A day with Daddy

Squirrel got sent home from school today. He was being more disruptive than usual today (drew a beard on his face with magic marker, was singing loudly, standing on his chair and then jumping off...).

Anyhow, I took him up to my husband's office and then came back to work. He has spent the day doing his homework and classwork in the conference room, and is apparently bored stiff.

Hopefully, this will be helpful...we tried to figure out a way to have it be really horrible for him to be sent home, because coming to work with me or going home is a fun treat.

At any rate...I don't have to do homework with him tonight...Whoopee!

Kidding...this really stinkss. Plus, now we parental types have to go see the principal tomorrow AM.

My boss found the whole story hysterical--he was expelled from schools as a kid, so that's comforting. People can have horrible school experiences, survive and flourish. AAURGH!

I heard that Mercury is in retrograde...not that I believe in Astrology, but I'll take any comfort I can get these days.

Quick stuff

So, Squirrel was tested by the board of ed. Predictably, they found that he was smart, but distracted. The tests were supposed to run about 2 hours or so, but after he had been in for three hours, they quit. He hadn't finished the tests.

The meeting with the school was horrid. Apparently, my little guy hasn't been turning in his homework, and he hasn't been doing his classwork...FOR A MONTH. Now...I initiated this meeting...d'ya think that this should have come up a bit sooner? When were they planning on telling me?

Grrrr....

I really truly believe that with the right kind of support, Squirrel can be successful in a General Ed environment. The problem is, the administration and teaching staff (quite frankly) are completely ignorant about ADHD and how to deal with it. I gave them a book, but I'm sure that if I request it back, I will find the pages to be curiously unmolested.

I'm quite sure that they think ADHD is bullshit, and that Squirrel can just cut it out any time he wants.

What else. Mailed my app to the NYU program today--lots of pages to fill out. Now to join CHADD. Seriously, at some point, right before I die, my life will be in order.

Long Time

It has been a while since I last wrote anything...I was basically just frustrated by the situation with meds/lack of feedback from the school...felt like I would just be whining every day about the same things.

So, I did things to effect change instead. I got started with the board of ed, which will hopefully result in Squirrel getting "labeled" and therefore receive some services. They have interviewed me, and we will have a 1/2 day psych exam on Friday. I think that Squirrely will enjoy this, at any rate--lots of attention, plus he won't have to go to English class.

In my opinion, he still needs a slightly higher dose of the Adderall XR...maybe topping off at 20-25 mgs/day. But, I will wait until the meeting with the teachers.

This fantastic powwow will be on Monday. I will basically find out if they think they can deal with him or not. While I don't want them to tell me they can't...I suppose I would rather hear it sooner than later. For what it is worth, I initiated the meeting.

What else. I applied for Squirrel for Gifted & Talented programs in the city. Since we live in a pretty lousy to mediocre district, this is my best bet. Would he qualify? I have no idea. He's a smart boy, but it all is based on how they perform on some tests. I would guess if he is labeled prior to the testing, he would qualify for extra time. But, my feeling is that extra time doesn't particularly help my son. He's not distracted in that way.

I've applied for him to go to an ADHD camp program at NYU this summer. It costs $1100 per week, which is fairly horrific. But, I basically feel that we have one chance to do things right with our son. There's no point saving for him to go to college if we aren't going to give him support now--if we don't take care of these problems, college will be a pipe dream.

That's about all the excitement for me these days. It's enough.

Stay strong!