In fact some of these routes made him worse!!! I am hopeful that this sleep study will show something that may be able to help in live his life day to day without his constant struggle with himself.
Children with special needs can be a challenge as a mother but I have learned to rely on god and my faith during the trying times.
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Hang in there. I am a Special Ed teacher and know some of what you are going through. Have you tried giving your son something to fiddle with when doing work. Something like a koosh ball or tie a therapy band on the bottom of his chair and have him put one of both legs in there and he can stretch his legs but the tension seems to help, some of my kids. Have you also tried making a schedule for him? Break the homework into little 10-15 min segments and give him some type of reward when he completes the 10-15 minutes on task. My students love when I let them "be in control" by deciding which task they want to complete first. Maybe if you give him the "control" it would help with some of the ODD. Hope these help. Good luck, hang in there.
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