LC, I know the chattiness and stuff are all hypreactive/impulsive symptoms, but they don’t occur frequently enough, and there are not enough of those symptoms to put him in the combined category. I think testosterone contributes, as they all began or became much more apparent with the beginning of puberty, whereas the inattantive symptoms have been there all along. Inattentiveness plagues him daily, but it’s only once or twice a week that we have to deal with the over the top behaviour. He has never been one to be constantly on the move. When rating him on the various tests around the place, he only scores about a 5/9 on the hyperactivity/impulsivity index, but would need a 6 to rate as combined. Additionally, those symptoms were not present before age 7, but the inattentive ones were (and he gets 9/9 for those!)
Wgreen, Audiobooks would be great in schools. My son’s school has a centre for the visually impaired, but they use braille or large print texts. But perhaps they have some audiobooks that we could access. I know my son loves me to read to him, so audiobooks might be worth a try.
Anyway, I brought up the issue of medication with the psychologist today and got some names of good paediatricians who carefully monitor the kids on medication (rather than send them away with instructions to “see how you go and come back if you have problems”). Now I just need to get an appointment. Not always easy when they have a good reputation.
AND…..I got the names of some psychiatrists for myself!!! At last I got up the guts to ask. I can’t believe I finally did it. It’s still only a baby step, because I now have to go to the doctor for a referral, and then make an appointment with the psych, and actually talk about my problems (OMG!!! That’s the hard bit!!!). But I guess in my favour is my tendency to race off at the mouth and spill it all in a huge rush before I lose my nerve. I talk a lot when I am nervous, my conversation jumps all over the place, and I can’t sit still. All good points when asking to be assessed for ADHD. And I am doing it now, just thinking about it. Time to go, before this post ends up as an essay 