Ok, 2 months in and WOW. What an improvement. His teachers are raving about his ability to become less figity and actually turn into somewhat of a leader in class.
They have the star behavior scale where students receive anything from 0 to 5 stars for daily behavior. He used to be all over the place, zero stars one day, 5 the next, then maybe 1.
Now he is at 4 or 5 every day, mostly 5, student of the week twice.
I'm so proud of him!!
Quote from: Steeler on December 15, 2014, 01:42:28 AM
Ok, 2 months in and WOW. What an improvement. His teachers are raving about his ability to become less figity and actually turn into somewhat of a leader in class.
They have the star behavior scale where students receive anything from 0 to 5 stars for daily behavior. He used to be all over the place, zero stars one day, 5 the next, then maybe 1.
Now he is at 4 or 5 every day, mostly 5, student of the week twice.
I'm so proud of him!!
That is wonderful news, really wonderful. There is nothing more important than one's children. It's awful to see them in a bad place. So pleased to see Steeler jr is on the up!
Thanks Tank!
What wonderful news! Happy for you, Steeler! ;D
Thank you Git!
That's awesome! Sounds like you guys made a good decision!
I think so. Thanks Ali!
Quote from: Tank on December 15, 2014, 08:00:02 AM
Quote from: Steeler on December 15, 2014, 01:42:28 AM
Ok, 2 months in and WOW. What an improvement. His teachers are raving about his ability to become less figity and actually turn into somewhat of a leader in class.
They have the star behavior scale where students receive anything from 0 to 5 stars for daily behavior. He used to be all over the place, zero stars one day, 5 the next, then maybe 1.
Now he is at 4 or 5 every day, mostly 5, student of the week twice.
I'm so proud of him!!
That is wonderful news, really wonderful. There is nothing more important than one's children. It's awful to see them in a bad place. So pleased to see Steeler jr is on the up!
Was he in a bad place? Or did he simply not conform? Is it a good thing that his non-compliance with social expectations was met with behaviour-altering drugs? Was he broken, or is it the system that isn't prepared to accommodate his super-active boyness?
This isn't a comment on SteelerJnr in particular, but a question about the inclination for American clinicians to resort to drugs far more readily than their European counterparts. My boy displayed exactly the same symptoms and was managed out of it by similar means as Jean Beaini posted about (she's also a Brit, I assume).
Scissorlegs, he was having behavior issues at school. When I say behavior, it was just simple stuff like squirming around, whistling. He wasn't being "bad" or having difficulty with academics, just overly figity.
We tried about everything before we reluctantly went to the medication.
I completely agree with you about the system wanting to medicate for Damn near everything these days.
It seems like docs want to put a label or diagnosis on everything.
I guarantee 20 years ago there wouldn't have been an issue in this case. He is just an active boy.
Putting him on medication was an absolutely gut wrenching decision. One that I fought as long as I could. His doctor assures me there won't be any long term effects from this medicine and he can probably stop taking it in a few years once he matures a bit. That was/is my main concern.
I do like how this stuff works though. It only works for about 8 hrs (just enough to get through school day) and he is back to his bouncy self.
Though I don't want to sound like he is out of control bouncy, it's not like that at all. Hell he's been laying here watching a movie quiet as a mouse for the last hour.
I think schools just aren't willing to put up with anything other than statues anymore.
Quote from: Steeler on December 18, 2014, 02:51:52 AM
I think schools just aren't willing to put up with anything other than statues anymore.
As well as most teachers being relatively shit and unable to make a subject interesting, their inability to get with the times and many of them being failures in the private sector and wanting an easier time of things.
Quote from: Crow on December 18, 2014, 04:21:44 AM
Quote from: Steeler on December 18, 2014, 02:51:52 AM
I think schools just aren't willing to put up with anything other than statues anymore.
As well as most teachers being relatively shit and unable to make a subject interesting, their inability to get with the times and many of them being failures in the private sector and wanting an easier time of things.
Right on. The curriculum is so damned structured there just doesn't seem to be much flexibility.
Quote from: Steeler on December 18, 2014, 02:51:52 AM
Scissorlegs, he was having behavior issues at school. When I say behavior, it was just simple stuff like squirming around, whistling.
That sounds like pretty normal behaviour for a bored boy to me.
QuoteI do like how this stuff works though. It only works for about 8 hrs (just enough to get through school day) and he is back to his bouncy self.
How very convenient for the school. So they don't consider his behaviour poor enough to warrant drugs outside of school?! Why not? Something like 11% of US kids are diagnosed with ADHD and are medicated and numbers are rising. The European average is less than 5%. Are 11% of US children really broken? At what point do you say 'something else is going wrong here'?
QuoteThough I don't want to sound like he is out of control bouncy, it's not like that at all. Hell he's been laying here watching a movie quiet as a mouse for the last hour.
Great sedative isn't it?! It's not without its own side-effects, but I certainly recognise its usefulness as a tool for allowing you to get on with crap you gotta do.
Quote from: Scissorlegs on December 18, 2014, 02:00:54 AM
Quote from: Tank on December 15, 2014, 08:00:02 AM
Quote from: Steeler on December 15, 2014, 01:42:28 AM
Ok, 2 months in and WOW. What an improvement. His teachers are raving about his ability to become less figity and actually turn into somewhat of a leader in class.
They have the star behavior scale where students receive anything from 0 to 5 stars for daily behavior. He used to be all over the place, zero stars one day, 5 the next, then maybe 1.
Now he is at 4 or 5 every day, mostly 5, student of the week twice.
I'm so proud of him!!
That is wonderful news, really wonderful. There is nothing more important than one's children. It's awful to see them in a bad place. So pleased to see Steeler jr is on the up!
Was he in a bad place? Or did he simply not conform? Is it a good thing that his non-compliance with social expectations was met with behaviour-altering drugs? Was he broken, or is it the system that isn't prepared to accommodate his super-active boyness?
This isn't a comment on SteelerJnr in particular, but a question about the inclination for American clinicians to resort to drugs far more readily than their European counterparts. My boy displayed exactly the same symptoms and was managed out of it by similar means as Jean Beaini posted about (she's also a Brit, I assume).
Steeler jr was in a 'bad place' in so much as he wasn't happy and those around him were not happy for him. That's different from saying that Steeler jr was bad. There are different approaches to helping a child in that situation and that is a different conversation.
Jean is English.
Quote from: Tank on December 18, 2014, 09:11:48 AM
Quote from: Scissorlegs on December 18, 2014, 02:00:54 AM
Quote from: Tank on December 15, 2014, 08:00:02 AM
Quote from: Steeler on December 15, 2014, 01:42:28 AM
Ok, 2 months in and WOW. What an improvement. His teachers are raving about his ability to become less figity and actually turn into somewhat of a leader in class.
They have the star behavior scale where students receive anything from 0 to 5 stars for daily behavior. He used to be all over the place, zero stars one day, 5 the next, then maybe 1.
Now he is at 4 or 5 every day, mostly 5, student of the week twice.
I'm so proud of him!!
That is wonderful news, really wonderful. There is nothing more important than one's children. It's awful to see them in a bad place. So pleased to see Steeler jr is on the up!
Was he in a bad place? Or did he simply not conform? Is it a good thing that his non-compliance with social expectations was met with behaviour-altering drugs? Was he broken, or is it the system that isn't prepared to accommodate his super-active boyness?
This isn't a comment on SteelerJnr in particular, but a question about the inclination for American clinicians to resort to drugs far more readily than their European counterparts. My boy displayed exactly the same symptoms and was managed out of it by similar means as Jean Beaini posted about (she's also a Brit, I assume).
Steeler jr was in a 'bad place' in so much as he wasn't happy and those around him were not happy for him. That's different from saying that Steeler jr was bad.
Who said he wasn't happy? Nothing Steeler said indicated that Jnr was unhappy. He just sounded bored to me. The only people who weren't happy were the teachers, apparently.
Quote from: Tank on December 18, 2014, 09:11:48 AMThere are different approaches to helping a child in that situation and that is a different conversation.
It's the conversation I am interested in having, perfectly legitimately within the context of the thread. I'm not saying that Steeler was wrong to use drugs to help his super-active son toe the line in class because I don't know the whole story. I am highlighting the apparent lack of imagination within the US school system to actually seek to understand the cause instead of treating the symptoms. The fallback approach appears to be 'the child is broken'. Arrogant, short-sighted and lazy.
Quote from: Tank on December 18, 2014, 09:11:48 AMJean is English.
Thank you for clarifying
Lance(sorry I guess I didn't mention his name earlier) definitely is not unhappy, but I don't think Tank meant it in a literal way.
Just to clarify, the school never suggested or mentioned medication. It is not their place to diagnose or treat kids. It never got to the point where they were going to kick him out.
They had told me that they didn't know what to do or try next, but his noisyness (is that even a word) was too distracting for other kids.
Kinda pissed me off a bit.
That's when we talked to his doctor and she recommended the med, said laughingly that it's no big deal, she prescribes it all time.
On a side note, we went to Lances Christmas show at his school last week. One of the boys in his class was flopping himself all over the place. They had to have a teacher sit next to him to keep him under control. So you wanna bitch about my kid? Lol
Quote from: Steeler on December 18, 2014, 08:44:14 PM
Lance(sorry I guess I didn't mention his name earlier) definitely is not unhappy, but I don't think Tank meant it in a literal way.
Exactly.
We had a public school teacher "diagnose" one of our twins with ADHD. When I asked her where she got her medical degree from, she conceded that her degree was in childhood education, not child psychiatry or pediatrics. She made the argument that she had seen a lot of kids with ADHD, so she should know. I let her know that I had seen several people have heart attacks, but that didn't make me a cardiologist.
During my daughter's annual checkup, we broached the subject with our pediatrician. My wife and I both said we don't think she has ADHD, but we wanted to be sure. Our pediatrician said she wouldn't prescribe meds without a diagnosis, and we told her that we wouldn't be putting her on meds regardless, so we decided that sending her to a psychiatrist was a waste of time.
We took her out of the crappy school she was in, and moved her to a charter that focuses on STEM. She is doing much better. I still have to focus her every once in a while, but she is essentially the same sort of child that I was. If the subject doesn't interest her, she fidgets and squirms. But if she gets tested on the subject matter, she scores in the 90th percentile consistently so we're not worried.