Grace has been doing so much better as of late. The work with the biochemist has help her to mostly eliminate any of the digestive issues that we have battled for 5 years. She doesn't have the stomach aches and other issues that plagued her.
However, Grace did not have the full reduction of ADHD symptoms that we had hoped for. We have come to terms with this reality. We have tried every option that we know of and have finally had to accept that when there are neurological complications...supplements and behavioral interventions are not necessarily enough. We are very pleased that with the supplements, dietary, and behavioral interventions she is able to be maintained on a once a day dose of ADHD medication. For some reason she needs to have it in the morning to seem to get on track for the day. Mornings are not nearly as bad as they used to be and we know that the other interventions have given significant reduction in behaviors but we still make sure we get her medication in her right away in the a.m! Oddly enough, she does not need another dose after it wears off right after lunch time. Why she does so much better in the afternoons and evenings is strange. We assume that the supplements/nutritional changes have given her that much benefit.
What has become sadly clear though, now that we have her behaviors as under control as we can possibly hope they will ever be, is that we realize just how disrupted her focus and attention is. This is having huge effects on her academic progress as she is in kindergarten this year. We make sure we complete her school in the morning while her medication is helping, but even so we get about 10 - 15 minutes of a "window" to give information before the window is closed to instruction (per subject). Even then, recall is poor at a later time or even with a 30 second distraction. The computer has been so incredibly helpful in teaching her because it is immediate gratification (click a button and get an immediate response instead of waiting for her siblings to give their answers and me talk, etc). We are seeing many of the learning struggles in her that we see in Superman. That feels, quite honestly, very overwhelming at this time. We will be having her further assessed, although at this time I am trying to discern what all we should have her tested for.
What is the upside to all of this (since this seems like a kind of up and down report)? We have finally gotten to get to see a glimpse of who Grace is. She is maternal. She is loving. She cares that others are happy and involved. She loves, loves, loves to be held and rocked. She LOVES to laugh and be tickled. She loves physical activity and being outdoors. She is girly, girly, girly and thinks fixing hair and dressing up is a riot. She absolutely cannot wait to be a mommy (WE CAN WAIT!!!!!! lol) and always has dolls dressed up around her whom she is "mothering."
(DOSE OF REALITY: she tries to make everyone be a "player" in her fantasy that we call "Grace's World" and doesn't seem to understand that other people actually have their opinions about what to do, when to do it, how to do it, etc. But, hopefully more empathy will develop in time:)
In the meantime, we are enjoying a very happy and joyful little girl who is making progress, can sit still for periods of time and complete a task, who doesn't always act before thinking, who isn't sick all of the time, who is finally gaining weight, and who LOVES to sing praises to Jesus:)
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