Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Update on Samantha

First, I apologize for the new format of this blog which won't allow me to indent paragraphs. 2012 was a pretty good year till fall came. Samantha started having trouble controlling her outbursts so we decided to pursue some help for her. Since we've gotten "help" her outbursts have gotten worse, but the doctor keeps telling us this is a celebratory effect. Strange? Well, here's the logic. Removing anxiety also removes fear of consequences and brings underlying problems to the surface. The next step is to treat the underlying condition - at this stage we're treating ADHD, inattentive subtype (traditional ADD) and if we can effectively treat it we'll have a more firm diagnosis. She's already been diagnosed with other conditions that the doctor believes are symptomatic of the ADHD - sensory processing disorder and central auditory processing disorder. ADHD is itself an overall processing problem. In Samantha's case, this probable diagnosis will not be the bottom line. ADHD is often tied to other conditions, so we'll be exploring what those are through Easter Seals and counseling. Easter Seals would diagnose any social disorder that may exist and counseling would help work through adoption issues. As parents, we see the bottom line as three-fold, the first being the function of her brain. Samantha was in foster care so we can't attribute her delays to institutional care. It's more likely that she suffered something damaging to neural development at or prior to birth. The second is emotional trauma related to her separation from her birth parents, and the third is hereditary. She may have gotten her extremely strong will from her Chinese heritage. One of the best things that has happened with medication is her use of language has improved. She's finally communicating why things bother her, and this is huge. It's been a guessing game for ten years. I could ask her questions and she could let me know if I was on track or not, but having her tell me what's really going on in her mind is amazing. Sometimes her logic is perfect and other times I'm really astounded that she could think what she does (it makes no sense at all). Either way it gives me a basis for working things out, which is still difficult but at least an option.