We took DS to the psychiatrist today, and I was so pleased that she was willing to squeeze us in (I don't know that she is even taking new patients, except that she has seen DD for so many years.) She really took our concerns seriously, and we are hopeful we will be able to find some answers soon.
To start, she put him on Abilify, and recommended some Sensory Integration therapy or EMDR therapy. The Abilify is a very low dose (2.5 mg), and hopefully this will give him some sense of control. He actually seemed relieved to be getting something to help - I think this was worrying him even more than he has admitted. Maybe even just feeling like he's getting somewhere will help somewhat. We've warned him, though, that there are no guarantees, and we may have to do some trial and error before we have the right solution for him.
She also recommended EMDR Therapy - I'd heard of it before, but don't really know much about it. If anybody has some experience with it, please let me know what you thought.
We spent the weekend camping with friends not far from home, and had a great time. Their kids are 2, 3 1/2, and 5. I know they appreciated that our older children could act as supervisors and entertainers for their kids at the nearby playground. By Sunday morning, DS commented, "Little kids exhaust me!" Cause of course he's so old at 10!
I was thrilled when DD made a gender appropriate, age appropriate friend at camp (another 11-yr-old girl), and was enjoying the standard giggly girl relationship. She hasn't had much of this, as she has been the outsider in many of the cliques at school.
This week I am working from home while DS reads, does schoolwork, or cleans house. He's not thrilled about his list of chores, but I figure he needs to do something with his time, and playing is not one of the options. Now if only I could get the, "Mom, mom, mom, mom...." reflex under control!
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3 comments:
My kids have done the EMDR therapy. It's quite interesting and I do think it was beneficial to them.
I also have a friend who used EMDR and was absolutely thrilled with her resuls.
I have done several papers on it for school; if you'd like to read them, I can definitely pass them on to you.
I still don't quite understand how EMDR works, but it did work for one of my sibs and I know several other families who have had good results with it.
That is a teeny tiny dose of Abilify. I wouldn't be surprised if your doc increases it for your ds (my ds is 7 and is on 5x that dose). It can really be a help with aggression for kids (it has been for my son).
I have had some EMDR and find it relieving. I believe it would help my ds as well. At the very least, I don't think it could do any harm.
Corey
www.watchingthewaters.wordpress.com
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