One of the “fun” aspects about having a child with ADHD (in Ricki’s case, in addition to her Down syndrome) is the need to give them their medicine before they go to school.
Ricki has what I call the Dafkanik (Hebrew for “on purpose”) form of ADHD. She is not hyper-active (although she is definitely not the typical laid-back type of kid with DS). Rather, she is “dafkah”: eager to start up with anyone and everyone. Without her medication, at home, Ricki can sometimes be “OK”. CAN. Usually she will start pushing, and trying to aggravate me, if I forget to give her the Concerta (a long-term release form of Ritalin) – and that behavior will prompt me to remember her meds. If I forget to give her the Concerta on a school morning…. well, that’s asking for trouble. In the school’s noisy, boisterous atmosphere, Ricki without Concerta tends to be a terror. She can push others over, scribble on other students’ notebooks, and the like. I have warned her aid that if Ricki looks aggressive, she should phone me and check if Ricki received her medication.
The good thing is that since our mornings fit in a fairly regular routine, I usually remember to give her the medicine. And if I am expecting a hectic or unusual start to the day, I will often post myself a reminder. The “rub” are those days that are a bit different. And this morning was one of them. Ricki had gotten up early. I helped her here and there with finding a skirt to wear, made her an egg for breakfast, and seeing that she was fine, sat down at the computer for a few moments of work. Suddenly I realized that Ricki had to be downstairs in 10 minutes for her ride to school. I finished brushing her hair (she wanted pig tails, and needs help with that), and as she was giving me a “goodbye” hug (yes, we are still having 3-minute hugs), she suddenly gave a “war whoop”. “OYY!! THE MEDS!!!”, I remembered. She quickly received them and was out the door. If I had remembered just a few minutes later, it would have been
“OYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Ricki has what I call the Dafkanik (Hebrew for “on purpose”) form of ADHD. She is not hyper-active (although she is definitely not the typical laid-back type of kid with DS). Rather, she is “dafkah”: eager to start up with anyone and everyone. Without her medication, at home, Ricki can sometimes be “OK”. CAN. Usually she will start pushing, and trying to aggravate me, if I forget to give her the Concerta (a long-term release form of Ritalin) – and that behavior will prompt me to remember her meds. If I forget to give her the Concerta on a school morning…. well, that’s asking for trouble. In the school’s noisy, boisterous atmosphere, Ricki without Concerta tends to be a terror. She can push others over, scribble on other students’ notebooks, and the like. I have warned her aid that if Ricki looks aggressive, she should phone me and check if Ricki received her medication.
The good thing is that since our mornings fit in a fairly regular routine, I usually remember to give her the medicine. And if I am expecting a hectic or unusual start to the day, I will often post myself a reminder. The “rub” are those days that are a bit different. And this morning was one of them. Ricki had gotten up early. I helped her here and there with finding a skirt to wear, made her an egg for breakfast, and seeing that she was fine, sat down at the computer for a few moments of work. Suddenly I realized that Ricki had to be downstairs in 10 minutes for her ride to school. I finished brushing her hair (she wanted pig tails, and needs help with that), and as she was giving me a “goodbye” hug (yes, we are still having 3-minute hugs), she suddenly gave a “war whoop”. “OYY!! THE MEDS!!!”, I remembered. She quickly received them and was out the door. If I had remembered just a few minutes later, it would have been
“OYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
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ReplyDeleteTo the author of deleated messages. I received your comments through email notification of comments. Right now I am not comfortable with giving out my email, simply as I have no way to varify if you are who you say you are. (Can't be too carefull on the net....) Thanks for your offer of mom's articles. But Baruch HaShem I am pretty steady. Hope to see more of you here!
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