Transformation

The other day in work, I saw a child transform from a defiant uncontrollable child into a sweet little boy. A mother and her eight year old son walked into my office asking for information. I told the mother I could speak to her in my office. She asked the son to stay in the waiting room. He began to scream uncontrollably and bump himself off of the walls. As we walked down the hallway he followed us, still screaming like a wounded animal and was flinging himself into the hallway walls. The mother said that this is his normal behavior. We sat in my office and she told me that he was on school suspension for running out of the school two times last week. She had him tested and he is in special ed and on medication but his behavior is uncontrollable. I did not think that he was appropriate for my office but that he would be a fit for the new doctor since she sees children with ADHD. Her assistant was not in yet, so I called her cell phone and she said that she was in the parking lot and would be right in. She came into my office to speak with the child and his mother. From the moment she walked in, she assessed the situation and took over. She looked directly into the child's eyes, right up to his face and told him that he was a good boy and she was there to help him. She then began to question him, not his mother. She seemed to know how he was feeling inside and asked questions that I would never have thought of. The child's demeanor changed because he finally had someone that knew what it felt like to feel the way he does. He began to open up to her, first whispering things into her ear, then saying them out loud in front of his mother and me. The mother began to cry as this was the first time someone finally understood the problem. The assistant said that he was misdiagnosed, as doctors seem to want to quickly label a child and not delve into the root of the problem. He was not oppositional, just a child with ADHD that becomes irritable when he gets frustrated. She reviewed his medications and said that they were the wrong dosages and wrong type of release. She told them how his behavior would be as the medications wore off and the mother said she was exactly correct. She wrote a note to the school saying that the boy needed a new assessment with the new doctor. The mother was going directly to the school after the meeting. As they left the boy gave the assistant and me a big hug and a kiss and said that he really like it here. Within 45 minutes a "wild animal" was transformed into a sweet child. It was amazing.