Chase

Chase was born in 2004, he was a perfect baby, hardly cried, always ate, was walking and talking early on. There were no complications with the pregnancy or the delivery. I delivered him at 37 weeks and 4 days. He was 7lbs 13oz and 19in long. He walked at 10 months, and started talking about 9months old. He was always a happy little boy. As he was growing up I noticed that his attention span was short (and me having ADHD I knew the risks of at least one of my kids ending up with it) and I took him to a pediatrician to get him tested, he was about 3yrs old at the time. The pediatrician told me that it was because he was still a toddler and not to worry about it. When he was 3 1/2 I took him to the optometrist to get his eyes done and we found out that he has a lazy eye and he will need glasses soon. As the months went on, the eye and attention got worse.

He started JK in 2008, and started having trouble at school, he was acting out, not listening and he never did his work. I let it pass as it was the beginning of the year, but as weeks went on it never got any better. SK came and it was 10 times worse. He actually ended up punching a kid in the face. I took him to the Dr. and the Dr. referred us to another pediatrician who specializes in ADHD in young kids. She had us take a test and send all information in to her. By the time we had it all sorted out it was Grade One time. The Dr. put him on VyVanse, the new drug for ADHD. We went back for a follow-up with her to see how Chase was handling the medication. He had lost 10lbs when on the VyVanse. We put him on Strattera but it didnt work very well on the low dose, so we put him up higher and his behaviour got even worse. I told the Dr. everything and she put him back on VyVanse but on a lower dose so as to stop him from losing weight. We kept him on the Strattera and added in the VyVanse and it was finally working. So now he is on both and they were working up until about 4 weeks ago, when I believe he hit a growth spurt. Now we are going to need to up the doses, which I am fine with, as long as it continues to work.

I was told by his teacher that he was not handing in his homework, he wasn't reading to me either. On his January report card, he got alot of S's for satisfactory. He only handed in 67% of his homework. I asked the school for an IPRC (Identification, Placement and Review Committee) so we could get him tested (psycho educational assessment) by the school board to see if he had a learning disability. Well the principal refused to set up a meeting and so I went higher up the chain. The school trustee ignore my pleas for a test to be done. I went back into the school and told the principal that I wanted the IPRC soon so that we could get an Individual Education Plan (IEP) in place so that Chase could start succeeding at school. Again I was refused the IPRC. I then went behind the school's back and set up a private Psych.Ed Assessment that we had to pay for out of our pocket. Thank god for insurance, the test costs $1250, the insurance covers 80% of $1000, so they cover $800. Therefore we needed to come up with $450 to cover the rest of the cost. We ended up getting it funded by a volunteer lady who does NOT work with but works FROM Parent's for Children's Mental Health. She was really nice, she volunteers and fundraises for these exact purposes.

We got the results back and it ended up that he DOES have a learning disability. He hears what is being said to him but he does not comprehend it, so he cannot work to the best of his ability. I got lots of suggestions to help him succeed at school this year and for the rest of his school years. Now that I have the results I asked the principal for another IPRC again, and was put off yet again. All I want is to go to the school and get the IEP started with my husband, my supports and myself. I would like him to go into grade 2 with the knowledge that the teacher he gets knows his problems and has the IEP so that we can get Chase back on track. I know he is smart he is just delayed a little with his auditory processing.

For Chase he will need to use a calculator all the time for math, so that he doesnt have to print it out in long form and lose interest. For reading he needs us to read to him first and then he reads it back to us, which is working out awesome. He has gone up 10 levels since January, from level 1-2 to level 11-12. Also, he needs everything to be printed out for him, computer or teacher written, so that he can read it, not get lost and do the work he needs to do. We also need to allow him to use the computer to type things out ie: homework for school or just to practice typing so that he learns how to read a word right away and not have to think about it.

All in all I am happy that he was finally diagnosed with an LD but a little sad that the principal and school support councilor didnt listen to me and that I had to go behind their backs to get him tested.