The Puddles

Chris and I went to see the pediatrician on Friday.  After waiting for an hour and a half to see the doctor (and locked in a tiny room with an unmedicated husband was hard), we finally got to talk to her about Ben’s ADD testing.  This is what we learned:

1.  Ben is a medically complex kid.

2.  Ben has ADD.

So we didn’t learn anything new, but we at least have an official diagnosis so that the school will give Ben accommodations in the classroom.   He is really struggling this year.  We are starting out the year and his progress report said he had two B’s (barely B’s) and the rest were worse. Most of his grades were poor due to incompletion, losing the assignment, neatness, etc. The worse grades were because of this.  We had a conference with the teacher.  She didn’t know Ben’s history (I just assume the staff knows about Ben’s medical issues).  That conference happened a while ago. There is a long story between that conference and today, but the result is this . . . I don’t think we have convinced her yet that we want to be a team with her working to help Ben.  We don’t hate her. We don’t want Ben to come off easy.  We just want a learning environment where Ben will thrive .   She doesn’t like that he misses school for doctor’s appointments (frankly, neither do we).  We just can’t help that.

So hopefully we will have a meeting next week to start set up a 504 plan for Ben.  I have high hopes for a great meeting.  In the meantime, Dr. P. suggested that we add fish to his diet (or fish oil pills) and try giving him melatonin at night to help him go to sleep (he really struggles with this).   We can’t give any medicine for ADD(none of his doctors will sign off on this). All we can do is set up an environment at home and school that will help him succeed.  So game on!!