Mealtime-Can't sit still

[ShaesMom]

My daughter was evaluated for ADHD for last year but was not given that dx--not even close.

 

 

 

Well, yeah....

Um, don't all PANDAS kids have adhd symptoms?

Opening a can of worms here but I think it's worth discussion.

Ds9 never sits still at the dinner table. Can't do it.

[ShaesMom]

I'm glad to hear that other parents have experienced this same thing. It drives myself and my dh crazy but I honestly never thought it was connected to her Pandas until recently.

 

Unfortunately for us, we have not seen an improvement in this behavior since IVIG. But, if that is the only lingering effect I can definitely learn to live with it!

[ShaesMom]

Okay, I just read a post by Keithand Elizabeth and she mentioned that her son was chewing on his shirt--my dd has done this for a couple of years! I never would have guessed that it was Pandas as well.

 

Anyone else????

[EAMom]

Okay, I just read a post by Keithand Elizabeth and she mentioned that her son was chewing on his shirt--my dd has done this for a couple of years! I never would have guessed that it was Pandas as well.

 

Anyone else????

 

I wonder if the shirt chewing is a sensory seeking behavior. I know 2 non-pandas kids that chew on their shirts. Both were long time thumb-suckers (until age 6-7) so I wonder if they just transfered from their thumbs to their shirts! My PANDAS dd would start to suck on things during some exacerbations. These including her thumb, ice, and various objects around the house...not her shirt though!

[ShaesMom]

Okay, I just read a post by Keithand Elizabeth and she mentioned that her son was chewing on his shirt--my dd has done this for a couple of years! I never would have guessed that it was Pandas as well.

 

Anyone else????

 

I wonder if the shirt chewing is a sensory seeking behavior. I know 2 non-pandas kids that chew on their shirts. Both were long time thumb-suckers (until age 6-7) so I wonder if they just transfered from their thumbs to their shirts! My PANDAS dd would start to suck on things during some exacerbations. These including her thumb, ice, and various objects around the house...not her shirt though!

 

 

At age 7, my dd still sucks her thumb and I did notice during her flare ups that she was constantly putting other objects in her mouth but I just never thought about the shirt!

[bronxmom2]

The ADHD question is a biggie for me.

 

Last year (during first big PANDAS exacerbation) our school insisted my ds be evaluated for ADHD... we did a psych evaluation and the evaluator did not think he had ADHD. But I felt like I may have fudged the Conner's scale a little... because I did not want the ADHD dx. Then again I have a guilt complex myself.

 

In the end I don't think the evaluator would have told me "he does not have ADHD" if he thought my ds did have ADHD, just to tell me what I wanted to hear.

 

He hit every ceiling on the WIAT (achievement test) except writing and numerical operations... precisely the two areas where our kids' brains somehow mysteriously fail them. He is seven, understand advanced mathematical concepts, but counts on his fingers.

 

It certainly looked (and looks) like ADHD much of the time (and my husband believes he has a severe attention deficit) (and the school certainly thought so), but I always knew it was something else, more complicated.

 

He can focus, but his body never stops moving-- at the dinner table or anywhere else.

 

If we ask him to do something that's difficult for him (write something) he freaks out. I mean real psychological pain.

 

It took me a long time to understand that he genuinely could not do it.

[Suzan]

We saw lots of shirt chewing at our OT's office. Both my girls needed oral sensory input, whether PANDAS related or not. I made chew "toys" for them so they would have something to chew on where ever we went and we chewed a LOT of gum in those early years when things were really bad. One of my mom's visits to us she commented on how great things were going and that she didn't see that much gum chewing. I knew then that we were in a good place at that time. I taught them to chew gum much earlier than I ever thought I would have since I noticed it improved their behavior!

 

Susan

[EAMom]

That's funny you mention gum...I've recently started buying more gum. My kids love the Spry (xylitol) gum (although its taste doesn't last long). It's supposed to fight cavities and I figure pehaps maybe it might have some anti-bacterial effects against a certain other bacteria (hope, hope). It's a good little pick-me-up for the car ride home from school.

[familyof4]

My son shirt chews as well. Not sure if it's PANDAS related or not. He too was a thumb sucker and it wasn't until this summer (age 6) that he finally quit with the thumb. I do think the shirt chewing is harder to control wen he is in a flare up.

 

Heather