Post by jw on Mar 18, 2013 13:17:56 GMT -5
Hi,
My older son has ADD, anxiety, CAPD, and more. When his anxiety kicked in around 4th grade it was really obvious -he would get upset and cry every day, so we knew we needed to get treatment. He was also already seeing a doctor for his ADD.
My younger son (11 years old, 6 th grade) is having some issues now, and I don't want to jump to conclusions but also don't want to ignore something that should be addressed. He has some little quirks -hates trimming his toenails because he is convinced his toes will be cut (we let him use an emery board to file his nails as a workaround). About 6 months ago he started sleeping with his light on, so we have been trying to gradually wean him off by using a dimmer switch. If you turn his light off he will wait until you leave and turn it back on, so short of taking all of the lightbulbs out of his room, we were not sure what else to do. I was afraid of the dark when I was his age, and grew out of it, so I'm hoping the same thing will happen to him. He has also developed a thing about wearing is retainer - he says it makes him gag, so we have been going around and around about that ( and have gone to the orthodontist 5 or 6 times and gotten two different retainers).
My biggest concern is that he seems really stressed about school. He has two teachers (out of 3) who are really harsh with the kids. He is getting As and Bs and we have told him that we aren't going to worry about his grades this year because these teachers are well-known for not wanting to give As. He is very quiet about school and doesn't want to talk about it, but is literally counting down the days left in the school year. When he is absent and misses work, he would rather take a zero than have to talk to the teachers to work out turning in the late assignments. He has also lost weight which may be due to stress (almost 10 pounds, so a lot or his age and size) - and he was skinny to begin with, so now he is really thin. He swears that he is not being bullied, and has not had any problems with the other kids before this. A few times he has cried but still won't say much except that school is really hard.
Any ideas about how to get him to talk to me about what is going on? Does this sound like more than typical middle school angst? Should I take him to talk to someone, or just wait until school is out in June and see if things get better? My older ds has such obvious problems with severe enough symptoms that is was easier to figure out what to do. Older ds is also very compliant, and willing to talk, so we have never had to tackle these issues before.
Thanks, jw
My older son has ADD, anxiety, CAPD, and more. When his anxiety kicked in around 4th grade it was really obvious -he would get upset and cry every day, so we knew we needed to get treatment. He was also already seeing a doctor for his ADD.
My younger son (11 years old, 6 th grade) is having some issues now, and I don't want to jump to conclusions but also don't want to ignore something that should be addressed. He has some little quirks -hates trimming his toenails because he is convinced his toes will be cut (we let him use an emery board to file his nails as a workaround). About 6 months ago he started sleeping with his light on, so we have been trying to gradually wean him off by using a dimmer switch. If you turn his light off he will wait until you leave and turn it back on, so short of taking all of the lightbulbs out of his room, we were not sure what else to do. I was afraid of the dark when I was his age, and grew out of it, so I'm hoping the same thing will happen to him. He has also developed a thing about wearing is retainer - he says it makes him gag, so we have been going around and around about that ( and have gone to the orthodontist 5 or 6 times and gotten two different retainers).
My biggest concern is that he seems really stressed about school. He has two teachers (out of 3) who are really harsh with the kids. He is getting As and Bs and we have told him that we aren't going to worry about his grades this year because these teachers are well-known for not wanting to give As. He is very quiet about school and doesn't want to talk about it, but is literally counting down the days left in the school year. When he is absent and misses work, he would rather take a zero than have to talk to the teachers to work out turning in the late assignments. He has also lost weight which may be due to stress (almost 10 pounds, so a lot or his age and size) - and he was skinny to begin with, so now he is really thin. He swears that he is not being bullied, and has not had any problems with the other kids before this. A few times he has cried but still won't say much except that school is really hard.
Any ideas about how to get him to talk to me about what is going on? Does this sound like more than typical middle school angst? Should I take him to talk to someone, or just wait until school is out in June and see if things get better? My older ds has such obvious problems with severe enough symptoms that is was easier to figure out what to do. Older ds is also very compliant, and willing to talk, so we have never had to tackle these issues before.
Thanks, jw
