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Q: I am the
mother of an almost eleven-year-old girl who was diagnosed with
ADD four years ago. Her psychological and educational testing
is so disparate that it's hard to know what's really going on.
To get her into a resource program at her private school, it was
necessary to label her with an additional disorder, Non-verbal
Learning Disability. She has been medicated with Ritalin, Adderall,
and now Dexedrine.
Lately she has been lying about inconsequential
things and giving her father and me a really hard time about doing
anything except watching TV. She goes to bed (no matter how early)
if we suggest that she do something other than watch TV. We have
run the gamut of piano, voice, dance, swimming, and tennis lessons.
I used to coach Odyssey of the Mind when she participated, but
we no longer do that. She doesn't seem to have any drive, ambition,
aspirations, or dreams, much like her father, her late grandfather,
and her half-sister. I waited until I was thirty-eight to have
her and have been able to give her everything a little girl could
want or need.
I am so afraid she will suffer from depression
like the rest of her paternal family. Could this be responsible
for her total disinterest in life? She refuses to read, homework
is a daily nightmare, she has very few friends, her personal hygiene
is deplorable and I'm at my wits' end. Please help me understand
what might be going on.
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