Tuesday 18 July 2017

ADHD Maybe?

I wrote this over 3 days last week when things started happening with Ellie and mentioned it in my Word of the Week post....


A couple of weeks ago Ellie got her school report....They way they work out the grades now is. Emerging meaning they are just grasping what they are learning, developing meaning they are within the level and secure means they have a full understanding and are ready to move to the next year....By the end of the school year the aim is to be secure in all the subjects.

All of Ellie's were developing apart from writing where it was emerging which I thought was OK. We had chance to go to speak to the teacher and it was and enlightening chat.....

Ellie is a daydreamer and always has been....Over the years all of her teachers have said this....She has always struggled to concentrate but is as bright as a button she just doesn't apply herself. She will sit there and do nothing or let someone else do the work.....Her teacher has really noticed this and has said although she is quite capable she just isn't doing enough work....She has to be prompted to work a lot and is falling way behind the other children....

I cried....No one likes being told their child isn't doing well but I have known and it sounds awful to say there has always been something different about Ellie....The little quirks she has, bedtime being a battle, the bad behaviour, lack of patience and other little things.....When it comes to school I have always put it down to the fact she is a summer baby....She was born on the 29th of August so some of the kids in her class are nearly a year older than her...

ADHD was brought up....I really don't know how I am feeling at the moment....Reading about it online, Ellie certainly ticks a lot of the boxes but I don't know. Years ago when we have seen professionals they brushed it off and said she'll grow out of it...She hasn't. She is nearly 10....Surely by now someone would have picked it up? I should have picked it up by now....

Ellie also has problems controlling her bladder....This could be part of it too....Not as much as she used to but she sometimes gets so engrossed in something that she just forgets to go....There are times where she doesn't want to be left out of a game and she will have an accident....Over the years it has improved but she probably wets her self about 5 times a week. There is no pattern to it and being wet doesn't seem to bother her....A few months ago she was wetting herself nearly every day at school. Her teacher tried being nice and eventually tried a different tactic. She told Ellie she would get a red card (a bad thing at school, green is good red is bad). Since then she has not wet herself at school and has wet herself less at home too.

Ellie's teacher said she could get the head teacher to make a referral but there is only two weeks left of term so who knows when we would be seen so she advised us to see our doctor as it would be quicker and she would write any letters, make phone calls or anything to support us.....

Ellie will have her Year 6 SAT exams next year and Miss N is really worried about her.....I am too now. If it is proved that she has some sort of ADHD it means she can get more support and help which is a good thing....The good thing is there has been a change around at school and the teacher she had this past year will be her teacher in year 6 too!!! I am so pleased.

We rang the doctors and our surgery doesn't give out appointments freely....A doctor rang us back and Stu explained everything....The doctor said it sounds like her other health problems are holding her back. Her deafness and bladder problems. Apart from that she sounds like any child her age....

We were told to contact the school nurse which of course we did....The asked lots of questions then said they'll be in touch in September as they don't work over the summer holidays. Don't even get me started about how I feel about this.....They have a huge backlog of cases surely it would make sense to catch up over the summer while no one is being referred from schools because they are closed....Ugh.

We told Ellie's teacher what we were told and she said "No! Ellie needs something in place to help her for the new term starting"....It doesn't have to go through the school nurse, the doctors can help so we got back on the phone to the doctors the next day and she said because we have stressed that things need to be sorted by September the information we gave the school nurse will now be passed to someone else to deal with it....Someone will be in touch over the next few weeks....Phew! Someone is going to help us.

At the moment I don't know how I am feeling....Happy my girl is getting help but sad that she needs it....Happy that my girl has her teacher backing her all the way but sad that we have had to fight so much already to get someone to listen to us.....I have a feeling this is just the beginning.

11 comments :

  1. Poor Ellie, what a roller-coaster! I really hope you get some answers soon xxx

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    1. I do too but I have a feeling it is going to go on for a while :(

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  2. It has to be good that they right people are getting involved. It's progressing and hopefully something will be in place for September. Ellie sounds similar to my friend's daughter. She got the help and is doing well with it. They are all different and not every child fits neatly in the provided box. Fingers crossed for you all. #MMBC

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    1. I do hope so...At least we have the ball rolling now.
      Thank you! It is great to hear positive things x

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  3. Hi Kim, I can honestly say I know how you feel. As I read your post alarm bells started ringing in my head, you have to get this sorted now and not be fobbed off. The first time autism was mentioned my son was ten, we got fobbed off and fobbed off. For the first part of hi life he was called lazy. At one point muscular dystrophy was mentioned, he had biopsies and tests that diagnosed a type of muscle disorder but luckily not dystrophy. His autistic traits were put down to his muscle disorder, after many questions and meetings we accepted it. It wasn't until he got an excellent teacher at high school that the battle for an official diagnosis started again. Which we finally got when he was seventeen. Which was far too late. At eighteen all help goes out the window here...... We even got an apology from the people who fobbed us off all those years ago, because they were the exact same people who gave us the diagnosis and they still had his history on record.......... When it all started I remember feeling slightly separated from the world, almost as if my life was going in slow motion and the world was whizzing by. It was surreal.... Don't give up. Follow your instincts and get help from anyone who has the power to help. The sooner any diagnosis is made the better. It is something I feel strongly about as I know had my son been diagnosed earlier he would be in a much different position than he is now.... Good luck Kim!.... (sorry for waffling on a bit).

    Thank you for linking up with the #MMBC

    XX

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    1. Oh no! Your poor son. It is such a shame he didn't get the help he needed sooner. An apology doesn't really make up for all the stress it must have caused. Thank you x

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  4. I was sure my daughter had dyslexia and ADHD but it wasn't until she went to college that I managed to get help. She is now a wonderful, accomplished woman. I just feel sad her school wouldn't help when she needed it (Things were different when she was young) I hope Ellie gets The get she needs xx

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    1. Oh no. That is a shame she couldn't get the help sooner.
      I think it's going to take time but she'll get the help eventually x

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  5. Ahh bless her, I don't know much about ADHD to pass comment but with regards to the wetting herself there is definitely things that can be done to help, I would absolutely pop and see the GP. Hope she has a lovely Summer holiday hun. Popping over from #MMBC

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    1. We have been through the doctors about her wetting herself. She's had medication which helped but didn't solve the problem. We will get there eventually. Thank you x

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  6. Oh Kim, I know how you feel, knowing that something isn't right with your child is difficult but as you said, it does open up the doors to help. Sadly, it's still not easy getting through those doors but it sounds like you are heading in the right direction. We got my daughter's autism diagnosed quite quickly but her other problems have taken years (and still waiting on genetics results.) With my son, his problems were not noticed until he was 11 and it was a real struggle to get help then. Keep on at them, don't be fobbed off and fingers crossed that Ellie will get the help she needs for year 6. I know what you mean about the age too, my daughter's birthday is 24th August, her due date was 5th September so she really should be in a year lower! She's doing well now though (Apart from the health issues) xxx

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