For the past couple of weeks, my son D has been out of control! He has shown total disregard for the standing house rules, he's been a tyrant at school and has just all around been a knucklehead! There has been countless times when This Man and his mother have sat down with him and attempted to figure out what was going on and how we could work to correct any problems, but the pleas have for the most part, fallen upon his deaf ears. And then just as I'm at the point of bashing his skull in out of frustration, This Man has to stop, take a breath and realize that some of the things, while simple to you and me, are completely out of his control.
My son, D was diagnosed with ADHD back when he was in kindergarten. Immediately, something needed to be done. While initially, I was against having him put on medication, his mother eventually got me to see that it would be the best thing for him. All This Man could picture was my son being doped up on Ritalin or something hardcore! It wasn't something that I would want to fathom.
So after some research and some convincing by his mother, This Man did come around and we had D put on Adderall XR.
By the time This Man returned from overseas, I could see a noticeable diffence instantly. His teachers would remark on the change in his behavior also. For the next two years, he remained on the same dosage with no problems. The standing house rule was that D would not have his medication on weekends and whenever he went to visit his grandmother, she would also lay off on his taking the medicine. Everything was great!
Up to this point, D was tolerable. He was focusing in school and he was in control of his behavior. While there were still times when he would loose focus or interest in certain tasks, we were able to whip him back into line.
Needless to say, This Man and my son's mother had become comfortable with him and his medication.
Until recently.
To begin, This Man has one golden rule with D and that's always be honest. It's my belief that everything thing bad or evil can be centered, even pointed back to telling a lie. In my opinion, there is no evil deed greater than telling a lie. So I can't even begin to elaborate on how This Man is forever stressing to D how important it is to always be honest. Everything else comes second to, or stems from, being honest.
To me, if you're honest in what you do or say, it cancels out all other evils. But that's just This Man, right?
But I digress. We'd reached a point, where my son had began to lie constantly! He would blantly disregard rules set for him. He could never complete any task assigned to him--neither at home or school. And his behavior--he'd become a flat out tyrant!
And just when everything had either been taken away from him in punishment, he'd been whipped more times than I care to think about and he was continuing to lie, This Man and D's mother agreed that it was time for medical intervention. So today, the three of us were at his doctor's office. All of his vitals were great and he's showing signs of healthy growth and proper weight gain. Dr.V was genuinely concerned when we stressed to her that D had reached a point where his behavior was becoming a problem again. When she questioned my son, he showed some inability to express a simple thought without wondering or fading off. When the doctor begin to consult with us, the parents, This Man could observe D's growing boredom and restlessness.
In a unanimous decision, the three adults agreed to up his medication.
So while I type this, D is on the floor of the workstation area, completing his classwork (he was so restless in class and unable to stay on task that the work didn't get completed). He's not bouncing off the walls, thank goodness but This Man thinks that it's partially due to the fact that it's late and he's exhausted. Tomorrow will probably be a day of observation, but This Man is optimistic. D's an awesome boy and I know that as long as This Man and his mother stays hot on his ass, he will definitely grow into the fantastic, honest man that This Man dreams he will become.
Mahalo