Testing Josiah...

Josiah has been a true handful lately. I love this little boy to death and he's as adorable as ever...that's his saving grace. ;-) Anyway, all kidding aside, the behavioral therapists have said that they feel that we're missing a link of the puzzle and he has them stumped as well. The medicine that he's on isn't helping...he's still majorly hyper, loud, agressive, and destructive, and goes into rages when he doesn't want to have to do something or we put him in time out for certain things. He doesn't think that he has to listen and he's getting very argumentative. It may not sound like much to read what he's like, but he's really been trying us lately and trying to manage him some days is really difficult. I was so relieved to see that the behavioral therapists were seeing the same things that I was and that I wasn't just being told "well, he's 3 and he's a boy...boys are loud and play different than girls." I have 2 brothers that are 12 and 14 years younger than me and one of them was hyper and later diagnosed with ADHD. Josiah tops my brother at that age and I just feel that something isn't right. We're going to do a 2-hour home visit next week for them to observe him in his normal elements and then the following week I'm going to bring him up for his cognitive assessments with various therapists. I'm hoping that we can finally start to get some answers. I've been reading about so many things lately and the symptoms overlap on so many things, it makes me wonder how they can diagnose these kids with a certain diagnose. He's been diagnosed with ADHD and ODD already, but the stimulant medications haven't been helping...they're wondering if he doesn't have a mood disorder (possible bi-polar...although it's too early for him to firmly diagnose him with that. Then again, they think with the Risperdal that he takes, we shouldn't be seeing him fall into these rages that he's so prone too. A friend talked to me about him maybe having RAD and I've been reading a lot about that. I'm thinking it's a real possibility. Andy's not convinced as all the symptoms don't point to him, but the majority of them too. I also found a website that said that a lot of co-dx's go with RAD..some being ADHD, bi-polar, and sensory integration disorder (which Josiah also has pretty badly), and PTSD. I know I have to be patient and see what the testing says...I just want to be able to help him now and the best way that we can. In the meantime, I'll keep persisting with his diet changes and just know that I am trying to heal his gut in the meantime.