Posted by twistedmom
Hello. My name is Amy and I have an almost 12 yr old son (his birthday is this Thursday) who was diagnosed about 2.5 yrs ago with PDD-NOS. When he was in kindergarten, he was diagnosed with ADHD and possibly Bipolar Disorder (he met the criteria for it, but was very young and the dr wanted more evidence). Over the past few years, I’ve dealt with doctors and school officials to try and get him in the best special ed program that I possibly could. He was hospitalized in first grade because he wasn’t gaining any weight and his meds had to get sorted out in a safe environment, so instead of sending him off to a children’s hospital, the psych he had at the time told me that they could get him into the local mental hospital/drug treatment facility. This was his second psych that hospitalized him and that was the ONLY treatment I let her do with him (she started talking about schizo-affective disorder and institutionalizing him). It was miserable while he was hospitalized because I could only spend an hour a day with him and at 6, he wasn’t able to understand why Mom and Dad put him in a place like that. He was the only small child in that place and the rest of the kids there were all teenagers on suicide watch. I was furious that I let her talk me into it because I ended up with CPS interviewing me about malnutrition and neglect. Luckily, the transitional facility that he was in filled the CPS officer and told her that his medication (Adderall) was affecting his appetite.
Fast forward to the end of his second grade year and his re-evaluation and the diagnostician and a specialist sit me down to tell me that he’s got PDD-NOS. I freaked. I’d already been thru the process and arguments with teachers. Now they unload this on me. I cried for hours. They didn’t give me much information and it scared me. What was I up against this time?
I went home and sat down at my computer, trying to pull up everything I could about PDD, Asperger’s, and ASD. They moved my son out of the Emotionally Disturbed class and put him into a program for Autistic children, which was a blessing. I’m still not thrilled with the system, but for now it’s working.
I got divorced from Josh’s father and it’s been really hard on him. I’m engaged to a man with two daughters and one of them has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, she and my son get along famously but she’s only 7. It’s been a real adjustment, trying to fill everyone in on behaviors and how to deal. I figured it was about time to get some support.
Amy
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Wow Amy…what a story. Josh is lucky to have a mom like you. I’m happy to hear he’s getting along with his step-sister-to-be. It’s so nice to see our kids connect to another child. At first a diagnosis is very upsetting, but eventually it’s a good thing as it allows you to start planning a course of action based on fact vs. suspicion.
I’m not sure how Josh’s weight is doing now, but a few years ago Jake withered down to nothing. We worked with a nutritionist and found out his stomach enzymes weren’t strong enough to digest most foods…she gave us some enzymes to help him digest and he started eating meat within a few days…he hadn’t eaten meat in almost a year. It took a good year, but he wen’t from skin and bones that wasn’t growing any taller to pretty healthy. He still has a pretty limited diet, but he’s kept his weight at an acceptable level.
Let me know if you want to know any more about enzymes and I can send you some links. I’d love to hear what kinds of treatments and therapy you are working with now.
Welcome to the RA forums!! We’re so happy to have you here.
All the best!!
Elynn