Hi, I have not been on this site for years, which I guess is a good thing! My DH is at risk, he will be 50 next month. He has not been tested nor does he want to. I see signs in the way he holds his head - grimacing and nodding a lot (for example at the TV or nodding excessively at someone speaking in an unnatural way.) He's also extremely fidgety and all over the place when we watch a movie. Otherwise he is FINE, he's working (in law enforcement) successfully, continuing to earn accolades and when he does gun target practice he gets 100%. At home, except for him being a bit excessively orderly and bit OCD, he's fine and we are doing well as a couple. My question is about my daughter who turned 13 this summer. It may be a teen thing and I hope so, but she is suddenly REALLY struggling in school (always all As and Bs until this year.) Getting very low grades, failing some classes, not turning in work, forgetting to wear her student ID, forgetting A LOT OF STUFF actually. She is "spacing out" a lot, and has always been a kid who "marches to her own beat." We live in the Dallas area and we just got her tested to do nuerotherapy. an alternative treatment for anxiety and ADD. It's at a place called the Brain Performance Center and the neurologist who runs it is affiliated with UT Southwest Center, which has an HD center. She told the woman who tested her last week that she often goes into "la la land, spacing out completely." Her teachers see this too- she just goes into her own world and does not pay attention at all. She's suddenly very disorganized and very "off". She competes in gymnastics and does well (not letting her go to practice till her grades go up though) and she does not seem clumsy at all. Should I be concerned that these are signs of Juvenile HD? And since my DH won't get tested, what would be my first step? Her pediatrician? Thank you.

Being distracted and spacy comes with puberty, at least to some degree. Is she really putting the time into studying and still having trouble learning the material or is she distracted from studying?

Distracted from studying. The teachers say she knows the material, but just lives completely in her own world. Constantly forgetting and losing things. Yes, she just went from little girl to young woman in the past few months - completely going through puberty. I hope that's all it is!

I think puberty is much more likely than JHD. Children go through some odd stages and development is uneven across the board so it is natural for a parent of an at risk child to worry from time to time. I used to worry about mine and she tested negative as an adult. In the absence of other symptoms, I would try not to worry and concentrate on helping her with organization. If she has a cell phone, maybe an app? Also a good diet and sleep schedule may help. (I am not a doctor, this is just my opinion as a mother and someone who has read a lot about HD).

Ok, I think this is going to be a long post, so bear with me, it might be helpful. I am very early stage hd, did not get symptoms until my mid 40's, but school was always a struggle for me. We don't know if your daughter has hd or jhd, and I don't know if my struggles in school are related to hd or not, but, here is the hope, I had the same struggles and did not get hd 'til middle age. So here is what happened to me in school, and could be happening to your daughter. I was a C and B student, and a few A's, in elementary school, but it was a real struggle for me to get those grades, but I managed, but nobody else knew it was a struggle, on the outside I looked fine, but I always felt like I was always 1 step behind, the moment I would start to grab a new concept, they would jump to the next one before I was quite ready, but I pushed hard and made my grades. But when I hit grade 8 everything changed. Suddenly there was so much confusion. Now instead of being in one class all day, I had a class schedule. Suddenly I was struggling really bad. The learning level in grade 8 is more intense, and I now had to try and remember what class I had to go to next. I had to go to my locker and try and remember to get the right books for the right classes. And science was no longer science as I knew it. I no longer learned from a book and memorized the lessons. I now had to multitask. I had to watch the teacher do a lab experiment, and at the same time try and write down what he was doing, which I could not do, so when I had to do the experiment myself, I couldn't understand the notes I had written down. Same as cooking class. I loved cooking, but I almost failed cooking because it was the same thing, we had to write down the teachers demonstration, and then follow our own notes. I also now did not have one teacher, the same teacher I'd had all day, at the end of the day, reminding us of what our homework assignments were for the day. I now had to try and figure out the assignments from each teacher from the whole day. I've never told anyone this, but it was so confusing for me, I used to constantly show up in the wrong classroom, and walk out feeling like an idiot when the teacher would say I don't think you are in this class. And I also all my life have had trouble with daydreaming. My oldest daughter did not have struggles like this in school, but my youngest daughter did, the minute she hit grade 8 too. She was struggling with keeping up, would forget assignments, etc. In grade 9 they gave her a learning assistance teacher. There was nothing embarrassing about it for her, because she would just go to this teacher after school. The way it worked was this. Each of her teachers knew what was going on. She was given a piece of paper, and at the end of each class, each teacher would write a quick note as to what they learned that day, and what her homework assignment was. At the end of each class, each teacher would write a quick note, and at the end of the day, she would take that note to her learning assistance teacher. The teacher would go over the note with her, ask her if she understood each assignment, and if she didn't understand, she would help her understand it better. Then she would make sure my daughter knew and understood her assignments, and which books to take home. You would not believe, how her grades picked up, and her self esteem. The confusion was taken out of the equation. In grade 10 they decided she didn't need this any more, and as her grades slipped, she didn't want to look like a dummy, so instead she decided to act like a smarty pants and started skipping school, so that skipping school could be the reason for the bad grades. And I know this type of help would have helped me too. Maybe your school has something like this for her. If not there is another option that is a very good option, and not very expensive. Go to the school councillor or principal, and ask for a recommendation of an older student in the school who has good grades, and would like a tutoring job. Also, have a small notebook that she carries with her each day, and she can discreetly hand it to each of her teachers at the end of each class, they can make notes to her tutor, have the principal let the teachers know to do this. Students with good grades love to tutor, because it also looks good on job resumes. I think if you could get her a tutor right away, don't even waiting for diagnosis or learning assistance teacher, this could be a huge help to your daughter, and it sounds like your daughter is still at the stage where she wants help, don't wait til she gives up About the daydreaming, I've always wondered if my daydreaming, where I just go absent, could be a type of seizure disorder. So please have them check her out for that too. And yes, seizures can be part of jhd, or they can be all on their own. But it sounds like grade 8 has become confusing for her, and she could use that extra help to get back on track. I hope this is helpful



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2014 02:16AM by Barb.