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My name is Vicki, and I have three children, a 12yr. old boy, a 9 yr old boy and a 5 yr. old girl. my 9 yr. old boy has high functioning autism, and has been doing alot better, he is in ot and speech therapy and see's a regular therapist for his emotions. He has grown so much and I am so happy for him. Now my 12 yr. old son, is having problems that I thought were at first just something he would grow out of, but he hasn't and I'm begining to wonder if there isn't something more going on with him, so let me explain. He is in 6th grade, and has been having problems in school since he was in 1st grade. He has problems with paying attention in class, can not concentrate well, is very disruptive in class, and when the teacher tries to explain a assignment to him, it takes her 6 times or more of her explaining it to him to get him to understand it. He also gets very emotional, and cries alot and gets very upset alot, and frustrated. I am begining to wonder if he possibly has ADD, or possibly bipolar disorder, as I have bipolar myself and it does run in the family. So, I am here now, trying to get some insight on what others might think about this, and possibly get some advice. I did ask the school to persue some testing on him to see if there is some ADD going on with him. He also see's a therapist on a regular basis, and I am going to ask for some testing there as well. But, for now, I am open to suggestions and or advice on how to help him and whether or not anyone has any idea as to what could possibly be going on with him. Thank you, and I look forward to talking to everyone.
Welcome,Vicki. I can't help you with your son, but there are many members here with experience and knowledge in these areas, who know the rules and what steps to take to get the assistance he needs. Definitely, push for the testing. I applaud you for taking steps now.
I will say - my youngest son had emotional problems from very early on, and I took him to a child psychiatrist for a while when he was about 7 and we later went for family counseling for a while when he was about 11. I cannot tell you how much I wish I had continued with the counseling. My dear son has struggled (and often lost) with severe depression for years and years, and it is only in the last couple of years (he is now 38) that he has finally been able to cope and win most of the time. I cannot help but believe that if I had been more persistent in continuing the counseling and therapy and been more aggressive about diagnostic testing, his life might have been much less painful for those many years.
Welcome, Vicki. I have a 12yo son who is dx'd ADHD (when he was 6 1/2) and bipolar (2 years ago). Like Ginny said, definitely pursue the testing. However, I think I'd go through my ped instead of the schools. They may be biased and I think you'll get a much more objective evaluation through the private sector. My son also had problems for years in public schools. My dh just retired from the military so by the time Robin (ds) finished 6th grade he'd been to 8 different schools. That was between all our moves and the district moving him. He was placed in a self contained classroom at the beginning of his 5th grade year. So he's in 7th grade this year and I'm homeschooling him. We're taking this year to get him back on track academically (they were really letting him slide--just giving him easy work so he'd be doing *something*), emotionally through counciling and lots of time with me (which can some days be quite the challenge!) and socially (again through counciling). With all the therapy appointments (once a week) and some other medical issues he's had in the past three months, he probably would have missed enough school days in public school to have failed the 7th grade already! You're at an advantage because you know about bipolar disorder. Early onset bipolar disorder (EOBD) presents a little differently than adult onset from what I understand. Dh and I don't have anyone in either of our families that is dx'd, but there are several alcoholics and drug abusers (self medicators) on both sides. Right now Robin's on medication for the bipolar, but nothing for the ADHD. He's doing better than he has in years. It did take us several months to get him stable. Thankfully he's never had to be hospitalized. I have a very good friend whose almost 17yo bipolar son has been hospitalized several times. He has other medical issues that have made medicating him very difficult and he's big enough now where sometimes they just can't handle him. I realize I've written a book here! lol I'm so glad you found us and if you'd like you can shoot me an email privately. cathyliz at bigfoot dot com (spelled it all out to avoid spammers) There are some others here that are familiar with BP. Hopefully they'll see this and chime in, too. Again, welcome! 
Cat,
Thanks for the warm welcome. I guess from what I have heard from a few different people who have ADD and some who have bipolar, it is very difficult to know which is, is which, as they are very much alike. But, I am hoping the testing for me and my son will help us both, so we can help eachother. I can understand the medication part with the bipolar, as I was hospitalized last February, mainly cause before that they were treating me for just depression. Then they diagnosed me as bipolar, now they are saying it might be ADD. AAHHHH!! It's very frustrating not knowing what is going with yourself and what is wrong with you. But, as I said before hopefully the testing will figure out if I in fact am bipolar or ADD or possibly both. I worry about my son though (my oldest son) he knows about the testing, and has said to me, ( I don't want to be different) I told him, everyone is different in there own way, and that is ok. If everyone was the same the world would be kind of boring. And everyone is unique in there own way. I don't want him to develop a complex because of this, I know he is worried about what everyone will think of him if he is ADD or bipolar, especially his friends. I can relate to how he feels, as I still feel the same way about people knowing I have bipolar. Well, I guess that all for now. Thanks again for all your info, I appreciate it.
Vicki
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