Update - 6 Years Old and ACC.... and ADHD. O.o

Well, here we are and our kiddo is 6 years old (almost 7 in 2 months) with ACC, and now a confirmation of ADHD.


He had a little bit of a rough time in Kindergarten. But he loved his teacher. And in the end he was placed in the first grade. Mostly because he was a bit deficient in reading and he could not do all of the things that were required of him to pass, and do them with consistency.

He does however LOVE his first grade teacher. And we are actually seeing some improvement in reading. He still doesn't really want to do it. But when we sit him down and we work on it, he is reading. And he's actually doing pretty well. At this time hes reading on grade level. Its going to get a bit harder coming up, but I will take whatever we can get. I am so beyond proud of him. He is just an amazing kiddo.

ADHD
Some will try to say this isn't real. And while I do realize there is an epidemic of Doctors behaving badly, distributing medicine to kids who probably are not ADD/ADHD. In our case its a definite need. We saw a drastic (let me say that word again!) DRASTIC improvement when he started taking medication, Focalin XR. He started out with 1 5mg dose a day in Kindergarten. It helped him, but it wore off too soon. This was in Kindergarten. Now, his neurologist has him on a 5mg dose in the morning, and then another 5mg dose at Noon, and the improvement is just remarkable. While on the medication his concentration and focus are so amazing. He can actually do his work. And he really does like to do his work.
This coupled with a teacher who truly cares makes all the difference in the world. And we have 4 teachers who care!!! His school has been amazing in helping Connor. We had a great teacher in Kindergarten, and we have another remarkable teacher in 1st grade. I know we probably wont always be so lucky! But I am thanking my lucky stars for this school and these people who care, and take the time for my son. And it shows!

So here are a list of traits that I have noticed that I think are probably associated with the ACC. I hope this will be a helpful comparison for other families with kiddos looking to confirm what their ACC'rs are doing as well: * Lack of empathy. This is getting better slowly. But its taken a lot of coaching.
* Does not do well playing with Children his own age. either 2 or 3 years older, or younger. There are exceptions, mostly "neuro-typical" kiddos who are either extremely tolerant of his quirks, or kiddos who have known him and grown with him since he was a baby. They tend to overlook most everything and just go along.
* Tasks or activities don't hold his attention for long. He tends to move around between activities fairly quickly, maybe 7 to 10 minutes at any one task. Some things will hold his attention for longer than that. But most activities do not.
* Does not want to do the more mundane tasks such as showering and or getting ready for bed. He has gotten better and getting dressed on his own. But he has to have constant direction for bathing and bedtime routine.

He has grown up so much. I am starting to see this big kid emerging. He rides his bike without training wheels, and a scooter. He loves video games, and to watch his dad play video games as well. He still cuddles with me sometimes (some of my favorite moments lol). He loves to play with some of the kids in the neighborhood. and they go back and forth between each others houses. Despite some of his social problems he does do remarkably well. His newest thing is he wants to whistle so bad. He's been walking around the house bordering on hyperventilation trying to make a whistle come out! He's getting there. :) I have heard it here and there.

I will try not to wait so long to update next time.