Life with an explosive child

“Bouncy Boy, guess what? Daddy and I met a lady named Dr. Sharon, whose job is to help kids learn to keep their temper—”

Bouncy Boy gasped in amazement. “Can I see her?”

The urgency in his voice almost made me weep. It totally confirmed what I already believed: that kids “do well if they can.” That Bouncy Boy wants to be well-behaved. That he is aware that something is not right with him, and he’s suffering because of it.

“Yes,” I said. “You can see her.”

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Dr. Sharon is a child psychologist. Hubs and I met with her for the first time earlier this week, and we liked her right away. Of course there is quite a bit of back story to our decision to see a psychologist rather than a psychiatrist (who could prescribe meds) or neuropsychologist (who could evaluate for ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, etc.). One of the factors is our crappy health insurance. Another factor is that there is hardly a therapist around that isn’t connected to my family in some way or another, I kid you not, because my dad is a professor of clinical psychology right here in town. (This has ramifications on many levels, as you might imagine, and I’m sure I will write about this aspect of our life more in the future. Dr. Sharon has connections to my family too, but at least she wasn’t at my wedding, for goodness’ sake.)

Another thing. Although I have tagged many of these posts “ADHD” and “Oppositional-defiant disorder,” we don’t actually have an official diagnosis. Do we want a diagnosis? I don’t know. If a family therapist can help him with anger management, maybe the impulsivity will take care of itself. Maybe not. As I have said before, I am not opposed to the idea of medication. But I would rather start with a more conservative approach. And I think our whole family could use some help dealing with our little guy. Artist Boy and Bookworm Girl were very interested to hear about Dr. Sharon too.

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So, anyway. Bouncy Boy met Dr. Sharon yesterday morning and it was amazing. I think I will have to write about it in a separate post, though, because the kids are waking up and I need to get this day started.