adhd

Alex was recently diagnosed with ADHD. ADHD is a behavioral syndrome characterized by inattention and distractibility, restlessness, inability to sit still, and difficulty concentrating on one thing for any period of time. ADHD most commonly occurs in children, though an increasing number of adults are being diagnosed with the disorder. ADHD is three times more common in males than in females and occurs in approximately 3 to 6 percent of all children. It’s horrible to think that such a horrible thing could happen to such a young child. He will be going on medication to treat this behavioral syndrome. The only thing that I am happy about is that now there is an explanation as to why he acts the way he does sometimes. Hopefully the medicine provides Alex with the treatment that is needed.

(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/279477/attention-deficithyperactivity-disorder)

Fridge Madness

Alex loves the new toys that he received for his birthday. He always points notice to the new magnets that he got. They are colorful gear shaped objects. They are pretty cool if I may say. If you press the middle button and interconnect the gears they all rotate. They can spread across the whole refrigerator. The magnets hypnotize Alex into a happy state. His smile is from ear to ear. He is in complete bliss when he plays with his new toys. I am sad that this invention wasn’t created when I was younger. I remember one of my favorite toys was my doll house. Alex’s enjoyment of the gears reminds me of how I was with my dollhouse.

Movie Star

This week for my final project in Language Acquisitions class we had to film a video document on a speech impaired child. Alex was the perfect candidate for this project because he has both a speech impediment and ADHD. He had a fun time being filmed and constantly asked to review the tape. He smiled each time he saw himself on the video camera. Alex was a big help on my project. He participated freely and willingly. It was sad to discover that Alex fell into the category of where a two to three year old child would fall into as basing it on speech standards. I feel bad for Alex because he was adopted from Ukraine when he was two. In those orphanages children were left alone in cribs with little to no social exposure. It’s a sad thought that children are living like that and I am very happy that Alex was one of those children that were saved.

Jill and Jen

Jill and Jen are Alex’s two girl cousins. He absolutely adores Jill. Jill is the same age as Alex. Anything Jill wants to do Alex is more then happy to comply with her requests. Alex has a habit of acting like a dog. Jill took this opportunity to take the time to play pet shop with Alex. Jill and Jen left the room and had Alex stay in the kitchen. They made the kitchen the pet store. The girls went around the corner into the living room and walked back into the kitchen. Jill looked at the “dog” and pointed it out to Jen. Jill started asking questions about the dog. For example she asked the price and what kind of dog he was. The girls purchased the “dog” and taught him tricks and played with Alex. The three children had a great time playing pet shop.

Joseph

So one day Alex and I had to play a game. The duck game that we normally play was broken and we needed to do something to occupy our time. I looked around thinking about something that we could do. I really wasn’t in the mood to paint or get messy so I decided that coloring would be the answer. I started to draw a circle because I knew that a circle is Alex’s favorite shape. I had a bunch of papers, scissors, and crayons. I decided that I would make a doll out of paper. I made the legs into a tube like shape and then connected it to a rectangular paper with flaps. I drew a heart in the center and his chest and then added arms, shoes, and fingers. I gave it to Alex and he had a great time with the paper doll he named Joseph. He took Joseph to the dentist and everywhere that we went that day. It made me happy that this paper doll had so much of an impact.

Whacky Trip to the Bank

I took Alex to the bank with me because I needed to get some gas after I took him to speech. Alex is a very social little kid. When we stepped into the bank Alex immediately ran to the glass windows where the bank tellers worked. He smiled and waved to all the girl workers. He acted very cute when the tellers asked him different questions referring to age and schooling. When asked to be one of the workers “boyfriend” Alex immediately replied no. After some thought he shrugged and decided that he would be boyfriend to any girl he saw in the bank. We ran to the car and Alex stopped by my trunk. I asked him what he was doing and he replied that he was a “stinky boyfriend.” I told him that he wasn’t and asked him what made him feel that way. He replied that he was a “stinky boyfriend” and wanted to show them his “stinky butt.” He wanted to moon the workers! I couldn’t stop laughing. Obviously, I told him that that was not a great idea and told him we had to get to speech.

Close Call

On Monday I was scheduled to baby-sit at five o’clock. Their mother and I planned to meet at Diana’s softball practice at a field near my house. I had told her that I had Yankee Opening Day tickets and that I would most likely be home by 4:30 because the game started at one o’clock. I would have felt bad canceling on her. So I reassured her that I would be there. I would never make an obligation that I couldn’t uphold, but, this was a close call.

I asked their mother that in the event that I didn’t make it in time would she have an alternate plan. She ensured me that everything would work out if I couldn’t make it, but would prefer if I could make it. I was hoping on ran on Monday because if it rained I wouldn’t have to baby-sit. Fortunately the practice got cancelled. Unfortunately my Yankee Game go rained out as well.