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I was just chatting with someone on Twitter about Charlie and his preliminary diagnoses of mild autism and ADHD. She was asking me about meds and how he did and things, and it made me realize a couple of things and made me realize I had a blog post, here.
It’s clear to anyone who spends any time around Charlie, that he has ADHD. At least on the face of things. Whenever we visit a doctor for the first time and the doctor sees that Charlie spends the whole time making noise, talking, moving, getting up and down off the table, picking things up, opening the door, flipping light switches etc, I invariably get the same question from the doctor: “Is he like this ALL the time?”
“Oh yes,” I reply. And they get that look on their faces of “wow.” Usually expressing, ok, we have ADHD here, let’s talk about options, how do you cope, you must be exhausted!
So he’s tried 3 different ADHD medications, and I found each of them to be not very effective and have side effects I really didn’t like, so I took him off of them. He was last on them early September of 2008. In October 2008 we had a screening/meeting with a neurologist at Children’s Hospital in Seattle. 3/4 of the way through he asked that inevitable question “Is he always like this?” Same basic reaction.
So he gave Charlie a preliminary diagnosis of ADHD and mild autism (there were other elements to the meeting other than ADHD concerns). And recommended Charlie for further neurological testing based on that. Happily that appointment is finally set for January 12th!
In the meantime, I’ve had numerous meetings with his teachers, counselors, school nurse/therapists, etc. And Charlie’s teacher said something that really struck me. She said that Charlie just seems so uncomfortable all the time, that “it’s like he is just trying to crawl out of his own skin.”
Wow, that really hit the nail on the head. And it makes sense. Sensory issues are a big part of autism. I am coming to really believe that his sensory issues make him so uncomfortable that he just can’t hold still. He’s always twisting and bumping into things and pulling on his clothes and marching & twisting his body even while playing video games.
And I think it’s due to his comfort level and not ADHD, which would explain why the meds didn’t really work. I’d be happy to hear any thoughts/comments any readers of this blog might have! I think the idea has some merit and could be a different path of treatment.
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Hello,
Do you have any speech pathologists or occupational therapists in your area who specialize in sensory integration dysfunction? My advice would be to see them. They can often help get the child’s sensory system more regulated so they can make sense of all the various stimuli in their world. I think you’d be on the right track to research all you can about sensory integration disorders. There are several different names for sensory disorders so try googling combinations with “sensory” in it. Research these if you can. I hope this help!!
–J.
Comment by J. — July 17, 2009 @ 2:40 am
I was doing research for my son and stumbled on this and I can\’t believe how similar our stories sound. I feel the same way, like nobody can figure out what is going on with him. I\’m getting really stressed with school, his teacher seems to think he has ODD. The doctor has said he has ADHD and Autistic tendencies but it isn\’t enough to give him a diagnosis. I think this could be stemming from sensory problems also. Hope to here back from u? I notice this is from about 9 months ago. It\’s nice to know I\’m not the only one with this problem, lol:)
Comment by Vicki B. — September 30, 2009 @ 3:05 am