Answers finally

Its taken 4 years since we first trotted Samuel off to a speech therapist but it seems that we might finally be getting some answers. Samuel has always had motor and verbal dyspraxia but it seems we now have a reason why we werent making any progress with his language skills - he also has attention deficit disorder (ADD). We today received the results of his educational assessment (an IQ test for all accounts and purposes) from the paediatrician. His non-language portion of the test was very normal (his score was 100 which is the average for all the results). His reasoning came in at 94 so just a touch under the average. However his scores for language and attention came in at 54 and 62 respectively, a massive difference and clinically and medically significant says his paediatrician. These results when put all together give him an IQ of 97 but due to the huge discrepancy in the results the paediatrician has declared this to be null and void, the underlying issues make the result invalid.

So where to from here. Firstly we are cancelling his speech therapy for just a little while. Because his attention is under developed there is no point in sending him along as he is not getting the full benefit. Secondly, he has been prescribed Ritalin. The name alone sends shivers down my spine and the moment the doctor said ADD I knew that this was going to be prescribed. There is so much rumour and heresay surrounding this drug I dont really know what to think of it. I've found a few books that I'm going to get and read up about it. I'm scared though that he wont be himself anymore, that he'll become withdrawn. I guess we can only wait and see.