Grace was a preemie also. She was born at 27 weeks. She had stage 3 retinopathy. Grace was blind when we received her at 7 weeks of age. She would turn her little head and listen to us but never looked at us. One day when she was 4 1/2 months old she began to see! We started calling her Amazing Grace and the name stuck. Grace was adopted into our family at 16 months old. She is now a healthy and active child.
Grace has residual issues from prematurity and intrauterine drug exposure. By kindergarten it was apparent that Grace needed support for her hyperactivity, inability to attend, and serious impulsivity. Grace was diagnosed with ADHD just before she turned 6. She was started on Adderall. This drug and worked very well for exactly 1 year. At the end of that year Grace began to make weird noises, chew on her clothing, talk inappropriately, tear things up, and kick the dog. We tried a couple of other medications and then finally went with the short acting Ritalin. She takes it at least 3 times a day and sometimes before she goes to bed at night. We can tell the medication is working when Grace is relaxed, can concentrate at school and can enjoy social functions.
Grace recently started violin lessons and is progressing nicely. She also enjoys playing T-ball, loves to draw and craft, and loves playing with the dogs.