About 1 week before Christmas we met with Brendan's "team" They decided that yes we should continue with the ODD clinic referral, we should see his regular pediatrician for medication management and that Dr F would see him to look at the anxiety issues because as Dr G said "We have spent lots of time now with B but we just can't figure out what is going on with him. He has lots of pieces that make him up." REALLY??? THAT was supposed to be news to us??? NOT!!!
So the long awaited appointment for the ODD clinic was last Thursday. The assessment was amazing. We met with Dr R and his team, talked for a bit, they reflected while B got a break from the room then the adults met while he got to play, they reflected again, then B got to go to the playroom with them for a bit for observation. Boy did they ever know my kiddo well breaking it up like that.
Outcome: Brendan likely doesn't have ODD but again Dr R (who is a psychiatrist) wondered about autism. Brendan has so many autistic traits but when it comes to the social aspects guess what? HE HAS NONE! Not again that this was news to us. Dr R says we will constantly be asked by many professionals if he has autism and guess what a lot of works for autistic kids will work for B!!! Dr R feels B needs some intense Occupational Therapy (OT) to help him learn to process sensory input. I know that to many that seems far fetched and out there but my best description to you as to what my child is going through on a bad day is: Get in the shower turned on full blast, now add a music again full blast, walk across nails, while thunder is going on in the back ground and lights are flashing. His brain can't process all the sensory stuff. Headphones can work well, heavy "jobs" can work well, watching TV upside down works well and chewing works well. But he has to be able to function in life. School is difficult for him. Academically no issues in fact they are actually doing testing to see how far advanced he really is to tailor his academics so he is not bored. A classroom of 19 other children who all interact differently with the world is a challenge. Dr R said that if we can raise his "reactivity threshold"---because his ADHD is not a lack of attention/focus- it's more that his impulsivity/hyperactivity doesn't fall in line with his reactivity point. So more meds...... This is huge some of the meds have a high tendency to trigger diabetes STOP!!! That scares me a lot. Diabetes runs high on both sides of the family. We will have to explore further.
Dr R also wants the anxiety stuff examined more. We see Dr F on Thursday and hopefully will come up with a plan for the next few months on what we can do and we can get an OT referral.
Dr R asked what we as parents were hoping for out of all that we were doing. I got a bit emotional (no surprise there) and said it would be really nice to "do" all the things you see other families do: travel, go out for meals, go to movies, games. These are really hard for B and if I could figure out how to help him cope some of this could be done more freely.
The prayer I offer up is that through all of this Tim and I will come through together on the other side. It's not easy. It's hard. I love my husband and my kids. I am proud of who they are and want to help each of them reach the potential I know they have!
