My Son & His Diagnosis

Yesterday my son Kaden was officially diagnosed with ADHD. This morning I gave him his first dose of medication. I took comfort in the fact that when speaking to the doctor yesterday his words were “I don’t want a zombie, I want the same kid, the same Kaden, just a calmer Kaden, a Kaden more able to focus.” Ok then Doc, we are on the same page.

My son finished his kindergarten school year two days ago. And he failed. Next year he has to repeat kindergarten. It took me a very long time to get him in for his evaluation, because I refused to go anywhere other than an actual evaluation center that specializes in this sort of thing. So though it was to late to help him this year, now we have the entire summer to get his medication just right and work with him to really help him succeed next year.

As for those of you who don’t believe ADHD exists, that’s it’s some sort of made up condition to excuse hyper behavior or whatever you think it might be, I would urge you to do some research, to spend some time with children like Kaden and I think you’d see it’s deeper than a discipline issue. But this isn’t about that, and so I digress.

Kaden needed this. And let me tell you I have known for a solid two years that this is where we were headed. I tried everything I could at home. I changed his diet, we gave him fidget toys, quiet time, routine structure. I attempted to work with him as I had my daughter on the alphabet and counting. I took it slow, I remained patient. And nothing. Nothing stuck, nothing worked. I will be the first to tell you I am anti-medication. I had to be dying to take cough medicine. I don’t give my kids medication for every little cough they present. I believe they have a natural immune system and it’s there to fight it. Fever and infection aside, those get medication. So for me to get here, to get to this point, to know he needs help that I can’t give him, is a big deal. It’s not a decision I came to lightly. I weighed my options, I did the research, I talked to professionals.

I didn’t throw my hands up in frustration and put my son on medication because I gave up on him. I bowed my head silently, swallowed my pride, and put my son on medication because I will never give up on him. And I will give him whatever he needs to succeed.