my son who has ADHD

Theo was born in 2001, the youngest of my four children and proved to actually be a relatively easy baby and toddler, being completely out of nappies by his second birthday,above all he was the cutest little boy ever and loved him more than I could say.  One particular day Theo had wandered upstairs, had got into the bath with just a nappy on and turned on the hot water, I could hear him screaming upstairs. It was probably coming up to the age of three that things started to become different or much more noticeable, such as when he bit  both of my friends twins.  I was horrified, the parents were horrified, but worse I didn't get invited over any more, of course I was defensive, stating that two years olds often bit other children.  Then my older children started to get scratches on their faces, again I put it down to him being over excited or boisterous,because of I reasoned that that was what boys were like.  Even when my eight year old son recieved a stick injury from Theo and had to be taken to A&E for  a split lens in his eye, I put it down to Theo just being Theo.  

When he started nursery,  the teachers noticed that he was highly intelligent, but a parent complained to me that Theo had punched her son, it seemed that when things were going well Theo would do something and it would all go wrong and I started to be really concerned. He became extremely bossy to other children, used inappropriate words to adults and I could sense that the son I completely adored, was viewed with suspition by other adults, hardly ever invited to any parties in  primary school and I was absolutley heartbroken.  At home he talked incessantly, became obsessed with things and was extremely hyperactive. When I tried to go to the doctors. it was hard to put into words what he was like and after being referred to the peadiatrician, the questionaire for ADHD came back negative. I couldn't believe it, I just accepted the fact that he was a difficult child and I would just have to put up with it.  When I changed his primary school.in year 5 I thoughtperhaps that things were looking up, as the teacher rarely complained about him and he seemed to be really popular,because despite everything he is a very funny child.  Then in year six I recieved the bombshell from the teacher who had explained that they had made many allowances for theo,but he just was not learning, he was well below the average and had caused some problems within the school with a certain child.  A few days later  a parent took me aside and said that the party invitation her child had given Theo was to be revoked and under no circumstances was Theo to ever talk to her son again.  I cried for a month.  Again there was no where to actually turn, I felt alone, isolated and at my wits end.

The turning point was when Theo started secondary school, I explained to the school the week he started that there  might be some problems with Theo, the learning support didn't know anything about him and had no complaints so far. I knew it would come , about three weeks later this same lady rang me up to say that Theo was a complete whirlwind in most of his classes, didn't listen, used inappropriate language and it was affecting his relationship with his peers, his learning and whole education.  Apparently Theo didn't just walk into a classroom, he danced.  The ball began to roll, Theo was assessed again for ADHD and this time when it came back that he did indeed have it, I cried with relief, joy and a sense that now things could begin to change.  He was put on ritalin and from that day, he has become a different child to teach.  He still has ADHD, he still needs some kind of social skills input, he still has tantrums at home and he still needs proactive intervention to help him become a mature young person, but this is a journey and he is still my clever, funny, kind little boy.