John's ADHD Herbal Treatment

There are so many objective things that have demonstrated that this herbal treatment for John's ADHD is working.

In the last week alone he has started to gain weight and he is not constantly eating.

Anyone with children who have ADHD will tell you that their hyperactivity burns an awful lot of calories. It is difficult to get the child to maintain a decent weight without using supplements.

John has not only gained weight, he has also cut his intake.

Having Autism and ADHD is quite a combination. I have a son who flaps vigorously. Or should I say, I HAD a son that flapped vigorously.

His flapping has reduced significantly. It is now possible for him to watch his favourite movie without the hand movements and the jumping up and down. It certainly makes watching television more pleasant for everyone else.

Transitioning has always been a problem for John. If he was concentrating on something and you asked him to do something else, you would get him screaming, slapping the back of his head and a nasty meltdown.

Since he started week 6 on Friday. I can honestly say that I have not seen a major meltdown from John. Occasionally like when the power went out tonight while he was watching a DVD, he objected verbally but when I explained about the lightning storm and asked him just to turn it back on, he did. There was no screaming, nothing.

I asked him to help me take out the trash on Monday night. He asked if he could play on the swing on the way out and I asked him to wait until we had done the trash.
He did!

Not only that but when I asked him to come inside 10 minutes later, he hopped off the swing and followed me in without a murmur.

Subjectively, and this is probably the odd one and I will try and download the photos from my camera in the next two days and post one here, his smile changed.

Ordinarily when I have taken a photo of John, I have got the mouth full of teeth "Cheese" smile.

I took a photo of him on Saturday and it was a regular smile. It makes his whole face look different.

Even his respite worker thinks that he is improving so it is not just my view point.

As time goes by apparently with this herbal treatment, his behaviour will continue to improve and it also works on the symptoms for Autism, so the flapping will improve as will the social skills and the eye contact etc.

It all looks great so far and there have been no side effects.
Later.

Treatments For John's ADHD

Well, we are currently just passed week 5 of John's herbal treatment for ADHD and I have to say without a doubt that it is working.

We had a swingset put in at the end of the week and unfortunately due to the rain, the kids have not been able to play on it.

I explained to John on Friday that it had been set in concrete and we had to wait for it to dry.

He asked me what concrete was and accepted my explanation and went off to find something else to do.

In the past this would have led to me getting screamed at and slapped and him smacking the back of his head and pulling on my clothes. It would also have meant that there would have been multiple assaults on the windows leading to the backyard and him trying to pick the keys out of my pocket for the rest of the evening.

His flapping has seriously decreased to the point where he watches his favourite program and is just sitting there with no movement.

He came and asked me today if I would help him bake a cake which we did together but the best part was when I pulled it out of the oven and asked him to wait until it cooled so we could ice it.

HE DID!!!!!

Woohoo.

A few minutes ago he asked his sister Rachel if she would play garbage trucks with him.

It is a role play game that he made up from watching a Backyardigans movie. He Made It Up.

Unheard of for an Autistic kid with the degree of Autism that he has.

He is doing absolutely bloody marvelous.!

He looked outside and saw it was raining this morning and said "Guess that means we can't play on the swing set today, oh well".

How sweet is that!

At last, a little light at the end of the tunnels.

It is not only dealing with his ADHD but also with the Autism symptoms.
Yahoo.

Good Days and Bad Days

Kathleen was fairly convivial this morning but she threw the most major tantrum at lunchtime.

She was at the table with her sisters eating then decided that she didn't like me to sit at the side of the table where I was feeding Eric, she wanted me to sit at the top.

So she pushed and climbed up on the chair behind me and shoved me with her feet and screamed some.

When I finished feeding Eric, I moved to the seat that she wanted me to sit in.

All was well for a few minutes then she noticed that there was a dining room chair in front of the computer so she got up to bring it to the table.

She couldn't get the chairs to go into the table together and started to get very frustrated and started screaming. Our attempts to help her to get the chairs to fit failed and she just went bright red and then she started biting her arm.

She did this a couple of times before finally giving up and running off.

It was one of the saddest moments of my life. Never had I felt such despair and I began to wonder if this was it.

If this was the best that we were ever going to have.

Even now as I type this I am crying again.

I just want so desperately to help her and she was doing so well and has come so far with her Autism over the past year and now to start biting herself. Where does it end?

I am more than a little despondent at this time.

No doubt tomorrow I will pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. But for today, I think I will allow the tears.
Later.

Still Working With John and His ADHD

It is now 4 weeks since John started on the herbs for his ADHD.
It apparently, because it is an herb, does not kick in until week 5.

Already I have noticed that on some occasions when he would flap in the past, he has not been.
I am getting more gibberish but then also, when I sit him down to do his homework, he is appearing to be more focussed which is nice.

Next week we will see whether it is really making a difference.

I bought a two month supply so I should be able to know by then whether it is worthwhile continuing on the herbs for the ADHD or if I will have to look elsewhere.

Looking for a Natural Cure for the Symptoms of ADHD

In addition to his Autism, John has ADHD.

What a combination!

A hyperactive child who doesn't pay attention to what is going on in the real world around him.

I have tried meds for the ADHD without any success.

I tried coffee for the ADHD without any success.

That is not to say that either of these treatments won't work for ADHD. I have friends whose children's symptoms are controlled quite nicely using these modalities.

I think that each of these children respond to different treatments.

Currently I am using an herbal remedy that is meant to lessen the Autism symptoms and another to help with the ADHD.

Being herbal, it will take several weeks to kick in. We are currently on week three and he is having good days and bad days. I think that his flapping has decreased somewhat and he is doing some nice school work but it is still too early to tell if it is going to be effective or not.

This morning he decided that he was not getting in the car to go to school. We attempted to jolly him along knowing that if he was allowed to go back inside, the tantrums would increase in magnitude the next time he decided that he didn't want to go.

I can hardly wait to read today's report from his teacher.

I am thinking that I may drop in to the school this morning and see how he is doing.

They are using a lot of heavy sensory input at the school also.
Later.

Children with Autism Don't React Well to Change

Naturally enough that comment depends on the level of Autism that the child has.

Kathleen does not respond well to change.

The three nights that I spent in Bismarck were hard on her.

She went from a little girl who would jump in the bath tub and spend ages in there playing to a screaming mess each night when I would either start the water running or she saw the signs that I was getting ready to bathe them.

There is nothing that may set them off. It is simply the change in routine but if anyone has read the prior post on Kathleen and bathing, they will know that it took me probably close to 8 months of intensive, concentrated work to get her to the point where she would enjoy her bath and tolerate having her hair washed.

The night after I got back I realized that I would have to practically do it all over again.

It was a little sad to have my little girl back to screaming and wailing when the bath was turned on.

Fortunately she would agree to get in but was wailing the whole time and she would hang her head over the side of the tub.

It has taken her this long to figure out that I didn't want anything from her but to have her sit in the bath and wash herself or agree to let me do it for her.

Last night she jumped in the bath wailing but was prepared for flight at any time.

I leaned on the counter and asked Rachel to hand her the face cloth and indicated to Katy that I just wanted her to wash her face which she did.

All of a sudden she stopped the wailing. She would occasionally lean over the tub to reach for the towel to wipe the tears from her eyes but the incessant noise had stopped.

She looked over at me and gave me a quick smile and sat in the tub.

She had Rachel and Sarah in there with her and I instructed them to stop being mermaids for a wee bit which they agreed to do.

Kathleen just sat there for about 10 minutes. Occasionally she glanced my way and gave me more smiles and I got one giggle from her.

When she was ready she hopped out and we played the cuddle game which she loves.

Hopefully tonight she will be better again. It just takes a lot of time and patience and of course with children with the degree of Autism that Kathleen has it may take a little while so you just have to persevere.

I would rather have the children want to do a task than force them and have them hate every second of it. It can be done.

Later.

Summer is Coming

Less than 3 weeks till summer vacation.
I have to come up with some neat stuff to keep the inmates from getting bored.

It is hard to organize play dates for children with Autism. Not a lot of other parents think of inviting your children to their houses to play with their kids.
It is kind of a shame really as John would like to play with other children but being Autistic, he doesn't have the skills to initiate a freindship.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough of the other parents around here to develop a relationship with them that would foster reciprocal visits.

Yes it is true that my children being Autistic have a few idiosyncrasies but they are not leppers and they are not dangerous, they just sometimes do somethings differently.

They love to kick around a ball, they love to ride bikes and they love to play tag.
Just like any other kid.

They may not talk as well as some of the children around here, but they are not mean spirited and they will not say hurtful things. They are just children plain and simple who by an unlucky draw of nature have Autism.

I hope to get a swingset set up in the backyard before summer comes and I will call as many parents as I can think of to see if any of them want to send their children over here to play and hopefully that will break up the monotony of the long summer.

Sometimes it is hard to get things done around the house as I am only one woman and unfortunately I don't have any menfriends who can do things like fix bikes and the such. But I try to do what I can.

Hopefully my friend's husband will bring a mate to help set up the swing set or it is going to be a very interesting day I am sure.

And of course, there is always the play pools.
Later