Since the start of secondary, my 14 year old DD has never settled. She has always struggled academically and we have always thought there was something 'wrong', for wont of a better word.
She has been through various hoops in the medical profession and promptly discharged for not having a great enough need for intervention/diagnosis. As a baby, she was very unsettled, a very poor sleeper, difficult to wean.
As a toddler, she was referred for speech therapy for being unable to respond to simple questions or follow a conversation, despite being able to talk on her own terms. She was also referred to a paediatrician for resistance to potty training, severe constipation resulting from fear of the toilet.
At infant school, she read quite well out loud but failed to understand vocabulary and learn pronunciation explained to her a multitude of times. She would misspell words right in front of her, spelling them correctly in one sentence and wrong the next. When she developed anxiety on year 2, they got an EP in who said she was 2 yrs behind but had a spiky profile, with visual perception off the scale. The teacher had thought she simply did not listen.
At junior school, the had her on the 2x tables for 3 yrs. In year 5, she had an EP called in again, who said there was 'nothing wrong with her and just needed attention.' They did 1-to-1 in Maths every lesson for 10 minutes which massively helped.
She was generally happy at juniors despite her struggles, with lots of friends. I sent her to an all girls' school with a v good reputation. I thought boys would distract her as she always had poor concentration.
Outwardly, if you met her, you would not see evidence of her academic struggles. She was and still is lively, chatty and verbally articulate and sometimes seems astute beyond her years..
Her academic work is slightly better but self esteem is on the floor and she has few friends and regular fall outs. She is physically and mentally immature and the gap has widened. The girls are often awful to her, taking advantage of her kindness. Sometimes she does annoy them or, in her own words, acts weird.
Her mental health has deteriorated. She has developed OCD and a fear of vomiting so extreme that she stopped eating regular meals for 2 mths. She is currently undergoing CBT. We are not making headway yet bu tthe interesting thing was that the therapist picked up on her problems straightaway, asking 'can you concentrate?' and noticed her fidgeting in the chair and taking ages to fill in the questionnaire that took me 10 mins to complete.
Can anyone tell me if this sounds familiar at all? She has had 2 ASD assessments and come back clear.
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Here are some suggested organisations that offer expert advice on SN.
SN teens and young adults
Possible ADHD/SEN?
11 replies
gandalf456 · 28/06/2018 13:43
OP posts:
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.