Some good news

[JoyBop]

I've been MIA for a while and just wanted to give you all an update. A quick refresher on where we were: ds8 was in a constant chronic pandas flare with OCD, anxiety, mild tics, ADHD and General bad feelings about himself. The worst of all was his ADHD like behavior in school which made his daily functioning very difficult. The teachers just ignored him and let him wander around the classroom during instruction. He was often eating things off the floor (compulsion) and then obsessed all night about who saw him eat what and how embarrassed he was. Each day was traumatic and awful. The school refused to meet with me or my doctors and put us off continually until their evaluations we're complete. In the meantime, we had gone to the NIH for the study after winter break and I began to realize that the longer he was away from school the better he became. After 3 wonderful weeks out of school he fell apart the very day he returned. We knew at that time we had to find a new school. We had been asking for meetings and support since August and here it was February and we still didn't have a meeting yet. Enough was enough.

 

I had requested the IEP eval in Nov but it took the school until the end of January to set a date to meet with us. We had planned on withdrawing him the day after the meeting as we enrolled him in a wonderful, small private school. Unfortunately the meeting date came and it was a snow day. I had to withdraw him before the meeting. It took a whole month to reconvene and he was denied an IEP. In fact, they denied there was any problem at all and that he was perfectly smart and gave him a worthless 504. They were vicious and angry and pointed their fingers at us and yelled at us. It was ugly. My husband and our doctor were there and I was able to sit there and smile and say , yes, I believe my son is now in the right place.

 

It's now been about 5 weeks since my son has been in his new school and all I have to say is WOW!!!!! I have a new child!!! I haven't seen him this happy and relaxed in a year and a half. He thanks me daily for everything I do for him, but especially for allowing him to go to his new school. He tells me how unhappy he was at his other school but I always redirect the convo to tell me what makes him so happy now. He feels so wonderful about himself bc he receives positive praise all day long, is in a small classroom with the same teacher all day, and says they just treat you like family there. It just feels like home. It brings tears to my eyes!!! I never would have imagined that simply changing his environment could have had such a huge impact on him. He still has difficulty with attention but he Is held to the same rules and standards everyone else is and he's thriving. His OCD is diminishing and is being replaced with a positive self esteem. The handwriting and math is still very poor but his teacher will always find the positive and that puts a huge smile on his face and gives him the strength and the will to proceed. Yes, he was ready to heal and we've been at this for a while now. But this school situation was holding him back and dragging him down. I'm so thrilled that everything turned out just the way it did bc I would never have thought to put my child in private school Bc our schools are so coveted where we live.

 

Keep the faith everyone. Follow your gut and don't give up. Sometimes it seems like they will never get better. I've been there myself for so long. But if my kid can have this incredible turn around yours can too. I encourage you all to consider the impact that emotional stress has on the blood brain barrier and do what you can to help alleviate it. It just might make the difference your child needs to heal. I am 100% convinced the the wrong school environment and lack of support perpetuated my sons symptoms each and every day.

[qannie47]

I am soo glad for you and your son! Thanks for sharing your uplifting and inspiring story!

[Missmom]

Our kids are also in a smaller private catholic school. I feel that it is so worth the money. My daughter went from crying every day going to school to crying on the days she couldn't go to school. I will do whatever it takes to keep my kids there. Thank you for sharing an update.