It continues to be a really rough year for Whitney. I feel a little helpless. She used to love school so much; now she is shutting down and has become completely noncompliant. Things she loves like the iPad, ballet are not motivators for her any more. The Behavioral Analyst at school thought it may be sleep related.
We saw a sleep specialist (add another person to our caregiver list - we now see someone in almost every category of the Florida Hospital specialist list). We TRIED to do a sleep study for her. Remember the problems with EEGs? Now imagine trying to put 50 leads all over her body and head and keeping them there all night. I tried to tell them on the phone that this was going to be an issue and we better talk before going into this. They placated me and told me the technician would work it out. Well..when we arrived for the study, the technician boasted "I have only sent home 5 kids in my entire career!" Of course I was thinking..."and this will be number six." Everything was fine until the first lead went on her leg. She lost her mind. We got 5 on, and then I put a stop to it and went home, quite a bit irritated.
We made an appointment with the sleep doctor. I'll call him Dr. Dreamy because, oh, that ACCENT...and he is a sleep doctor...He apologized and said he told the tech that we are not in this to traumatize kids and we will find another way. THAT was the right thing to say to me. We talked about her sleep patterns which have been odd for many years. She was only sleeping 8 hours per night, no matter when we put her to bed. She would nap a lot during the day. If she didn't nap, it didn't matter at night. 9 years old and still trying to nap at school!
He suggested we first try a good dose of melatonin and getting her an extra hour of sleep each night. So we started her on that. We have had a few 4:30 am wakeup calls, but she makes it through the night most nights now. She definately is HAPPIER at school, so there is a difference. However, she is still non-compliant with school work.
Back to the drawing board....
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