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!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Biting My Nails

I am biting my nails right now over whether Caroline (who is not manic right now by the way thanks to an increase in her Seroquel) will be accepted into the private school where her application is pending.  They are requiring a grade placement test for her, and a math placement test, which makes me nervous, because, being homeschooled, she doesn't have as many clear indicators of present grade level as a kid in a regular school would have.  I think she will be fine on the language arts, science, and history part of the test, but I am concerned about her math skills this year with the false starts we have had with Algebra I.  Please pray she will place in her grade level so we can move ahead and not have to start all over again with the school search which would be very stressful as the end of the school year is upon us.  Her younger sister Mae has been accepted to this same private school but we won't tell her or Caroline about this until we know for sure if Caroline is going to get in.
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1 comment:

Accidental Expert said...

Good luck with this. You'll be in our prayers, but I'm sure she'll do fine.

May 6, 2011 at 5:42 PM

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