I'd like to tell you that I haven't written your letter because I've been that busy, but really it's because I don't know what to say. You see, you've been having a tough time starting Kindergarten. Like Parent-Teacher conference the first week of school problems. The issues have mostly been regarding your inability to keep your hands to yourself, fidgeting, talking out of turn, you know, normal stuff... for you anyway. In a last ditch effort to avoid putting you on stimulant meds, we took a few trips to the Chiropractor, the neurologist and did a sleep study. You failed the sleep study, which I'll write an entry on later and the Neuro diagnosed you with ADHD, which we knew you had walking in the door.
Before I continue I want you to know something, we fought to avoid medication for you. We've done, OT, behavioral therapy, supplement therapy, elimination diets, (including gluten free), homeopathy and herbal meds. Nothing's worked. If we had unlimited finances we would have tried neuro feedback or one of the brain balancing therapies, but the funds aren't there and the feedback from people that have tried it is limited. So, in a desperate attempt to keep you from getting suspended over and over again, we filled a prescription. And it's working.
This is what I've learned having a child on medication for ADHD - most of the people that try to make you feel bad for putting your child on meds don't have a child with ADHD. Most of the people that are really pro medication have a child with ADHD. We have a really great support system of friends that might have thought we were crazy for trying all of this, but never talked down to us about it and really tried to help when they could.
In the end all that really matters is that we give you the tools to succeed in life, even if we don't see the benefit ourselves. You see, the med that we've chosen for you is a short acting med. I didn't want you to be on a stimulant all day long, so this one wears off after 7 hours. That's just long enough for you to make it through the school day and then come home and explode when it starts to wear off. You've gotten a smiley face every day at school, which is something that hasn't happened, well, ever. It's definitely relieved my own stress of worrying whether or not the school is going to call me again and I'm going to have to find a new and exciting way to explain to the staff that you are a fantastic kid that just doesn't have impulse control.
I know this journey has been most difficult on you, but it's been really hard for me too. I had no doubt that we could fix this without medication and in a lot of ways I feel like I've failed you, which may be the real reason that I haven't written you a letter for so long.
In the end we may have actually saved you, just not in the way I thought we would. See how much you teach me?
Your humble student,
Mama
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