We’ve been having quite a bit of difficulty with our nine year old daughter this school year. She’s in fourth grade and apparently the school work load and homework load really begin to increase in this grade. She can’t seem to get her work done at school even though her teacher has been keeping her in during recess to give her a chance to complete her unfinished work. At conferences this month her teacher reported to me that my daughter manages to find other things to do, like organizing her desk during this recess study period. She avoids doing her homework at home because, in her words, she’s been at school all day and wants to play. So she managed to get three “E’s” on her report card this marking period.

The problems, unfortunately, are not just school related. She’s also avoiding; cleaning her bedroom, taking care of her laundry, taking care of her toys and her AWANA. In order to avoid all of these tasks and her homework she has had to begin lying which, of course, causes even more problems for her. Whenever I tried to discuss why these are problems with her, and explained why trust is so important, she would usually start crying and would seem very disappointed in herself.

So I finally called the pediatricians office and requested an evaluation for ADD. They informed me that before I could schedule an appointment with the doctor for an ADD evaluation, both my husband and I would each need to complete a “Conner’s Rating Scale” for our daughter and each of her teachers would also need to compete one. Once the documents were turned in, the doctor would “score” them, and then he would authorize an appointment and they would call me to set it up.

Well I was feeling quite frustrated with the whole system. Our daughter had already been struggling for months and she’s only been living with us for two and a half years so a few months is too much. Each week I would call the office to see if I could schedule an appointment yet, and each time the nurse would offer to move my daughter’s file to the top of the pile on the doctor’s desk. Finally, after about four weeks I begged one of the receptionists to let me schedule an appointment and of course, the first available was three weeks away.

Whenever I’m having a particular difficulty with a child I need to have specific dates and action plans in place to try to resolve the problem so I can stay optimistic. Today was finally our appointment and the doctor has decided to try her on a low dose of Adderall to see if it will make a difference. We go back in a month to see how it is working.
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