At this time, the twins were both in the Head Start Program. We were told on many occasions, the twins lacked sitting still, were overly aggressive, not paying attention, and aggressive, that they should see a behavioral specialist. The behavioral specialist came to our home and evaluated them both. The activities and suggestions were a help for awhile with Shaun, but not much for Zakary. The rest of the year goes by and a new journey begins.

Kindergarten was just a few months away for my boys. One of the ladies at Head Start, knowing how exhausted and stressed out I had become with raising these high energy twins, suggested a charter school in the area that had a full day kindergarten program. That sounded like heaven to me.

The boys were enrolled and placed into separate classrooms. At Zak’s conference, the teacher showed me some of Zak’s writing samples and pictures. We both realized at that time, when Zak has a bad day you can see it in his writing and pictures. It’s like Zak goes back to not knowing how to work a pencil and scribbles like a 3 yr old would. It was an eventful year. We continued with calls from his teacher; Zak was putting worms in the teacher’s toilet, not just a few, but many worms.

I decided we needed to get further help for Zak. The teacher suggested that Zak should be tested for ADHD. Due to the fact that it was at the end of the school year, things got busier and time ran out. At this point, I had decided Zak needed to be in a school with more resources. We put both the twins in a public school. Both were still in separate classrooms. I had talked specifically with a teacher prior to enrolling them about Zak’s situation, and she was willing to take him on personally. His teacher wrote a letter with samples of Zak’s writings and school work to request that Zak be seen and be tested for ADHD.

This was the beginning of seeing some progress. The Clinical Social Worker there definitely saw need for treatment and Zak was diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and put on medication. and For about 3 months, Zak’s medication was changed about every two weeks. The Clinical Social Worker had warned me that sometimes when being treated for one disorder, other symptoms of another disorder can emerge.

Within a couple of months Zak would physically hurt me; I had to restrain him from hurting himself or me. This rage would go on for a couple of hours. He became very withdrawn from friends at school. One night he was very quiet and we had just put him in a time out after he had calmed down from his rage outburst. His dad asked him, “What’s wrong?” He says,” I want to kill myself”. My eyes just filled up with tears. I grabbed Zak and hugged him. I asked him why he felt that way. Zak, lifelessly, said, I am a bad kid and I am mean. I told him, no he wasn’t and we will get through this together. I took him to his Clinical Worker the next day where it was suggested to take him to Mental Health for further evaluation for possible bi-polar disorder.

Zak was brought to Psych Emergency where he was given his first appointment with his therapist. He was then scheduled to see his Psychiatrist about two weeks later. At that appointment the Psychiatrist had come to the conclusion he definitely showed signs of ADHD combined with Bi-polar Disorder. Zak was put on more meds and introduced to three other people on his treatment team. They were a parent partner more for me, a peer mentor, and an intervention counselor. I was introduced to a program called Nurturing Heart (Howard Glasser) in which the whole treatment team was using and have taught my husband and I how to use it with all of the kids.

This is where a major life changing event began and is ongoing. My parent partner; who has been in similar situations with her children; has the experience and can relate; she has become my rock to lean on. I would call her my friend. The peer mentor was a younger adult who had received services here and she used her experiences to relate to Zak and do activities with him and take him and others on road trips to outside parks. The intervention counselor did an amazing job with Zak and formed a great relationship with him. Zak to this day misses him because he really looked up to him.

Today, Zak is off meds, and has been for 5 months. In another month he might transition from this program. This would not be possible with out the help of Yuba Sutter Mental Health Services. They have provided my son and family with the intervention tools, and awesome services to allow Zak now to self talk himself into making good choices.

I have begun a new journey with his twin brother Shaun. He, too, is now receiving the great services and is gradually making great successes.

For those who are in similar situations, don’t give up there is hope. Be your child’s voice for they do not know how to express the anger and frustration inside them. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There is so much more information and services available and I am glad I made great use of it.

I have begun a new journey with his twin brother Shaun. He, too, is now receiving the great services and is gradually making great successes.

For those who are in similar situations, don’t give up there is hope. Be your child’s voice for they do not know how to express the anger and frustration inside them. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There is so much more information and services available and I am glad I made great use of it.