Blog Time! 8Th Graders are cool

My son Alex is an 8th grader 

at Vets Middle School this year.  

He is 13 years old with ADHD 

and serious 

oppositional behavioral issues.  


Welcome to our story!  

To pick up where I left off at the end of 7th grade, Warwick RI schools have returned to "In-Person" classrooms.  Last year we were doing "Distance Learning" at home...during this time, I left my job and stayed home with Alex.  By spring (April), the students were back in the school buildings 4 days a week with one Distance Learning day and NO TRANSPORTATION. 

This year started off completely differently!  We started a bit later than other districts due to some "Building" issues - September 8th.  The first week of school, I drove Alex to and from School because he was very nervous.  This worked around my schedule pretty well at my Part-Time Property job.  Then I began having trouble at my job and decided to find a better position.  Due to the change in my schedule, we once again found ourselves starting a new plan.  Alex would need to ride the School Bus to and from school.

Last year, Alex was a transfer student from another district.  So he has never actually had the chance to ride the bus since we moved here.  Luckily, the bus stop is one street up from my house.  YAY!  On September 14th, he rode the bus for the first time to and from school successfully.

I am proud of Alex for overcoming one obstacle after another as he learns to become more independent and in control of himelf.  That brings us to medication.  ADHDers need medications to stabilize their attentional-issues and allow them the same opportunities that Neurotypicals have in the classrooms.  Two days ago Alex came home from school sad.  He refused to eat dinner and was nearly in tears trying to avoid talking to us at the dinner table about simple things we asked, like "How was your day at School?" He was having a depressive episode...most likely brought on by inconsistently using his antidepressants.  The doctor has identified a co-morbidity in Alex where the Adderal and Fluoxetine become the correct cocktail for him.  Last year he was using 10mg of Adderall...a change from his previous medication for ADHD.  The Fluoxetine, he uses 20mg daily.  

This year, we upped his ADHD meds (Adderal) to 20mg due to an increase in his height and weight.  This boy is about 5ft8" and around 145lbs.

Alex goes to his father's house every weekend and on Friday and Saturdays, he is not offered or prompted to take his medications.  For this reason, Sundays are a difficult transition.  Alex's father refuses to acknowledge Anxiety, Depression and other issues that are commonly known Mental Health issues.  He also does not approve of Alex's use of the Adderal, but at least defers to my judgement on that matter.

It confuses Alex...having one value system at our house and another at his father's.  My daughter Annika who is 6 years older than Alex, has Generalized Anxiety Disorder and really needs to be on a stabilizing medication.  She refuses to use them.  She also has some attentional-issues which are possibly related to the anxiety.  This would be HER co-morbid health issue...attentional issues propogated by untreated anxiety.  Her issues were exacerbated by the conflicting opinions of her father and his side of the family as well.

I could write an entire blog about the misunderstood world of Mental Health problems but I will not do that here.

I will however, post my YouTube Video here of me waiting for Alex to finally board the bus that first day.  I know, I know!  He is 13!  But he's my baby!


Enjoy!

Lilac

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