A blog about parenting children with ODD
When I wake up in the morning, one of my first thoughts is, what do I need to get done today? I don’t think that thought has ever gone through Aurora’s head. She is much more likely to think, what fun thing can I do today? When I tackle something on my to-do list, I […]
M&Ms are magical. Didn’t you know? In many ways, homeschooling Aurora has become a huge blessing. We school from about 9:00 am until about 1:00 pm with a break for lunch. I work with Aurora on schoolwork during her best hours of the day. We do no schoolwork during those really difficult hours of the […]
I remember joking one day with my sister-in-law that I would probably enjoy homeschooling all of my children…except for Aurora. I had tried to give her piano lessons, and it just was not a good fit. She didn’t learn well from me. Every time I tried to correct a mistake she would yell at me. […]
Discipline. This is a scary word. Everyone has opinions about how it should be done. I’m going to try to not voice an opinion on what is or isn’t appropriate discipline. Instead I will stick with what we have done and the result. From the time they were young, I used some form of time […]
Raising an ODD/ADHD child can be expensive. ADHD children cost, on average, about five times as much as neurotypical children. I’m sure there are various factors contributing to this, but in my house, one of those factors is definitely delayed memory skills. Aurora has a tendency to remove various clothing items and leave them lying […]
Among the many things my pre-children self could never have predicted I would say are various versions of “we don’t bring _____ in the house”. In fact I can distinctly remember walking into my guest bathroom one afternoon and seeing a well-laid out miniature tea party with barbie teacups and tiny saucers. And the guests […]
Of all the Harry Potter characters, I mostly closely relate to Hermione Granger. What do I do when I have a question? “When in doubt, go to the library.” I knew very little about ADHD or ODD when Aurora was diagnosed, so I set out to learn. My favorite resources still are “Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: […]
Aurora’s psychiatrist suggested we get a dog. Naturally, Aurora LOVED her psychiatrist. I wasn’t so sure…about the dog or the psychiatrist. Aurora had been asking for a dog for years. From age 3 to 4 she was more interested in cats, but then she made the switch and has never wavered. She drew pictures of […]
Around the time we began therapy with Aurora we began experimenting with her diet a little to see if anything would affect her behavior. We tried eliminating various things like sugar, red food dye, and gluten. We tried adding various things like fish oil and blueberries. We saw very little change. So about three months […]
Driving to the university where Aurora could be tested to see if she qualified for Parent Child Interactive Therapy took about 30 minutes. I was hesitantly hopeful that maybe we would be able to get the help we needed…if we could survive the drive there. “I’m not talking to anyone that I don’t want to […]