Attention!

Early on in Cadence's kindergarten year, we noticed she had some attention issues. We were noticing some issues at home, but I chalked it up to being five years old and a drama queen. At her first Parent Teacher conference, the teacher brought it to our attention that she had some problems staying on task, paying attention and getting her work done in a timely manner. At first this was a shock to me. I was used to getting glowing reports about how smart and sweet she was. I even resented the teacher a little bit. As the year progressed, and the issues began to affect her school work, we scheduled more meetings with the teacher the counselor and a screening. By this point I knew what the screening would tell us: ADHD.

One of my best friends is a Pharmaceutical Rep for the company that manufacture's Vyvanse, the new ADHD wonder drug. She has more knowledge than alot of doctors do about ADHD and was able to help me comprehend this new battle. For Cadence, all of her issues deal with attention. She has no hyperactivity. I started doing my own research on ADHD in girls and was horrified by what these girls can go through if their symptoms are not acknowledged and treated. Low self-esteem, risk taking behavior (including drugs and sexual risks), and more. We decided to work on some coping skills over the summer and see how first grade started.

The summer went very well, but of course, she wasn't in a classroom, being forced to pay attention! Within the first week of first grade, Cadence was coming home crying and telling me she was afraid she was going to get held back. One of the hardest (and also best) parts of this issue, is that Cadence knows she has a hard time paying attention. She knows that she struggles with this and it hurts her that she does. She and I both cried alot the first weeks of school. Early on, spelling tests started. Spelling tests are a nightmare for a kid who has a hard time paying attention. They have to pay attention to hear the word, keep it in their brain long enough to sound it out and write it down and then re-focus immediately to try again. Add to this that Cadence is doing this in Spanish and you have a very frustrated Momma and kiddo!

ADHD doesn't look the same in every kid. In fact, some of the people closest to Cadence (both grandmothers included) were shocked at the diagnosis. Here is what ADHD looks like in my daughter. She's a daydreamer, she constantly wonders into her own world. She frustrates incredibly easily and tears come regularly. She does not listen unless actively engaged. You cannot just start talking to her and expect that she will retain any information. You have to make eye contact with her and get her engaged before her "ears turn on". When she is able to focus, she hyper-focuses. Her favorite is movies. When she is really focused on a movie, you have to physically break her concentration. With all of this comes struggles, but she can also do some really cool things. She can hear a song one time and know all the words and the melody. She knows the scientific names for every animal baby there is (I don't even know where she learned this!). Many times, kids with ADHD score lower in class or on tests and get labeled as not as smart as other kids, but in reality, many of them are very intelligent.

Cadence and I have been working to find some things that help her this year, but spelling tests have still been a struggle. After much soul searching and dealing with my own issues on this diagnosis, I have opened up to trying some medicines to help her with her attention issues so that she can really be at her best. We are not yet on a medicine, but have started the process. But, last week we had a huge reason to celebrate! In her class, the children take a practice spelling test on Thursday and the real test on Friday. If you get a 10 out of 10 on Thursday, you don't have to take it on Friday. Only 5 words are given on Monday to study with the kids and the other 5 come from phonic sounds they work on in class. So there is really no way to memorize the words. They really have to learn them. Last week, she got a 10 out of 10, on THURSDAY! I could not have been more proud of her and she was incredibly proud of herself. That moment made all the struggles, frustration and nights of trying to help her learn words I can barely pronounce (the words are in Spanish, remember?) worth it!