My son is 11, in 5th grade. He was just diagnosed with ADD, to go with existing nonerbal learning & language processing disabilities. Academics are hard, but manageable. What’s tough to watch is his difficulty with peers.
He has rigid ideas, gets upset easily, doesn’t read social cues well, is smart, but slow to follow casual peer conversations & to come up with his own words.
He is becoming more isolated, yet he wants friends. We just started him on Straterra, tho I haven’t seen any positive impact in 3 weeks. He’s done social skill training, but still seems to over-react & get upset/rigid at school, and often says/does the wrong thing.
Have your kids had similar problems? What therapies, meds, treatments, etc.
have made a difference. It’s so tough to see him be his own worst enemy.
Thanks.
Re: helping a child with social problems
That sounds like my son when he’s uncomfortable. I’ve found that with the very few kids he has friendships with he’s usually much more appropriate. We did do a year of social skill group and it helped. So has talking to him (he has great meta cognitive abilities…) I don’t have any easy answers - I try to monitor his social life so I can talk to him about issues that come up (body language, etc). Rick Lavoie talks about this in his web site also.
Re: helping a child with social problems
Our 9 year old son has the same social issues. It really breaks our heart. He also has gone through all the social training skills, etc. that you have gone through. We finally let his doctor put him on Celexa (antidepressant) and has really helped. It has helped ease up on the rigid ideas, and has been very positive. He is still super sensitive and I just think that’s just the way he’ll be. So tomorrow we are starting him on Lexapro (a “cleaner” version of Celexa) and Straterra (for his ADD.) I hate to rock the boat since the Celexa has helped with social issues but the doctor seems to think Lexapro is even better!
It is hard. Both my own sons have had similiar issues. I can’t say we found any therapy or meds that worked for this. What we did find helpful was to organize very structured social outings. Invite one child over for pizza and to watch a rented video. Take another child out to play minature golf.
It helped him establish some relationship with school peers and because it was so structured, the tense moments didn’t have a chance to happen.
Good luck.