A quick note to answer another wonderful TS mom, Andrea.
Yes, Andrea. I consider the TS gone. I didn't for a long time. BigBro has considered it gone for quite a while. I haven't seen a tic in, I can't even remember. His anxiety is such a non-issue, I would consider it gone, too. He will have moments of worry now and then but they seem very normal and appropriate for his age. So I'm calling that gone.
The thing I've been seeing lately is a severe distractibilty. Is that a word? I recently caught a piece of a PBS documentary on adult ADD. So many of the stories reminded me of adults in my life. I imagine many of us are running around with ADD and have no idea. I kind of think that's a good thing. But BigBro has been just off the charts distracted lately. And when I saw that PBS show with stories of adults that sounded just like him, I've been wondering. When he was diagnosed back at the age of 6 (4.5 yrs ago), she ruled out ADHD. So not sure.
I'm not a huge fan of the over use of ADD in the pediatric diagnosis world. So I'm not running to a doctor to say, Hey, do you think he has ADD? The documentary also pointed out that most ADD adults are also the ones on the creative cutting edge. They are the boundary-less cliff jumpers, of sorts. They said, most of the amazing progress in the world wasn't done by the people who stayed safely away from the edge of the cliff. BigBro is crazy creative and does many things outside the box. I'd rather leave him there. He's not unhappy. He is still unaware of any weird looks he may get. He has a good number of solid friends that I think are on their way to being amazing people.
He still has fuzzy social boundaries. But for every kid that walks away, there are about 3 that stay.
So yes, I will claim it as one of the many miracles God has done for this boy - starting from in the womb. I know God has put him here for something big. I've seen BigBro already affecting people's lives with God's love. And that may be the something big. I'll take it!
Thanks for asking, Andrea!
3 comments:
WOW. That is AWESOME! Thank you, God!
My brother was diagnosed with adult ADD a few years back, and it was really a life-changing thing for him...in a good way. He got on meds that really helped, and a therapist helped him immensely. It was like he suddenly understood himself and his reaction to life, so much better than he had in the past.
CBeth - I hear you. After seeing that PBS show, I have so much more sympathy for people with ADD. It really goes hand in hand with his obsessive/compulsive tendencies (not to be confused with OCD). But to understand the compulsive nature of ADD really does give me more patience. I imagine having it identified gave your brother the weapon of knowledge and a way to start dealing with it.
I think that BigBro will turn out to be an amazing and unique adult who will forge ahead and blaze his own trails...just as he does now. I am always hesitant to put labels on kids in the first place. When Max was diagnosed with Aspergers all those years ago, they said that ADD was part of it too. Although I don't see ADD in him at at all (he's 15 now). Knowledge is power and it's certainly a good idea to research and arm ourselves with as much info as possible should the time come that we need to change course. In the meantime, I say we should love our kids, be there to support them and help them develop in to the great people they were put here to be :))
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