The Juggling Act

Today, we started our morning at ChildServe, for Nat’s occupational therapy.

We arrived home just in time for an appointment with Nat’s case manager, who oversees the services Natalie receives through a children’s mental health waiver.

When she left, I called a therapist Nat saw in the past, to schedule a re-evaluation, to determine if Nat is eligible for another year on the children’s mental health waiver. I need to call Gayle to schedule times for the 3 or 4 different types of services her agency provides. I need to follow up with the school on all of the things that I asked for in Natalie’s IEP meeting, that didn’t show up on the completed IEP, before summer school starts in two weeks.

(By the way, at Natalie’s IEP meeting in the spring, I asked the school to be sure the summer school teacher knows that Natalie has an IEP, and to give her a copy of it. Last summer, the teacher wasn’t aware of it, and never saw it. I was told to just copy the accommodations page and give it to her myself. Does that sound a little lax to anyone else?!)

And, I need to develop written training materials for new care providers, to try and avoid exposing Natalie to another Exorcist. I’m afraid — and experience confirms this fear — that Natalie is at risk when she’s around adults who don’t understand her ADHD behavior!

Can anyone out there help me with this? A long time ago I ordered the babysitters' guide from the ADDitude website, but when someone called to get my credit card info, I wasn’t home, and returning that one little phone call fell into the category of one too many things to do.

I should order it again. But I’d also like to know if other parents have come up with their own written materials, or found other existing resources that help you to train other adults to take care of your kids with ADHD. Maybe having a couple of samples in front of me would make this project seem less overwhelming, and give me a jumpstart to actually start researching and writing.

If you’ll share with me, then if/when I ever come up with something (no promises!) I’ll share with you.