Re: Vent mode

[Guest guest]

I think switching to 1/2 pm and 1/2 am sounds good.  As far as the behavior, I

am not disagreeing with you ... please understand ... but I went through

something similar with my daughter.  I wondered at the time and have heard

other parents say that their children were always trying so hard to be perfect

but in an uptight, anxious way their whole lives.  When the medication kicked

in and that anxiety was gone (or somewhat gone), that she felt free to act out

some.  What I learned with her is it was that anxiety that had caused her to

behave so perfectly before.  Does any of that make sense?  Do you see changes

at home, as well, or is it just at school?

in WA 

Subject: Vent mode

To:

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 7:07 PM

 

Okay, I rarely get discouraged or angry, but I received a call from my

daughter's school today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been on

Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in the past couple of

weeks. Her meds are administered in the a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that

she'd be up for 1-4 hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me today stating that

my daughter has been recently deliberately distracting the other kids during

class. My daughter kept repeating the teachers name outloud but using a silly

last name instead like Mrs. Wall, or Mrs. Homework, or Mrs. Spongebob. The

teacher was unable to control these outbursts and sent her to the back of the

class, where my daughter continued these outbursts. She was then sent to the

school's office where she had to sit until the end of the day when we picked

her up. I talked with the teacher,

who is fully aware of what is going on with our daughter, including information

on the meds she is taking, her present compulsions and obsessions, and her

response was " this cannot continue to happen in the classroom, you're going to

have to start disciplining her more severely at home " . Apparently, she feels

these outbursts are being done for attention. I completely disagree as our

daughter has never displayed this type of behavior in the past. The teacher

continued to go on to tell me " the timing of these outbursts were very

unfortunate as another parent was in the classroom observing the whole thing " .

Hello!!! How this looks to another parent is the least of my concerns.

I could use some help on how to respond to this teacher. I really feel these

outbursts from my daughter is just a new compulsion/obsessio n surfacing. I know

it's not being done intentionally. I've put a call into her Psychiatrist asking

what we should do next. I'm hoping we can do 1/2 the meds in the a.m. and the

other 1/2 at night. I think this would really help with the over hyperness

during the school period. I'd appreciate any advice. I'm sticking up for my

daughter 100%. This is the disease, not my daughter being disruptive. I would

think the teachers would understand that! Ughhh!

[Guest guest]

So sorry you are going through this. Does your school have a guidance

counselor, nurse, or psychologist who would/could get involved because this

teacher clearly does not understand what is going on with your daughter even

though you have explained it? I can sympathize with the teacher's concern about

disruption in class, but perhaps a more appropriate response would have been to

have the school nurse call and speak with you or give your child time to calm

down in her office. Just random thoughts, but I hope you find something that

works soon. Split dosage might work well if the doc oks it.

>

> Subject: Vent mode

> To:

> Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 7:07 PM

> Okay, I rarely get discouraged or

> angry, but I received a call from my daughter's school

> today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been

> on Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in

> the past couple of weeks. Her meds are administered in the

> a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that she'd be up for 1-4

> hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

> active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me

> today stating that my daughter has been recently

> deliberately distracting the other kids during class. My

> daughter kept repeating the teachers name outloud but using

> a silly last name instead like Mrs. Wall, or Mrs. Homework,

> or Mrs. Spongebob. The teacher was unable to control these

> outbursts and sent her to the back of the class, where my

> daughter continued these outbursts. She was then sent to the

> school's office where she had to  sit until the end of

> the day when we picked her up. I talked with the teacher,

> who is fully aware of what is going

> on with our daughter, including information on the meds

> she is taking, her present compulsions and obsessions, and

> her response was " this cannot continue to happen in the

> classroom, you're going to have to start disciplining her

> more severely at home " .  Apparently, she feels these

> outbursts are being done for attention. I completely

> disagree as our daughter has never displayed this type of

> behavior in the past. The teacher continued to go on to tell

> me " the timing of these outbursts were very unfortunate as

> another parent was in the classroom observing the whole

> thing " .  Hello!!! How this looks to another parent is

> the least of my concerns.

> I could use some help on how to respond to this teacher. I

> really feel these outbursts from my daughter is just a new

> compulsion/obsession surfacing. I know it's not being done

> intentionally. I've put a call into her Psychiatrist asking

> what we should do next. I'm hoping we can do 1/2 the meds in

> the a.m. and the other 1/2 at night. I think this would

> really help with the over hyperness during the school

> period. I'd appreciate any advice. I'm sticking up for my

> daughter 100%.  This is the disease, not my daughter

> being disruptive. I would think the teachers would

> understand that!  Ughhh!

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Hi and (((hugs)))! What does your daughter say about these recent behaviors,

including today, and why she's doing it?

If all this began after Zoloft, I would ask the psych to switch her to another

med; shouldn't be a problem since she's just started SSRIs. Another thought -

and others can comment - since it's only been 3 weeks, what if you skipped a day

of giving it to her, see how she behaves, sleeps.... I don't know if you'd see

a difference, just skipping a day of it, not sure how long Zoloft stays in the

body.

Quick thoughts,

>

> Okay, I rarely get discouraged or angry, but I received a call from my

daughter's school today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been on

Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in the past couple of

weeks. Her meds are administered in the a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that

she'd be up for 1-4 hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me today stating that

my daughter has been recently deliberately distracting the other kids during

[Guest guest]

My daughter says she does not know why she's doing it. Then she says she thinks

she's doing it because she's trying to be funny.  I tend to think she's doing it

because she was told she " can't " and now feels she has to do it all the more.

That's similar to the pattern we've seen with her. Call is into her Dr, in the

meantime, we've set up another meeting with him on Tuesday. Thanks for the

input!Peace! Angie in WI

Subject: Re: Vent mode

To:

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 7:49 PM

 

Hi and (((hugs)))! What does your daughter say about these recent

behaviors, including today, and why she's doing it?

If all this began after Zoloft, I would ask the psych to switch her to another

med; shouldn't be a problem since she's just started SSRIs. Another thought -

and others can comment - since it's only been 3 weeks, what if you skipped a day

of giving it to her, see how she behaves, sleeps.... I don't know if you'd see

a difference, just skipping a day of it, not sure how long Zoloft stays in the

body.

Quick thoughts,

[Guest guest]

Thanks ! Unfortunately, there is none of the below referenced sources to

help out. It's a very small Parochial school. There's only 11 other children in

her class. I'm hopeful the dosage can be given in 1/2 intervals. No word yet but

fingers are crossed!Angie in WI

Subject: Re: Vent mode

To:

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 7:49 PM

 

So sorry you are going through this. Does your school have a guidance

counselor, nurse, or psychologist who would/could get involved because this

teacher clearly does not understand what is going on with your daughter even

though you have explained it? I can sympathize with the teacher's concern about

disruption in class, but perhaps a more appropriate response would have been to

have the school nurse call and speak with you or give your child time to calm

down in her office. Just random thoughts, but I hope you find something that

works soon. Split dosage might work well if the doc oks it.

[Guest guest]

First of all, I would be concerned about her behavior. SSRI's can be

" activating " in children. Regardless of what you want to call it, if you can

relate it to the start of meds, then the pdoc should change them.

Secondly, I have had this similar experience at school. I told the principal

that since my son (he was 6 & 7 at the time) was under the care of a physician and

on meds, I expect that any new behavior they saw not be addressed in a punitive

manner unless they consulted the physician to determine it's cause. That let

them know that he couldn't help it and that they shouldn't treat him as if he

could. That is the one thing I have struggled with over the years. Even now

when my son's emotions are in check, he has executive function issues and they

want to say that he is manipulative or lazy!!!! It infuriates me. I have

learned to talk the talk though and they realize at this point that I will not

tolerate any discrimination.

There can be no disciplinary action taken in children with disorders or

disabilities unless they do what is called a manifestation determination meaning

they determine whether or not the behavior is a consequence of a diagnosis or

disability. Your pdoc should know what is happening at school so that they

understand the severity of the problem as they too sometimes blame the

parent-child dynamics for abnormal behavior.

Good Luck,

Bonnie

>

> Okay, I rarely get discouraged or angry, but I received a call from my

daughter's school today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been on

Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in the past couple of

weeks. Her meds are administered in the a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that

she'd be up for 1-4 hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me today stating that

my daughter has been recently deliberately distracting the other kids during

class. My daughter kept repeating the teachers name outloud but using a silly

last name instead like Mrs. Wall, or Mrs. Homework, or Mrs. Spongebob. The

teacher was unable to control these outbursts and sent her to the back of the

class, where my daughter continued these outbursts. She was then sent to the

school's office where she had to sit until the end of the day when we picked

her up. I talked with the teacher, who is fully aware of what is going on with

our daughter, including information on the meds she is taking, her present

compulsions and obsessions, and her response was " this cannot continue to happen

in the classroom, you're going to have to start disciplining her more severely

at home " . Apparently, she feels these outbursts are being done for attention. I

completely disagree as our daughter has never displayed this type of behavior in

the past. The teacher continued to go on to tell me " the timing of these

outbursts were very unfortunate as another parent was in the classroom observing

the whole thing " . Hello!!! How this looks to another parent is the least of my

concerns.

> I could use some help on how to respond to this teacher. I really feel these

outbursts from my daughter is just a new compulsion/obsession surfacing. I know

it's not being done intentionally. I've put a call into her Psychiatrist asking

what we should do next. I'm hoping we can do 1/2 the meds in the a.m. and the

other 1/2 at night. I think this would really help with the over hyperness

during the school period. I'd appreciate any advice. I'm sticking up for my

daughter 100%. This is the disease, not my daughter being disruptive. I would

think the teachers would understand that! Ughhh!

>

[Guest guest]

Bonnie, I totally agree with your viewpoint on this. Just this morning my dd is

sleeping because her meds are so off she woke up in the night and couldn't get

back to sleep and now is sleeping. Everything is " off " ... her anxiety was

returning, ocd symptoms, etc. Right now I am at the point of letting her

teachers know (no one this year had been told yet, because it wasn't affecting

her) but now it is. So I am facing the same thing. This is really hard! As to

the Zoloft: when my dd went on at age 13 we did see some goofiness. I think

she was just so relieved to not feel so worried all the time. But it is

definitely something to watch and inform the dr. about.

Tina

> >

> > Okay, I rarely get discouraged or angry, but I received a call from my

daughter's school today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been on

Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in the past couple of

weeks. Her meds are administered in the a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that

she'd be up for 1-4 hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me today stating that

my daughter has been recently deliberately distracting the other kids during

class. My daughter kept repeating the teachers name outloud but using a silly

last name instead like Mrs. Wall, or Mrs. Homework, or Mrs. Spongebob. The

teacher was unable to control these outbursts and sent her to the back of the

class, where my daughter continued these outbursts. She was then sent to the

school's office where she had to sit until the end of the day when we picked

her up. I talked with the teacher, who is fully aware of what is going on with

our daughter, including information on the meds she is taking, her present

compulsions and obsessions, and her response was " this cannot continue to happen

in the classroom, you're going to have to start disciplining her more severely

at home " . Apparently, she feels these outbursts are being done for attention. I

completely disagree as our daughter has never displayed this type of behavior in

the past. The teacher continued to go on to tell me " the timing of these

outbursts were very unfortunate as another parent was in the classroom observing

the whole thing " . Hello!!! How this looks to another parent is the least of my

concerns.

> > I could use some help on how to respond to this teacher. I really feel these

outbursts from my daughter is just a new compulsion/obsession surfacing. I know

it's not being done intentionally. I've put a call into her Psychiatrist asking

what we should do next. I'm hoping we can do 1/2 the meds in the a.m. and the

other 1/2 at night. I think this would really help with the over hyperness

during the school period. I'd appreciate any advice. I'm sticking up for my

daughter 100%. This is the disease, not my daughter being disruptive. I would

think the teachers would understand that! Ughhh!

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Just wanted to jump in here and say that when my DD was put on Prozac at

age 7 and it got to a therapeutic dose for her, she was disinhibited for

awhile as well. She was annoying and silly. It settled down after

awhile and it's been a really great med. for her for the long haul.

Dina

[Guest guest]

I have a comment. I agree wholeheartedly with you that the teacher was

wrong about disciplining more fully at home. We all know that she

doesn't get it and that's frustrating.

However, if your daughter is disrupting the class to the point of the

other children not learning, shouldn't she be asked to leave? How is it

helpful for anyone if she stays? The teacher will be angry, your

daughter won't be learning anything and neither will the others. Not

that she should be punished, but maybe she should have an aide where she

can go do her work in a quiet place. It sounds to me like you should be

able to meet with the teacher and the principal, explain what is

happening and agree how it should be handled to everyone's benefit in

the future while med. adjustments are being made.

Just throwing it out there that it's got to be a frustrating situation

for the teacher as well.

Take care,

Dina

[Guest guest]

We ran in to a similar issue with our son's teacher last year - our son became

very confrontational with her as she really had no interest in working with him

or us on resolving the issues she felt were disrupting her system in the

classroom. It got ugly for a few weeks, as everything seemed to be breaking

down between them and we felt like we had no way to impact the situation since

the teacher is the leader in the classroom. The school's counselor was brought

in to the discussion, and I believe she really made an impact with the teacher

and encouraged her to open her mind to alternatives to punishment when faced

with our son's outbursts in class.

Since you say there is no resource like this at your daughter's school, maybe a

meeting with the principal to address the teacher's uncompromising approach

could help; or requesting some additional input/direction from your daughter's

psychiatrist directly to the teacher? I know in my experience (personal OCD

issues and our son has been dealing with OCD for three years now) the

hard-nosed, confrontational approach it sounds like your daughter's teacher is

taking does nothing but cause more problems.

I applaud you for standing up for your daughter and pursuing a resolution - the

best thing we can do for our children is to work as their biggest advocate!

Thank you for sharing and I hope you will keep us posted.

>

> Okay, I rarely get discouraged or angry, but I received a call from my

daughter's school today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been on

Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in the past couple of

weeks. Her meds are administered in the a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that

she'd be up for 1-4 hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me today stating that

my daughter has been recently deliberately distracting the other kids during

class. My daughter kept repeating the teachers name outloud but using a silly

last name instead like Mrs. Wall, or Mrs. Homework, or Mrs. Spongebob. The

teacher was unable to control these outbursts and sent her to the back of the

class, where my daughter continued these outbursts. She was then sent to the

school's office where she had to sit until the end of the day when we picked

her up. I talked with the teacher, who is fully aware of what is going on with

our daughter, including information on the meds she is taking, her present

compulsions and obsessions, and her response was " this cannot continue to happen

in the classroom, you're going to have to start disciplining her more severely

at home " . Apparently, she feels these outbursts are being done for attention. I

completely disagree as our daughter has never displayed this type of behavior in

the past. The teacher continued to go on to tell me " the timing of these

outbursts were very unfortunate as another parent was in the classroom observing

the whole thing " . Hello!!! How this looks to another parent is the least of my

concerns.

> I could use some help on how to respond to this teacher. I really feel these

outbursts from my daughter is just a new compulsion/obsession surfacing. I know

it's not being done intentionally. I've put a call into her Psychiatrist asking

what we should do next. I'm hoping we can do 1/2 the meds in the a.m. and the

other 1/2 at night. I think this would really help with the over hyperness

during the school period. I'd appreciate any advice. I'm sticking up for my

daughter 100%. This is the disease, not my daughter being disruptive. I would

think the teachers would understand that! Ughhh!

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks to everyone for the advise and support! Your experiences provide me with

some excellent leverage on how to deal with any future situations like this. I

will keep you posted on our Monday meeting with the Dr.My brother was diagnosed

with paranoid schizophrenia over 10 years ago. I saw him struggle for 9 years

with pills & the side effects and society labeling him as crazy, lazy and

incompetent instead of really looking at the disease & how it affected him. I

often wondered why this was happening to him and our family. I think I know now.

All those struggles have prepared me for what we're going through with our own

daughter. There's always good to be found in the bad. Peace out!Angie in WI

Subject: Re: Vent mode

To:

Date: Friday, November 20, 2009, 11:51 AM

 

We ran in to a similar issue with our son's teacher last year - our son

became very confrontational with her as she really had no interest in working

with him or us on resolving the issues she felt were disrupting her system in

the classroom. It got ugly for a few weeks, as everything seemed to be breaking

down between them and we felt like we had no way to impact the situation since

the teacher is the leader in the classroom. The school's counselor was brought

in to the discussion, and I believe she really made an impact with the teacher

and encouraged her to open her mind to alternatives to punishment when faced

with our son's outbursts in class.

Since you say there is no resource like this at your daughter's school, maybe a

meeting with the principal to address the teacher's uncompromising approach

could help; or requesting some additional input/direction from your daughter's

psychiatrist directly to the teacher? I know in my experience (personal OCD

issues and our son has been dealing with OCD for three years now) the

hard-nosed, confrontational approach it sounds like your daughter's teacher is

taking does nothing but cause more problems.

I applaud you for standing up for your daughter and pursuing a resolution - the

best thing we can do for our children is to work as their biggest advocate!

Thank you for sharing and I hope you will keep us posted.

>

> Okay, I rarely get discouraged or angry, but I received a call from my

daughter's school today. My daughter is 7, recently diagnosed with OCD, been on

Zoloft for appx 3 weeks now. I've noticed super hyper in the past couple of

weeks. Her meds are administered in the a.m. now vs p.m. due to the fact that

she'd be up for 1-4 hours during the middle of the night, therefore, her peak

active period is now at school. Anyways, the school calls me today stating that

my daughter has been recently deliberately distracting the other kids during

class. My daughter kept repeating the teachers name outloud but using a silly

last name instead like Mrs. Wall, or Mrs. Homework, or Mrs. Spongebob. The

teacher was unable to control these outbursts and sent her to the back of the

class, where my daughter continued these outbursts. She was then sent to the

school's office where she had to sit until the end of the day when we picked

her up. I talked with the teacher, who

is fully aware of what is going on with our daughter, including information on

the meds she is taking, her present compulsions and obsessions, and her response

was " this cannot continue to happen in the classroom, you're going to have to

start disciplining her more severely at home " . Apparently, she feels these

outbursts are being done for attention. I completely disagree as our daughter

has never displayed this type of behavior in the past. The teacher continued to

go on to tell me " the timing of these outbursts were very unfortunate as another

parent was in the classroom observing the whole thing " . Hello!!! How this looks

to another parent is the least of my concerns.

> I could use some help on how to respond to this teacher. I really feel these

outbursts from my daughter is just a new compulsion/obsessio n surfacing. I know

it's not being done intentionally. I've put a call into her Psychiatrist asking

what we should do next. I'm hoping we can do 1/2 the meds in the a.m. and the

other 1/2 at night. I think this would really help with the over hyperness

during the school period. I'd appreciate any advice. I'm sticking up for my

daughter 100%. This is the disease, not my daughter being disruptive. I would

think the teachers would understand that! Ughhh!

>