Ann Marie Rivera On (22 Jan 97) was overheard to say to Gwenna Bowers
 AM> in a medical book that some of our greatest minds this world has known
 AM> were ADHD.  For one example...Albert Einstein.
 Take that with a large spoonful of salt.  Einstein was dead many
 years before anyone advanced that hypothesis.  People with ADD/ADHD
 run the full range of abilities, intelligence and talents.
 AM> I guess, that this whole thing just confuses me terrible...I
 AM> feel so stuck...torn I guess between the school, my personal feelings
 AM> for my child, and my child himself...
 IMNSHO you've taken the first major step...you recognize there is a
 problem.  Now you're in the information gathering stage.  The more
 _you_ learn the better able you will be to obtain and/or provide the
 help you see your son needs.
 I wouldn't worry overly much, if at all, about "pleasing" the school
 and I certainly wouldn't do _anything_ based solely on their
 recommendations or evaluations of anything that is not limited to the
 education of your son.
 AM> I would just be greatful to be able to share my feelings and
 AM> thoughts with people and be able to share in
 AM> theirs as well...I am looking for some solice, some insight, just
 AM> something more to go on and look into. I appreciate any information or
 AM> suggestions or just thoughts you care to share...
 You'll get a lot of that here.  Many of us (who me?) are _very_
 opinionated and it shows .. frequently ..  What you will not get here
 is medical advice, no one, not even JK is qualified to do that.  What
 works smashingly well for my son might be disastrous for yours.
 My son is 9, will be 10 in March.  After going through all the
 medical evaluations I mentioned above that ruled out almost all
 physical causes (he was found to have environmental allergies -
 that's everything from dust to the great outdoors) we wound up with a
 pediatric neurologist who has specialized in attentional disorders and
 been in the business for 20+ years. ADHD was/is his diagnosis at age
 6.  In a way it was a relief to finally have a "name" for what was
 going on with him and to learn there are viable treatments.  We
 started out on ritalin, he still takes it, and last year added a
 clonodine patch.  These two help him to stay on track.  They DO NOT
 KEEP HIM ON TRACK...they help _him_ to do it, he is still able to make
 some really dumb choices and often does, like any other 9 year old.
 We work closely with his teachers, it has become one of my missions
 in life to educate each years new teacher about ADD/ADHD, by the time
 William is out of high school I will have inserviced a LOT of
 teachers....(-8  Consistency in everything is practically mandatory.
 If your son does have an attentional disorder he will need a lot of
 structure in his life; structure does not equate to "control".
 A kid's life does not begin and end at the school house door, much to
 the surprise of a lot of school types.  Out of school activities can
 play a major role in shaping how these kids get on with the business
 of living.  My son plays league team sports in season, besides the
 obvious benefits of any athletic activity he has learned how and when
 to depend on others to achieve a common goal and how what he does, or
 doesn't do, contributes to or detracts from that.  I do not make any
 connection between what occurs in school and his participation in
 these things other than that any homework WILL be completed before he
 goes to a practice or game.  In other words, his participation or
 non-participation is not held over his head as a (useless anyway)
 threat to "do well" in school.
 We still have days, fortunately not consecutive, when I'd willingly
 trade him in for a newer model but, like that engergizer bunny, we
 just keep going and going and going...
 Best...Bob
... a good and sometimes strange sense of humor is mandatory
--- PPoint 2.02
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