A trial of Coke

Since starting back at school after the break, Ethan has been struggling way more than he ever has before with attention, focus, and following impulse-control rules. Homework can take 2-3 hours to do 2 pages--Chad says Ethan's EXACTLY like he was as a kid, so there's hope, but it's tough to parent right now! His teacher has infinite patience with him and even she is at her wits end. So I heard about another kid who has significant attention-problems, and how the teacher has solved it all with buying him a Mountain Dew each morning--the caffeine acts as a stimulant, and just like ADHD meds, has the opposite effect on someone with ADHD. So in desperation, I thought we might try a similar experiment. I mean, if I could solve all of Ethan's problems with a coke every morning??? How great! So I tried it for several days, but kept forgetting to tell Chad about it, since he's usually out running during breakfast. So one day he come home from his run and asked Ethan why on earth he was drinking a coke for breakfast. Ethan said, "Mom thinks it will help me behave better in school." Chad asked, "So, is it working?" Ethan grinned and said, "I don't think so, but it sure tastes good!"

And he's right-it's not making any difference. So he's set up to have an assessment by a "Educational Psychologist" when we're down in Joburg in March to follow up with his endocrinologist. I have no idea what that will involve--sounds a little scary to me. I was really against the idea of meds and a formal diagnosis for him. But it's affecting him in school because he can't get his work done, and it's not healthy for him to have his teachers and us always frustrated with him. So we'll go for the assessment, and we'll see what she says. And even if medications are suggested, we can try them and then stop if they don't work or make him a zombie. So I'm feeling ok about it all. But with all these appointments with different specialists, it makes me realize that I do prefer to be on the other side of the exam room!