I have a great son. A 10 year old who has the best heart on a kid I have ever seen. He is always kind to everyone, and always trying to make friends. He has also had a pretty rough life at a young age. He had an abusive stepfather for 2 years when he was 4-5 which had a tramatic affect on him and things are still coming out even now, probably will keep coming out. His mother had him tested for ADD, and he was diagnosed at the age of 8 with it. He has been on Ritalin since then, but he still has a hard time being disruptive in class, not knowing when to quit teasing, very immature compared to the rest of his classmates, has no impulse control, and the list goes on. I just returned from a concert type school function, which he was part of, and I watched him with his classmates and you probably know the stark differences between how he acted during the performances and the rest of his class. When everyone was cheering and clapping, he was clamping his hands over his ears and acting like his head was exploding. When everyone was clapping to the beat of the music, he was bouncing on his chair stomping his feet. He has a tendency to over dramatize everything along with disassociating himself from the moment. In short, he gets into a fantasy world whenever the mood seems to hit, which is very often. If I keep my thumb on him.. he is as calm and focused as can be.. but I cant always be there... I dont know where to go from here.. Should I be more stern? Should I take drastic actions? Where he doesnt live with me all the time.. what can I do? I am at my wits end. Any suggestions? I am very concerned that his lack of maturity and his disassociation will lead to even bigger problems in a couple of years when he becomes a teenager and I wont know anything
I would love to hear some suggestions, tips, anything. He is too bright, and too loving of a boy to go through life with no direction.