To Medicate or Not to Medicate...

To Medicate or Not to Medicate...
Today I have been struggling with whether or not to call Evan's psychologist...In February of last year he was diagnosed with a Reading Disability by Millard Public Schools, and he began to be serviced by special education. This was the BIGGEST blessing, and since he began so early in his school career, he made great strides. It made me want to kiss the ground our house is built on, since I know from experience that if we lived in OPS, he would not have received services or even testing yet. (But I will try not to digress into my feelings on the evilness of OPS...) They also said that he was being affected by "something else", something that was contributing to the Reading Disability. Since they are not doctors, they couldn't make a diagnosis, and sent us to a psychologist they recommended. Let's call her Dr. S.Dr. S is the rudest woman I have ever met, and has no business working with children. She had Evan, who is normally a happy go lucky child, dissolved into tears within 5 minutes of the start of his evaluation. He has never before done this at a doctors. Not even when he previously went to a psychologist to work on the effects of the abuse his wonderful biological father dealt him. This of course was a red flag to us. Later in phone conversations, she actually said to me that "Evan's teacher hates him and just wants him out of the classroom". Now, I work in the classroom next to Evan's Kindergarten teacher. She is the SWEETEST woman you will ever find in a Kindergarten classroom, who treated him with such love and respect that I constantly feel blessed to work with her, and to have had the immense pleasure of having her teach my child. Evan can be quite challenging, but she dealt with him extremely well. I know this from watching her with my own eyes. This was a very LARGE red flag. Anyway, she eventually diagnosed him with a Nonverbal Learning Disorder. We paid $700 out of pocket for Evan's 45 minutes in hell with Dr. S.Next, she recomended that Evan start medication. I have seen the immense benefits of this with many of my students, and have had a gut feeling since Evan was 2 that someday he would need this. So, we went ahead. She put him on an antidepressant. Within 2 days of starting the medication, Evan turned into the devil child. He has very few behavior issues at home, so this was a huge change for him. I was horrified, and felt devastated that I had helped do this to him. Evan was very depressed (ironically) because he was out of control of his own body, and knew he was doing things he shouldn't. Meanwhile, I am reading a book she suggested on Nonverbal Learning Disorders that she told me would be beneficial. I am recognizing none of the symptoms these children have in my own son. So, I called her, told her I was taking him off the medicine, and that it was horrible. She said, "Maybe we have misdiagnosed him. Perhaps,he has ADHD instead and we should try one of those medications." Is this a crap shoot? She told me to call her back at the end of the summer and we would try a new medication.Obviously, I don't trust this woman. Can we afford $700 a pop as we doctor hop trying to find someone who knows what they are doing? No. I am AGONIZING over this decision, especially since I want 1st grade (such a crucial year) to be a success for him.