Not sure if this is the right place to post this...
We have a referral to a developmental pediatrician for ds1 soon for an assessment. We have been having an extremely difficult time with extreme mood swings, violent outbursts, very defiant behaviour, tons of hitting, kicking, screaming, etc. We've tried lots of "alternative" stuff, read tons of books, you name it, and we aren't getting anywhere... in fact it's getting worse. It's been about a year and a half of this, constantly.
The thing is, he's really a very sweet and sensitive kid inside - I just don't get to see that side of him very much.
My best friend who is training to be a homeopath has been treating him for about a year, and she is also a nurse on the psych unit at the local children's hospital. She has been a GREAT resource for us but definitely thinks that a full workup is in order by now. She thinks that he may be bipolar, and I have to say that so much of what I have read about it sounds very much like ds. At the same time I'm not convinced that having an actual diagnosis is really going to help that much, or change anything, yk?
Just wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what is involved in an assessment? I imagine we will be going for a psych evaluation at some point too, I'm not sure how much overlap there is with that and a developmental pediatrician's assessment though.
Thanks
We have a referral to a developmental pediatrician for ds1 soon for an assessment. We have been having an extremely difficult time with extreme mood swings, violent outbursts, very defiant behaviour, tons of hitting, kicking, screaming, etc. We've tried lots of "alternative" stuff, read tons of books, you name it, and we aren't getting anywhere... in fact it's getting worse. It's been about a year and a half of this, constantly.
The thing is, he's really a very sweet and sensitive kid inside - I just don't get to see that side of him very much.
My best friend who is training to be a homeopath has been treating him for about a year, and she is also a nurse on the psych unit at the local children's hospital. She has been a GREAT resource for us but definitely thinks that a full workup is in order by now. She thinks that he may be bipolar, and I have to say that so much of what I have read about it sounds very much like ds. At the same time I'm not convinced that having an actual diagnosis is really going to help that much, or change anything, yk?
Just wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what is involved in an assessment? I imagine we will be going for a psych evaluation at some point too, I'm not sure how much overlap there is with that and a developmental pediatrician's assessment though.
Thanks
