Sunday, December 5, 2010

The writing is on the wall.


I kinda felt this coming. In fact, I always joked about it when he was little ... never content to be in one place, barefoot and always running. I swear that kid never heard a word I said, but when he came up with all his love and a smile on his face, I forgot all about it.That kid could never EVER sit still. Always moving, always laughing. Always trying to make YOU laugh. But things have changed. He's having a hard time at school. He's having trouble with other kids. He's having a hard time focusing... and he's not so happy. In fact, little anxiety attacks are arising when I ask him to repeat exactly what I just said.

Little One, now 7, I'm pretty sure has ADHD.

I wish I would have taken it more seriously beforehand. Circumstances as they were, led my son at 4 to live with my parents while we were working on this whole Move to Mexico "thing". By five, he was living with my husband in Mexico while my daughter and I closed out our lives in the States and finalized the move. By six, he was in 1st grade. Complications then were presumed to be a major change in life, language, customs... And by seven, he is in a new school, starting again. All with a smile on his face... my little trooper. Through the last few years, Little One was the most positive of all of us.

And HIS problems, we made plenty of excuses for.

After receiving his report card this term, with surprisingly good grades, I received notes on his behavior as being "distracted and talkative", "disrupting classmates" "not finishing assignments on time" along with " he understands the material, but not following through". Little One had been spending his recesses in the classroom, finshing up work that had not been completed. I was told to focus on games on concentration etc... I replied back,filling a prescription for glasses, thinking that that would solve the problem and asked for more feedback. I didn't like what I had heard.

After an art project at a friend's home, she, previously being a nurse, brought up that Little One had a hard time doing a simple project. He did great if he was being monitered one on one, but if he lost attention, he wandered elsewhere. I knew where this was going...

So, Little One has ADHD. I wouldn't be surprised if his dad has it too. That man can't sit still for the life of him. The two of them are very similar. Very positive. Always smiling. They light up the room. They also can't stop moving.... being engaged at all times. They are passionate, animated, and loving. But they also have/had the same history with learning.

Damn it.

So here we are. These past two weeks, I have begun reading with Little One everyday, a few pages at a time, and then asking him for a summary. The first few days were HORRIBLE. Put on the spot, he had an emotional breakdown. Slowly, Little One has been getting over the emotional part and able to completely read a book and sum it up for me. As for math, we've gone back to going over the basics. Multiplication for another day. (can you believe they learn times tables in 2nd grade here?!?) I'm also going to make an appointment with his teachers and hopefully come up with a better learning situation for my pumpkin.


Wish us luck on our new adventure.

About Me

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I've been living in Mexico now for about a two years with my hubby and 2 kids. Not exactly by choice, but we're here nonetheless. Luckily, I live with quite a few of the accomodations that i was used to in the states. In spite of those convienences, we also have a water tank with asbestos, outdated electricity, massive amounts of dust, caterpillars that burn your skin, and thousands of windshield washers on every street corner. My kiddos and I are learning to speak spanish and adjust to life away from our family and friends in the States.

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