I always knew that there was something different from Andrew. From the time he was born he was an extremely high needs child to say the least. He had colic and would scream from 10 pm-4 am until we both passed out from exhaustion. This went on for a month. Next came toddlerhood. He was a little engine with a non-stop motor and an insatiability for things he loved. Once he got into something it was *extremely* difficult to get him to transition to the next thing. For instance if he was playing with a toy he loved, there was no distracting him to get him to trade for a new toy. If we were at the park he would not want to leave, period. One book I read said, "Let your child get their fill and they will want to go onto the next thing." So we stayed one day for 4 hours. I finally picked him up screaming, that was the way we left the park every day.
To aggravate the situation he is a beautiful boy who is big for his age. Therefore everyone thinks that he is at least a year older than his actual age.
Our son is 8 years old as of May 2009. He is incredibly sweet and kind natured. His is amazing at gross motor sports and picks them up incredibly fast. He is challenged however at small motor skills and has great difficulty writing.
He was attending public school until 3 months ago when we pulled him out. His 2nd grade teacher was focused on handing out worksheets, grading them and then believing that a child was just being lazy when they "chose" not to work. She repeatedly flicked my son as well as two other boys' hands, repeatedly for poor handwriting which she chided was "not improving." His self-esteem was plummeting quickly in her class. We only wished we had acted sooner to pull him out.
Although our son is incredibly friendly, always has been, he sometimes misses social cues and that was beginning to become evident this past year.
In addition to being diagnosed with ADHD, he has Sensory Integration Dysfunction. This would explain why he has always covered his ears when a loud noise happens. He covers his ears while he plays basketball in fear of the whistle being blown. To you and I what would be a little bump is extremely painful for him. I used to joke that you'd never know if he scratched himself or broke his leg. You just have to have a child who has this in order to fully understand, if you do then you know what I mean.
