" Your son has PDD-NOS, with ADHD symptoms.", is what the neuropsychologist in December said to us after three days of thorough testing with Christian.
When we moved to Georgia, going on 8 months now, something in Christian changed. After school every day we noticed how depressed and irritable he was. After completing his home work he isolated himself in the bedroom for the rest of the evening. I won't go into great detail about what happened because we are trying to move forward and a forgiving heart is what I pray for daily. Although the wounds are healing, they are still tender. We decided to remove Christian from this school and his last day was November 18, 2011 (a national holiday at our house-Ashlee's birthday).
Taking a leap of faith I home schooled Christian until Christmas break and we decided to have a neurological psychiatric evaluation done on him. The neuropsychologist agreed that removing Christian from his former school was in his best interest. She also strongly suggested we enroll Christian in a private school with smaller classrooms to help his social deficits. We prayed, searched, and interviewed a few schools when we stumbled upon Westminster Christian School. It is so quaint and you feel the love when you walk through the door. His teacher is amazing and has a very gentle, firm and loving heart. His class is combined (3rd and 4th grade) with a total of 8 boys. Yes, that's right, the class is ALL boys - I pray for his teacher daily. I firmly believe God had directed us to Westminster and this was affirmed when I received a hug the first day from the principal after she saw how nervous and scared I was about leaving my precious child. Please allow me to take a few steps back and explain the diagnosis.
Here is a well worded description from Autism speaks website: Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) is one of the autism spectrum disorders and is used to describe individuals who do not fully meet the criteria for autistic disorder or Asperger syndrome. PDD-NOS may be thought of as “subthreshold autism," or a diagnosis one can give a person who has “atypical symptomatology.” In other words, when someone has autistic characteristics but some of their symptoms are mild, or they have symptoms in one area (like social deficits), but none in another key area (like restricted, repetitive behaviors), they may be given the PDD-NOS label.An individual with PDD-NOS may have completely different strengths and challenges than another individual with the same diagnosis. One treatment that is the most significant and most effective for one child may be completely unnecessary and ineffective for another. As a result, treatments and interventions must be very individualized based on the information gathered from the thorough assessment.
Christian is a well functioning individual who's disability isn't visible or noticeable to most people. Basiclly his quirky behavior is what makes up the PDD-NOS. This diagnosis has given Rande and I a better understanding of Christian and how to address or just accept certain behaviors.
Here is a list of his "quirkiness":
Christian is 9 years old and has a blanket - this is how he self sooths when over stimulated
He OBSESSES over particular things
He flaps his hands or snaps his fingers when he is really excited
His mouth, has no filter - he tells it like it is
He doesn't handle change as well as most children
Christian is extremely intelligent, therefore, we have to be cautious and discern wether he is manipulating the situation or not
Christian cannot handle large crowds
He needs "his space" and has no problem invading yours
Christian can emotionally drain us by the end of a difficult day - he is more challenging than a "normal" child
Some of you may think that it's a "parenting issue" and "Autism isn't real" because it's diagnosed so much these days. Yes it is real and yes it is being diagnosed more now. It has always been around - but people weren't diagnosed due to insufficent information. I also firmly believe that the medications out there today have an effect on the precious children we mothers carry in our womb. I was on an antidepressent when I was pregnant and I believe that it is partial cause to Christian's diagnosis. This antidepressent is NOT reccomended anymore for mothers who are pregnant or nursing. 10 years ago, it was safe. I also believe that there is some relivent information concering the vaccines we are subjecting our children to.
Are these things that we can live with? Absolutely. We love Christian for who he is. God gave this precious child to us and I believe that his "quirkiness" makes him special and God has a big plan for his life.
Now that I've filled you in on the PDD diagnosis, what do you think? Buckle your seat belts and be prepared for what I have to say next.
Disclaimer: The following is strictly MY OPINION. Each child is an individual and so each case needs to be examined separately. I am not a doctor, but rather a mother who has been given the duty to care for this gift God has given me. Through God's wisdom this is what I believe.
First of all I want to define what ADHD is.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a development disorder. It is characterized primarily by "the co-existence of attentional problems and hyperactivity, with each behavior occurring infrequently alone" and symptoms starting before seven years of age.
Despite the doctor's formal education and experience I believe Christian does not have ADHD. She informed me that ADHD couldn't be diagnosed along with PDD-NOS due to the rules outlined in the DSM (Diagnostical and Statistical Manual for mental disorders). Christian is impulsive and he does have a hard time focusing on certain tasks, I saw this for myself during our brief home school days. Take a moment though and read the symptoms of adult ADHD and I guarantee each one of you exhibits several of these symptoms.
What did you think?
Although ADHD can be real in some children (remember I am not a doctor), I believe that our country is over diagnoses this condition. I so believe that the pharmaceutical companies have more control over psychologists and medical professionals by showing them the $ followed by several zeros to push their harmful medications on children.
The author of a book that I recently read, shows how parents can be empowered to turn around their child's problem behaviors safely and effectively, without the use of stigmatizing psychiatric labels or potentially harmful medications. In the book are stories of children with all sorts of problems: bullying, school failure, anxiety, depression, school phobia, fears and compulsive behaviors. Specifically she talks about two children who had been incorrectly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and a little boy who had been misdiagnosed with ADHD. She shows how these children overcame their challenges and got back on track with the help of their families.
We realized something had to be done to help Christian but medication wasn't an option to us.
One morning, during my devotions, God spoke to me and said to persevere and that medication wasn't the right choice. Despite criticism from the doctors and other parents who have chosen to medicate their children we stood our ground, trusted God and searched for a different solution. I prayed daily that God would heal Christian and clearly show me the answer. I realized that I was spending so much of my time trying to find the answer on my own and what I really needed to do was trust him and spend my time in prayer and meditating on his word.
When I obeyed God, he answered. I found a homeopathic doctor here in town and thought I'd give them a try. They did some testing on Christian and the results indicated his neurotransmitters were out of balance. His excititory ones were beyond the normal limit and his calming transmitters were low. She also said that if we medicated Christian with a stimulant, his symptoms would get worse. Hmmmm, I thought the medicine was suppose to suppress the ADHD symptoms, not increase them. This is why I don't believe every child who is diagnosed with ADHD actually has it -if so the medication would work on all children.
Side note: Something she said that helped us make sense of all this was: Imagine a soldier in the middle of a war zone; bullets flying around them, bombs going off, their life is threatened. Then imagine someone asking them to sit down and complete these math problems - 1+1, 2+2, etc. They can't. They are in a fight or flight mode and are unable to focus on simple problems that they know the answer to." WOW!
The doctor prescribed herbal supplements and put christian on a low protein/tyrosine diet for a week. The first day his teacher and us noticed a huge change in him. Christian was even able to express in his own words, "I feel calmer" and "I feel like I did when I was in Kindergarten and 1st grade". We were all so thrilled to have our little boy back. He is getting along with other children and able to complete his work at school and at home. We are currently exploring some sensitivity to certain foods like dairy, gluten, etc. I'll let you know when we get those results.
Pardon the length of this post, but I've been trying to sort my thoughts, feelings and words so I can share with you what our family has been going through. I hope I communicated with you well. Thank you to those who have been praying for us, your prayers have worked and God is good.
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