Advice RE: ADHD son with serious struggles

calla1
Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:59:09 +0000

((Hugs)) to you.

I am so sorry for your situation. I think I may see this a little differently from a lot of people who have already replied. I think the first thing you have to address is the drug problem. There’s no moving forward until he deals with that. Switching schools would not begin to address this problem. I think you should think about rehab.

Another factor to consider is, you still have power to enforce rehab while he is 16. Once he’s 18, the docs won’t even talk to you without his permission.



He has kind of “checked out” of things.

this concerns me and raises the red flag a little higher.

A dear friend was in your situation - 16 year old son, using pot and alcohol (they thought this was all), anxiety and ADD issues, withdrawing, poor grades, etc. They couldn’t afford an expensive rehab so sent him to an 18 month long low cost, Christian based program (pm me if you want the name of it) where students learned work skills and self-discipline. He completed his high school there and now, 3 years later, is doing very well, going to school part-time and working full-time.

He didn’t have a choice about going. The woke him up in the middle of the night and took him to the airport.

He and the counselors told the parents later that his drug use was much more than they ever suspected, and he has thanked them several times.

I obviously don’t know your son, but please consider that the parents almost always only see the tip of the iceberg when it comes to drug use.

Edit: I now see that PhotoOp previously made this suggestion.