To make the information on this page easy to follow we have split it down into Home Life, School life and details of what we think are problem foods for Andrew. To quickly go to the right part of the page use the links here. Home Life , School Life , Problem foods

We are not experts we have muddled our way along
and have at times felt that we are:

1. Wasting our time
2. Bashing our heads against a brick wall.
3. Alone

But, 

1. We have not given up.
2. We will not give up.
3. We will be strong.

We owe it to our son.
 We may not find a miracle cure but
 We will try to do what is best for him.
We intend to do this together. 

The Story so far     

Andrew is the second of our two children, he has a sister 25 months older.
He was a difficult baby always crying, always hungry and never satisfied.
The midwife commented on the marked difference between the two
children, Emma was always a happy placid baby whereas Andrew was 
always VERY demanding. Andrew developed physically at a normal rate.

Home Life

Mum was aware that there was a problem with Andrew from the day he was
born. As a toddler he was very 'clingy' not happy to be away from Mum. He didn't 
play well with other children, never settled at anything for very long. This was very
different to how his sister had been but Dad and Grandparents all kept saying 
'He's a boy' 'they're different (to girls)'.
Nobody except Mum would acknowledge that although a lot of the above is normal 
at this age, Andrew was different.
It's really only since Andrew reached the age of 9 that the family have accepted
that he does have some problems and are now offering their full support.

Andrew started medication at the age of 10 and is now able to concentrate for 
longer.

The person who spends the majority of time with a child knows that child best.

If you feel that there is something wrong with your child, persevere until you are
happy with any conclusions drawn.
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School Life

Andrew started school and his reception class teacher reported that he 
had the ability but was unable to produce the results.

Year 1 Andrew  was put into a split reception/year 1 class.
The class teacher again reported that he had the intelligence but was again
unable to produce the quantity or quality of work expected for his age and 
ability.

Year 2  Andrews teacher went off long term sick and various relief teachers
were used. One of the relief teachers highlighted her concerns to the special
needs co-ordinator, but no action was taken.

Year 3 Andrew had a mixed year but didn't really achieve anything.

Year 4 started well until the teacher went on maternity leave and relief 
teachers were used for the second half of the year. One of these was the
one who had highlighted the problems in year 2. She was again very 
concerned by Andrews lack of improvement since year 2 and a meeting was 
arranged for us and the special needs co-ordinator. A diagnosis was made 
by the co-ordinator.(Although she admitted that she was not qualified to make
a diagnosis!) She was almost certain that Andrew was dyspraxic.
We asked the school for the diagnosis to be confirmed by a qualified person
but this was refused as they felt that Andrews problems were not severe 
enough. On more than one occasion we were asked into school as Andrew
had been involved in 'inappropriate behaviour' in the playground,but school 
were still unwilling to take any action.

Year 5 Andrew had an excellent teacher and started to show some signs of
improvement. This was short-lived and by the spring was again causing
concern. We continued to push the school for a confirmed diagnosis but to
no avail. Eventually we had to go to our own GP to beg for help. She was 
more than happy to write a referral to our local child development centre for
a professional assessment.

Year 6 started and six weeks later we had a true diagnosis that Andrew 
was not dyspraxic but was in fact ADD/ADHD. Andrews teacher was the special
needs co-ordinator and we hoped that he would have a good year. However, things
were no different from previous years. We told his teacher that the paediatrician
had suggested medication and that this would be effective during morning lessons.
The teacher was not happy and felt that it was unnecessary. We insisted that he 
would be trying it and could we have some feedback in a few weeks. To our great
surprise the teacher reported much better work and concentration during morning 
lessons !!!
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Problem foods

We feel that Andrew may have a food intolerance. Although we want him to
have as normal a diet as possible we have tried to highlight what causes the
most problems for him. We have stopped Cola drinks which contain Caffeine
as he would be completely hyperactive after just one glass. Caffeine free cola
seems to be OK for him, although he prefers to drink milk to fizzy drinks.
  We are currently monitoring Andrews behaviour when he has items containing
chocolate as this may also be a problem food.
 The main difficulty in isolating foods is that there can be more than one food type
that is the cause and there may be a build up of these which cause the problem.
 To get to a proper diagnosis can take a long time and can also create a lot of other
anxiety especially when the child is eating away from home or eating ready made
meals.                                                                                 Top of Page