About our Daughter

I am mother to four wonderful daughters, ages 17, 19, 21, and 23, and wife to the greatest husband on earth. God has given us a special child to raise one who was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder at the age of seven, though she showed signs of it from the age of fifteen months. She also has ADHD, Sensory Integration Disorder (sensory seeking), Dyslexia, and Non-Verbal Learning Disorder-NOS, all typical comorbidities for a bipolar child. In spite of the trials, she enjoys lacrosse, running (finished her first marathon in October of 2014!), and reading and writing her own books. I will share with you the many joys and sorrows we have faced and will face in the future with the hope that you may find better understanding about this mental illness caused by both chemical and structural abnormalities in the brain. I desire that you will be encouraged by this blog if you are also dealing with a bipolar child. Thank you for reading and sharing in our journey.

How Did You Know She Was Bipolar So Young?

I wrote a long explanation of how we came to this bipolar diagnosis in a child so young under my post of March 19th of 2009. If your child or a child you know bears similarities, please seek out a good psychiatrist and don't wait for "things to get better." Often they will simply get worse, and the longer a child is unmedicated, the more damage their brain can accrue. Early diagnoses and treatment are key to providing these children with a chance at a successful life later as a teen and an adult.
Never change, start or stop a medication without the approval of your child's physician!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Sundays, part II

I posted that blog accidentally.  What I was going to say after that was that Sundays are particularly hard now because our older kids don't really like our church service(they think it's boring) or Sunday School (ditto).  So getting them to go is a challenge.  I don't completely blame them because of the small number of high school and middle school kids (we are bursting at the seams with babies and toddlers), but we love our church and church family and don't see us leaving anytime soon.  Caroline, with her sensory issues, often leaves the service prior to the sermon because our wonderful pastor can get a little loud (funny loud as well as serious).  So we have tried to find some compromise for her but haven't arrived at the final solution yet.  We never know what Sunday will bring, who will be where, whether someone has to stay at home with Caroline, etc.  I would love just one normal Sunday where we all did the same thing.  I started writing a book about how the church could help families with special needs kids in terms of making accommodations, educating the congregation, etc. I haven't finished it but I will someday.  Our church is still in the early stage of forming a team of people to help on Sundays families with kids who have autism, aspergers, bipolar, severe ADHD, etc.  These children can be quite a challenge, but we want them and  their families to feel welcome, embraced and cared for.
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2 comments:

The Woottons said...

Any thoughts you can give us as we think about loving families like this- I would love to hear them.

March 2, 2009 at 3:41 PM
mamatufour said...

Sundays are hard for us, too.....seems my girl cannot focus and almost as if her goal is to think of as many ways to interrupt prayer or any connection to God. Sometimes this worries me.

January 21, 2013 at 1:00 AM

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