Not a Behavior Issue

My children are 16 and 14 now, but when my sons were little, they were an extreme handful.

Most parents would agree that 2 boys are busy, yet two within 2 years? I was chasing, playing, and reprimanding constantly, to say the least.

Seeing behavior issues in my sons

My oldest son, at the age of 6, could not sit still for the life of him. He had had some incidents with impulse control in kindergarten, but by first grade, his teacher requested we put him on a 504 plan to ensure he would continually succeed in school.

My youngest child seemed the antithesis to his brother, quiet, sedate, but still busy, he appeared to observe the world in a different light. Until they were both in school. By his first grade, we started to see behaviors similar to oppositional defiant disorder or ODD.

He would get in trouble, steal things, and then run away from adults when he knew he did something wrong. One winter, the incident happened in an after-school activity and my son’s father picked him up. When his dad arrived, he bolted into sub-zero cold temperatures without a jacket. Luckily, he was found safely, but the police almost were called as he was going to hit hypothermia temperatures quickly.

Neuropsychological evaluations

As both my children appeared to have behavioral management issues, and psychological counseling with CBT therapy had minimal impact, I contacted the local children’s medical center for neuropsychological evaluation. My oldest son easily met the criteria for ADHD (along with a mood disorder that complicated things) as he was very intelligent, but literally had to move in order to function. His results were not surprising.

However, my youngest child has proven to be an enigma of sorts.

Surprised to get a sleep study recommendation

He was given the same tests as his brother, but was constantly sleepy and could not focus because he said he was tired. So though he tested as slightly (lowest clinical significance) for ADD and not clinically significant ODD, I was told I need to get a sleep study.

My son was about 8 years old at the time and I hadn’t even heard of something called a sleep study so I was baffled as to why my son with behavior issues seemed to have trouble sleeping.

Sleep study experience and results

I certainly agreed and got him a sleep study as quickly as one could get for an 8-year-old child. The study seemed awesome for him as he lay in a king-size bed, though I guess it was no consolation to the cords and monitors affixed to his head and face. I got a leather fold-out chair with a blanket and the worst night of sleep as the medical technicians seemed to come in blasting light in my face every 30 min – an hour.

My baby had obstructive sleep apnea. It wasn’t even mild apnea, it was moderate and that was why he had issues in school. That is why I could not get him to follow directions and why he continues to struggle to this day.

Staying vigilant about our health

Though I don’t regret getting him testing for his behavioral issues, I can say as a parent, the day your child is diagnosed with a sleep disorder, is the day you question if you are doing the right things for your child. Though that was over 6 years ago, the reminder remains that I ever need to be vigilant in getting the right diagnoses for my children and myself rather than settling for what could be a misdiagnosis.