Lessons Learned

Below are some hard lessons that I have learned and hope that they will help/give you some things to think about in your journeys. I am not a doctor and in no way should any of the advise listed below be construed as such. These are simply things I learned as a mother.


1) If you don’t feel comfortable with what a doctor is telling you get a second opinion. Make sure comprehensive psychological and neuro-psychological evaluations have been conducted on your child. Not just 15 min. with a psychiatrist to diagnose your child. It can take time to accurately diagnose your child. See if the psychologist will observe your child in settings (home/school) other than their office.


2) Before putting your child on medicines for psychological issues be sure a good medical doctor has ruled out any underlying medical conditions (ex: thyroid conditions can cause hallucinations) and any allergies.


3) If you child has been through a traumatic experience (abuse or ) be sure that Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has been ruled out. Children suffering from PTSD can exhibit bi-polar like mood changes especially if left untreated.


4) Don’t count on your doctor or pharmacist to fully inform you of all you need to know about your child’s medication and any interactions. Do the research yourself. There are drug interaction tools online. Print the responses and ask questions if you don’t understand. Some , like lithium, need to be taken consistently either with or without food to decrease the chance of lithium toxicity. Stay with one pharmacy also.


5) Be leery of a doctor who always has drug reps in their office and meals brought in. I had one that the office staff never had to buy their own lunch. They had drug companies lined up everyday bringing lunch in for them. Chances are they are more likely to push the latest drug than what is right for your child.


6) If you are on Medicaid and the school is conducting evaluations, make sure you give them a letter telling them that you are not authorizing them to bill Medicaid. Because if you don’t they will and you will then have a heard time getting Medicaid to pay for private evaluations. Medicaid will pay for one psychological evaluation a year. You want to be able to use it to get your own outside evaluation done, especially if you don’t like the results of the one the school did. IEEs paid for by the school are done on the schools terms and agenda not yours.


7) Think out of the box. If conventional behavior interventions are not working for your child at school do some research on Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Not saying that you child has one but there are a lot of behavior issue related ideas out there for Pervasive Developmental Disorders that could work for your child.