I have aa 7 yr old girl- beautiful, smart, etc.
has out of control temper tantrums, impulsive behavoir etc.

She has a counselor the past two years- who suggested "she has a problem whether it is bipolar, adhd, oppositional defiant etc" she was not sure. She suggested psychosocial testing- it is based on yourincome $1000.00 was my fee/ They do not consider I left a marraige in debt, have about $200.00 left after paying bills, etc. So I cannot afford the testing she needs for a diagnosis.

Her school thinks her behavoir is normal fo rher age- she talks alot in class, she has pushed several kids during unstructured times- like pe and lunch, she has even scratched a students arms- her response was "i got mad and he was the closest"

I have tried every behavoir modification I read- the marble system, timeouts, priviledges, 1-2-3 magic- none of it works.

Her pediatrician had the teachers and babysitters filled out papers and return them- her rating were not consistened with adhd but OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER. but suggested I send her to a psychiatrist which is not covered by my insurance at all- again everyone I cehcked with is $100.00 and over a visit.

Is there any help of places anyone can suggest? Dad is not involved ( another long story I will post elsewhere) It seems like she needs help and I cannot find it anywhere or I cannot afford it. Now I know why some many children fall through the cracks in the health system- if your financial status is poor there seems to be no help.

I'm not sure how much help this will be but i've always read that there are some things out there in food that can make a child act out. Red die 5 I think is one. I'm sure that there is more too. My daughter use to act out a lot(she's a little younger though 6) and I really started watching her diet and it's seemed to help a little. I really hope that everything works out for you and your daughter. Remember kids really like consistantsy!

quote:

Originally posted by atwitsend:
I have aa 7 yr old girl- beautiful, smart, etc.
has out of control temper tantrums, impulsive behavoir etc.

She has a counselor the past two years- who suggested "she has a problem whether it is bipolar, adhd, oppositional defiant etc" she was not sure. She suggested psychosocial testing- it is based on yourincome $1000.00 was my fee/ They do not consider I left a marraige in debt, have about $200.00 left after paying bills, etc. So I cannot afford the testing she needs for a diagnosis.

Her school thinks her behavoir is normal fo rher age- she talks alot in class, she has pushed several kids during unstructured times- like pe and lunch, she has even scratched a students arms- her response was "i got mad and he was the closest"

I have tried every behavoir modification I read- the marble system, timeouts, priviledges, 1-2-3 magic- none of it works.

Her pediatrician had the teachers and babysitters filled out papers and return them- her rating were not consistened with adhd but OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER. but suggested I send her to a psychiatrist which is not covered by my insurance at all- again everyone I cehcked with is $100.00 and over a visit.

Is there any help of places anyone can suggest? Dad is not involved ( another long story I will post elsewhere) It seems like she needs help and I cannot find it anywhere or I cannot afford it. Now I know why some many children fall through the cracks in the health system- if your financial status is poor there seems to be no help.

I know here in Indiana there is a list of providers that doing sliding income scales and you can apply for the HAP program for mental health coverage (I think it subsidizes or something). Does your daughter qualify for medical coverage through the state? I would try to get her on the state even if you have to pay like $15 a month to have non-traditional medicaid for her then they would cover the visits.

I'm very sorry....I do understand. I have a child like this myself and he is only 4. I'm just beginning the road you are on.

At the risk of catching a lot of **** from people I need to say something then you guys can all jump right down my throat....lol.

I mentioned in another thread that it's my opinion that children are over-diagnosed these days. People don't normally start to exhibit symptoms of major mental illnesses until at least after puberty. The body takes on so many changes in such a short time, it's amazing more of us aren't locked up in the cereal bowl with the rest of the fruit loops. I know I didn't start having symptoms of my Bipolar Effective Disorder until I was 25 and embarked on a 4 year roller coaster landing in the hospital with suicide attempts several times in those 4 years.

I've been doubting myself over the past few weeks given Katie's violent episodes but since she "started", I understand WHY it was happening. This is absolutely NOT an excuse for her behavior but it does explain it and I can better deal with it now. A lot of it has to do with her father falling off that 100ft high pedestal she's had him on all her life. She got to see some things she'd never seen from him when he told her he didn't want her baby brother in his house another day even though it was 40 some degrees in here. She's not dealing well with finding out her father can sometimes be a very selfish ******* when the mood strikes him.

Both things we've been dealing with are environmental and not related to mental health issues at all. I mean I know I want to rip somebody's head off for a couple days every 4 weeks or so and I've had 22 years to learn to control those feelings.

Ok so go ahead, fire away.....lol. It wouldn't be the first time I've been attacked for verbalizing these opinions and it most certainly won't be the last.

I completely understand- I agree alot of kids are overdiagnosed. Some of the things that upset her are normal every day stressors- that "everyone" eventually has to deal with in life. It is the unsafe way she deals with them. She is either going to hurt herself or hurt someone else. that is why I feel like she needs help.

You are absolutely correct- my daughter's father has alot to do with her actions and feelings. But if she cannot verbalize them ( she is only 7) she needs help doing that also. teh counselor is helping in that regard but what if it is something she cannot control- something internal beyond therapy needing medicine.

I am struggling in my mind whether or not medicine is what she needs. what if the medicine is harmful to her in the long run? What if I put her on medicine too soon without trying everything? My thing right now is I need professional help to help me decide that-- where do I find that on a limited income.

quote:

Originally posted by BASICALLYAMY:
At the risk of catching a lot of **** from people I need to say something then you guys can all jump right down my throat....lol.

I mentioned in another thread that it's my opinion that children are over-diagnosed these days. People don't normally start to exhibit symptoms of major mental illnesses until at least after puberty.

Actually most of the autism signs are found much much much earlier in children and generally autism in my experience is recognizable by 8 at the latest. I do agree that ADD, ADHD and other depression/anxiety disorders are over diagnosed too early on, but not aspergers, autism and other similar mental handicaps.

Not going to jump down your throat....just needed to correct the "puberty" section of your statement.

Oh I know Autism can be diagnosed as early as 3 years old these days. I'm talking about mental health issues like mine and schizophrenia, etc. My nephew was diagnosed with Asperger's (sp?) Syndrome a couple years ago. I also completely believe that sociopaths are born not made. Since my mother is a sociopath (she does have a diffinitive diagnoses of this) I have first hand experience with that.

Sorry atwitsend I totally missed your post. Therapy is a wonderful idea and I think we all need it at some point in our lives. Divorce and visitation schedules are just not something we're hard-wired to deal with at such young ages so it's not surprising at all when kids deal with these issues wrongly. They just don't know how to deal with them. Therapy is a fantastic tool to help you and your child. Medications don't make things better but they do help people through the worst of their problems until they're better equipped to deal with them. I, like you, would think long and hard about medicating one my kids and, personally, I would wait a few months to see if therapy is helping and if not, well medication is certainly an option. This is just my opinion though and I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do. I take mine and somebody else's share of meds....lol and I hate every last one of them but if I choose to go off them, then I'll most likely lose my kids. So I'm the first person who will tell you that sometimes meds are a necessity not an option. The problem with psych meds is it's an art not a science. Every person is different and will respond to different meds in different ways. It took 2 years to find the right balance of meds at first and it's taken ANOTHER 2 years to find them again since I had Ryan.