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[quote=Anonymous]My oldest has ADHD/anxiety (6th grader).  They're mutually reinforcing but usually one holds supremacy over the other for a while and then it reverses.  We've done a lot of CBT starting when he was in 1st grade.  It didn't do him much good until last year (5th grade).  He had all the tools he needed but he was unable to but them into practice until his brain hit a certain maturation level.  He's got an IEP but anxiety wasn't addressed because it was situational and when he got through an episode, it was as if it never happened.  He couldn't tell us why he got so wound up and he wasn't able to reflect back on that time.  It was as if he totally forgot how out of sorts he was or that we were talking about some other kid.  But, we persevered and even though it wasn't apparent, what he was being taught sunk in.

One of the things I did was in my beginning-of-the-school year intro to the teachers, I brought up the anxiety.  It often wasn't apparent to them because he kept himself together at school.  When an issue arose that he wasn't handling well, I'd email the teacher.  DS usually looked over my shoulder as I wrote.  I wanted him to know what I was doing and to learn how to self-advocate.  That's worked well for us and as he's gotten older, I've done it less and less.  I now give DS a choice to speak to the teacher himself or I would email.  So far, that's only happened twice this school year.  In third grade, though, there was a period his anxiety was out of control.  We ended up putting him on generic Prozac for most of the year and it was a godsend.  His anxiety was still present but he was able to control it rather than it controlling him.  If he gets to that point again, I won't hesitate to use it again.

As far as who to see, you should scout around for a good dev ped/psychiatrist.  We've not had good luck with psychologists.  You should also read up on CBT and anxiety so you can learn to appropriately handle your DS's anxiety.  It can be a fine line between addressing fears, providing support and feeding fears.  Hugs. [/quote]

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