Evaluate the Crazy, Please!

In a crazed effort to get as much stuff taken care of before Rerun arrives, I took Tad for a consult with his pediatrician yesterday afternoon (who also is Ane’s doctor and will be Rerun’s. We’ll be seeing a lot of him again very soon).

Anyway, this particular consultation (the last time we did a consult appointment was when Tad was 2 and a half and I wanted his opinion on Tad’s speech issues post-his-first-run-with-speech-therapy) was regarding Tad’s behavior… and his sleeping problems… and his behavior.

I know I’ve mentioned before that Tad is “flunking recess” at school. He’s failing it in the sense that he cannot control himself when given the reins to run freely and do whatever he wants on the playground. He possesses no self-control, period. He does do pretty well in class, so we’re told, but he’s been just miserable in Sunday school and Cubbies recently. Our recent visit to the naturopath was in an effort to get an alternative opinion on his behavior – and look for an alternative solution. We’re still in the trial period of waiting to see if any of the vitamin supplements that Tad is currently taking will have any effect on his behavior, and I was upfront with Dr. N. about that.

Tad rarely sleeps through the night any more. For the last seven months now, just before he turned 4, Tad turned into a night owl who moves around during the night. We initially tried to keep him in his room by using a spinner lock on the inside of his door and closing his door, but that sent him into hysterics, even with a nightlight on. We finally left the door cracked, but Tad was getting up during the night, turning on all the lights he could in the living room, and falling asleep on the couch. We finally compromised with leaving the hall light on all night, but Tad started trying to climb in bed with us.

The current compromise is having the hall light on all night, and leaving a pillow out on the floor of our room. And more often than not, that’s where we find Tad in the mornings. Occasionally, he surprises us and stays in his room all night, but those times are few and far between.

And he’s been waking up upset and crying. He’s not having night terrors, but something is definitely upsetting him and waking him up. And then driving him to find someone – me, the Webmaster, even Ane – to give him some kind of reassurance that he’s not all alone.

As a consequence, he’s an absolute slug on school mornings… then add in his 30-40 minute bus ride in the morning… and we’re pretty sure it’s not helping his behavior at school.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Anyway, Dr. N. and I had a pretty involved conversation about Tad – and Tad obligingly went into full-out “cranked up to 11” mode, since it was well past naptime. He sang, he roamed, he read a Star Wars book… he displayed the usual crazy in living color for Dr. N.

So, now I have another appointment to make. Dr. N. is sending us to a pediatric psychologist to get her opinion on Tad’s behavior and sleeping issues. And it’s time to bring the magic letters ADD/ADHD to the table. Now, Tad is too young to be formally diagnosed, but that may be the road we are headed down. So, off to the psychologist we will go. This is probably not something I can fit in before Rerun’s arrival, depending on what the psychologist’s schedule is like, but we’ll probably be able to get it in before too long.

I have been asking for the school psychologist at Tad’s preschool to please come and take a look at him, but it simply hasn’t happened yet, despite my bugging the teachers to bring her in. No luck. Grandma pointed out today with all the cutbacks in the school district, it just may not happen. Regardless, he needs an evaluation and I’m more than happy to take Dr. N.’s recommendation and go somewhere else.

While Tad and I were at the pediatrician’s office, Ane was hanging out with Obachan (Grandma was not available) at the retirement complex where she now lives. Apparently a good time was had by all, because Obachan told Ane to “come again soon.” They put a puzzle together and watched 101 Dalmatians. Ane was so involved and content spending time with her great-grandmother that she declined to go birthday gift shopping with me. She’s been invited to a party on Sunday, and we needed to pick out a gift. I told her over the phone that if she didn’t go, then she had to live with whatever I picked out, and she agreed. I chose something in the Disney Princess line, and Ane gave her approval after she saw it, so all is good there.

So, we had a productive day. Dr. N. evaluated Tad and referred us on. I got in yet another appointment before Rerun arrived. Ane had fun with Obachan. Obachan was pleased because she got to help out – and because I brought her some oatmeal raisin cookies. And Ane now has a birthday gift for Sunday’s party. Not bad.

Of course, no one napped and everyone went crazy later, but that’s another story.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 12:50 am and is filed under Children, Family, Speech Therapy Saga.
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