This article is part of a series that seeks to highlight real-life stories of families using Birdhouse around the world. We love talking with our users and hearing how Birdhouse has made a positive impact. Have you used Birdhouse to learn something new about your child? Let us know!
—
Frances’s son Drew has multiple diagnoses but doesn’t fit neatly into any of them. Drew’s doctors say he’s in the “grey area”, exhibiting symptoms of both Autism and Bipolar Disorder. He suffers from the rare seizure and the not-so-rare meltdown.
Frances uses Birdhouse to track how Drew’s moods change throughout the day, and to monitor the effects of medication changes on Drew’s overall behavior and demeanor.
“Sometimes you don’t realize a pattern has developed until you look at everything together.”
So morning, afternoon, and evening, Drew’s medications are checked off and his mood is recorded. During the school day, Drew’s teacher records his meltdowns and antecedents to those meltdowns. “We started to see that he was having meltdowns at the same time each day, as he was going from Specials to his Mainstream classroom.” The next step now is to identify why that’s happening.
Using Birdhouse as a central place to store notes on Drew’s intermittent seizures is also invaluable. “It’s so great to be able to immediately answer questions from the school, therapist, or doctor without having to remember specifics details yourself, like dates, times, and other notes.”
It’s so easy for children to fall through the cracks with doctors throwing around partial diagnoses, but with Birdhouse, nothing gets lost and everything is just a click away.