Maybe ADHD?

When I was at home with The Boy after the Em-ster was born it was a challenge. That's putting it lightly. He was so active and so prone to melt downs and into EVERYTHING.

It was exhausting. By the time he began going to kindergarten we had it more or less under control or at least were used to our "normal". His teachers could all see that something was up and put into practice all the strategies they had at their disposal and helped to get him a psychological assessment. By the time he was in Grade 1 we had a name for his collection of symptoms: Asperger's Syndrome. Looking back 6 1/2 years later it all seemed to fall into place so nicely. At 12 1/2 The Boy is fairly calm, able to self-advocate and is pretty easy to deal with. Now that we've got him all sorted out it seems it's his sister's turn.
I thought I would share with you today my journey thus far with our second child. All seemed to be going along smoothly until this year. This year we started to see an escalation in melt downs, mood swings and trouble sleeping. At school she dazes off, has trouble finishing her work and is bouncy. It's been a stressful year for all of us and I thought it was just a compatibility problem with the teacher but after several meetings with her teacher and one with the principal it seems that's not it. It seems there's something else going on there. Like all good mothers I of course turned to my friend Google and began researching her symptoms. I began Googling all the syndromes that might explain why she behaves the way she does. I started with Asperger's but that didn't fit. I tried Bipolar Disorder, also no. Then I tried ADHD. Wow. That felt like the right fit. I researched further, took out books from the library and read everything I could. They describe her to a tee. Especially the emotional side of the disorder that I had no idea existed. I just knew about the fidgety-inattentive side. I am taking it all with a grain of salt because we don't have a diagnosis and I don't want to head in a direction of thinking in case I'm wrong. I know my girl very well though. The tact I'm taking is that information is power and if I follow some of the suggestions in these books it's not likely to hurt. Especially the ones that tell me I need to be especially calm, cool and collected with her. That I need to be aware of how situations affect her such as a trip to the grocery store or library. There are a lot of choices in these places and a lot of distractions to overwhelm her. I know that long car trips without breaks are agonizing for her and so I make sure we stop a few times. Stuff like that.

                                                     (We all have skills-this is hers ;))
This is what I know and do so far. I hope hearing about my journey will help you with your journey. On Friday I have an appointment with our family doctor to see what the first step is to get an assessment.