ocd, adhd, sensory, evaluation???

[lauren]

My son is 6 1/2 and has been difficult since he was about 1 1/2. He has some really odd behavior and at times appears to have baby steps forward in behavior, but they are very small. He seems to be having so much going on in him that he just can't get a grip of himself. He hates being in a class, such as karate and piano, and being told how and what to do and acts out or just flops about - even though he is learning what he is suppose to do. It drives me and my husband crazy! He loves his art class and just draws and socializes really well in it - very rare!!! He seems proud when he gets a new karate belt or advances in swimming or learns a new song on the piano, but you would never know it with his behavior in these classes. I wouldn't say he is horrible, but goofy and disrespectful.

I found a Sensory Processing Disorder list last night and he seems to be 100% Emotional Dysfunction: difficulty accepting changes in routine, gets easily frustrated, often impulsive, functions best in small groups or individually, quick changing moods, and avoids eye contact! I told a psych friend today that he has a careless disheveled look about him: doesn't brush hair, pulls his pants up incorrectly (waist stuck under), and his shoes are a mess! He shoves his feet in them and refuses to undo the velcro! He has no idea how to put a sock on properly and could care less. I don't know how he can where shoes all bunched up and the tongue twisted in? Anyway, my friend said that didn't sound like a Sensory issue, but more ADHD!

So, can I read a bunch of books and figure this all out!? Or who will help me the best? Should I just go straight for a Neuropsych evaluation? Does a Behavioral Pediatrician do a better job? Will I get more immediate help from an Occupational Therapist? Or do I need a psychologist or psychiatrist??? Will they all direct me to a neuropsych anyway? I just want to help my son and our family! Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Misty]

A Neuropsych would be good or you can go to a child psychologist. If your insurance requires a referral from your pediatrician, make sure you get that first.

Good luck... It does sound as though he needs an evaluation.

[elise1mds]

That is almost exactly like my son! We went through our pediatrician first and then through a pediatric psychologist (whom we still see on a regular basis). My pediatrician wanted us to see a pediatric psychiatrist, but he wasn't covered by our insurance, so the psychologist - who is in the same office - often confers with him on my son's case, especially when it comes to evaluating the assessment scales. The main difference between psychiatrist and psychologist is that psychiatrists actually have medical degrees and can prescribe medications; psychologists are usually not doctors and cannot prescribe. However, you might want to be aware that some mental health/medical professionals don't really believe that sensory processing disorders actually *exist.* Those folks tend to think of SPDs as side effects of ADHD and not necessarily something to be treated separately. Good luck... my son is about that age, too, and I can only imagine the difficulty you're going through. Feel free to PM me if you just need to vent!

[juls]

My son was much like this too. And it came to a head at age six.

At age six I began visiting various doctors looking for answers and help. We saw a neurologist who ruled out autism and sent us to an Occupational Therapist. The OT gave him the Sensory Processing Disorder diagnosis and worked with him for several months, she also notices a visual issue which lead us to Vision Therapy. The Vision Therapist did find some issues and we started VT but dropped it after two months because my son would not comply. I think this really would have done him good though. We also tried some Speech Therapy because were were small issues with speech as well. That also was short lived because he would not comply.

But we began The Listening Program to try to help his audio processing skill. (These skills tested as normal when looked on the whole, but there were wide variances). He liked this and we saw a noticeable change in his volume level. Before TLP he was always talking too loudly.

Next we saw a doctor who specialized in autism. He said my son was on the spectrum, but the mildest case he had ever seen. He recommended B-12 shots which did nothing. Also at this time we had our son seen by a psychology department at a local University. They did a host of educational and other testing under the direction of the faculty. They said our son was borderline ADHD. He had and above average IQ, very strong memory and extremely slow processing speed.

I should add that at age five ds had developed some verbal tics (and a few motor tics as well). These lasted several months and them would go away. Until they would then come back again. I suspected Tourette's since he had some OCDish fixations as well. For this I experimented with many, many supplements (not herbs), finding that we could quell the tics significantly with these.

Another thing we tried was Interactive Metronome. IM was very hard for my son. He fought us through 15 sessions and then we stopped for a year. He had made some improvement though. I noticed some positive social changes after the IM so I waited a year and tried it again. This time my son enjoyed it and continued to improve. I hope to try it one more time this summer, because I think we have had some positive benefits from it.

DS is now ten years old. This past fall he began at a Classical Christian school after having been only homeschooled. I explained some of his issues to the teachers and prayed hard that he would have a good experience. I am shocked to tell you that he is THRIVING. Especially socially! He loves it. His teachers do not notice his issues, and I will say he is very much improved all the way around. He still looks disheveled, but he's not the only fourth grade boy in that camp. He has trouble with buttons and shoe tying so we buy pants that clasp and shoes that slip on. His handwriting is still messy, he types assignments when he can.

He is on no medicine (never has been) and currently off all supplements. His fixations have lessened. His tics will likely come back in the summer (they aways start up in June, I think they are from the chlorine in the pool). When they do, we will try again to quiet them with suppliments.

He is a straight A student but he needs me to help him study and keep organized. He is also the slowest one in the class when it comes to finishing assignments. He hates all team sports, so I think playground time will become harder for him as he gets older. But now he loves it.

Best of all he is a happy, much less frustrated boy. He still has bad days and difficulties that don't seem quite "normal", but these are much less frequent then they use to be. He's developing a delightful sense of humor.

Maybe in the future we will need to try some sort of pharmaceuticals to better focus him or assist with anxiety. I don't rule this out- but he functions so much better now then I would have guessed four years ago. Most people would not notice any of his difficulties.

Sorry this is long, I just wanted to give you our experience and tell you that you son needs your great love and support to help him work though his areas of weakness.

Juls

[songbirdie]

For this I experimented with many, many supplements (not herbs), finding that we could quell the tics significantly with these.


May I ask which supplements worked best for the "tics"? I think I'll pm you in case you don't come back to this thread.

[angieathome]

I found the most success with the Occupational Therapist. I found that most of my daughter's OCD and ADHD behaviors resolved with the OT. If you haven't read The Out-of-Sync child by Carol Stock Kranowitz, please at least skim it. It is a quick resource book.