Posted by Shivadaasa Sharma

Please read the following and help me any way you can with advice. All replies
are welcome. As the number of suggestions increase, the probability of correct
diagnosis and treatment will improve. Thank you all for your support.

********************************

It took me a long time to accept it but now I am convinced about it. Our 11
year old does have severe learning disabilities. First we all thought it was
attention deficit disorder (ADD/ADHD). I strongly resisted giving medication
but finally I gave in and we tried Ritalin, small dosage, for a month. When
we saw virtually no improvement, we stopped. We tried giving mineral
supplements and it failed too. His pediatrician then suggested that he may
have Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), possibly a serious case. We have
taken him to several psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers etc and
none has properly diagnosed him with any clear category. Neural studies
indicated no damage to brain.

We should have seen it coming but we did not. When Shankar was 2-3 years old,
he had a lot of difficulty forming sentences. I would point out a picture and
say, "this is a picture"; later when prompted, he would point out the picture
and say "this is". Nothing more. Everything was "this is". This was one of
the symptoms that we should have noticed. However, at that time, he was a
very active and loveable child who could recite A to Z forwards AND backwards
and we could not have imagined that his life would slowly deteriorate.

Shankar has many obsessive compulsive behaviours. First he had a fascination
with clocks and he would get up in the middle of the night to watch the
digital clock on the VCR change from 12:59 to 1:00 AM. Now he ties his shoe
laces over and over again, and he orders people to take off their glasses. He
is moving from one fascination and obsession to another. During the last two
weeks he is on "Zoloft" to cure the condition. We are planning on trying it
for a decent period of time and we will let the psychiatrist decide its
efficacy.

Shankar has great difficulty comprehending sentences, written or oral. His
mathematical skills are great. He can multiply two two-digit numbers in his
head and spit out the answer. His vocabulary is very good; he spells almost
all his words correctly. He can read very well. But he understands very
little of what he reads. Give him a long worded mathematical problem and he
draws a blank. We read a lot to him, slowly and patiently. Probably about 10%
registers on his mind. I work out a lot of long-worded mathematical problems
with him. Again and again he fails to understand the concepts. I myself am an
engineer and I have always prided myself on being able to digest complex
theories and make them intelligible to the lay person. I myself have been a
teacher in the past and I use my teaching skills quite well. My father was a
teacher in his life. But no matter how much skill I use in explaining things
to Shankar, he cannot get it.

The recent report from the Chicago Assessment Test alarmed us greatly. His
score is 16th percentile. When he was in 3rd grade, he was placed in the 67th
percentile class. Obviously the situation is deteriorating.

We are continuing to work with him, patiently and with understanding, while
we watch helplessly as he brings in poor reports practically every day. He is
supposed to suffer from loss of self-confidence and such but unfortunately,
Shankar is oblivious to what is happening to him. I am sure the other kids
make great fun of him and I am sure he is oblivious to that too. Even now he
eats mud if he can get away with it. The school has been supportive and
Shankar is in special education classes. Next year he will enter middle
school and he will spend 60% of his time in special classes.

Shankar had febrile seizures a couple of times when he was an infant and his
temperature went up higher than about 105 degrees. Since that time, we have
been extremely cautious with his health. The Neuro-surgeon who examined him
assured us that those febrile seizures have not hurt his brain in any way.

Shankar's younger brother, Ashuthosh, is a perfectly normal kid and is one of
the brightest students in his class. He is very active and very unlike
Shankar. He also has an amazingly mature attitude about life. We have great
difficulty accepting that one kid turned out to be so bright and the other so
poor. What is even worse is that both my wife and myself are normal and well
educated with advanced degrees in Engineering, Management and Statistics. We
cannot trace this problem to any of our siblings or
parents/grandparents/uncles.

This problem has driven my wife into depression and sleeplessness. Tempers
are short in the family, although we are all careful not to take it out on
Shankar. Life has become quite difficult to manage. The greatest worry is
Shankar's future, which does not look very bright to us right now. His very
survival is questionable to us.

I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, support you will provide me.
Please post all comments. I will cross post this to several other news groups.
If you wish to write to me, please send an e-mail to

shivadaasa@hotmail.com

and I will be very happy to hear from you.

Thank you all.

Shivadaasa Sharma

Follow Ups:

• I'm going to throw my hat into the ring with the opinion that Shankar has some form of autism. Elaine Gallant
• your son sounds like he has a form of autism Elaine Austin

Post a Followup