Hello again :)
Noah
Clara woke up early so grabbed a cup of tea and watched the sun rise. She stood feeling extremely happy. Christmas had gone well, the kids were happy, she and Danny were happy. That was all that really mattered to her. It wasn't long before Danny woke up. He strolled downstairs and slid his hands around her waist from behind her. She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Morning."
"Morning beautiful. Sleep well?" She nodded.
"Not sure I'm ready to go back to work though." Danny laughed a little.
"Is anyone?" She shrugged in agreement. "I think the kids are ready to go back though. Noah loves school, bless him. El and Lily are doing great too." She smiled and turned round to kiss him.
"We have a very happy family at the minute, I like that." He smiled back at her.
"I like it too. Very much so. And hopefully we'll have another little something to add soon." He placed a hand on her stomach. She smiled widely and kissed him again. They were then interrupted by a loud stomping from upstairs. They both laughed as Clara rolled her eyes.
"Noah's awake then." Danny nodded.
"And 3,2,1..."
"MUMMY!" Noah called from upstairs right on cue. They both laughed again as Clara headed up to see him.
"Morning monkey. Okay?" He nodded and smiled as she walked in and sat on his bed. He hugged her tightly.
"Is it school today?!" He asked as though he had forgotten overnight.
"Yeah! First day back! You can tell everyone about Cody!" He nodded excitedly. "But first you need to clean your teeth and get dressed." He shook his head. He clearly had other ideas. He ran away from Clara's reach towards the stairs. "Noah. Come here please. We need to get your uniform out." He shook his head and ran down the stairs. "Noah!" He'd already gone. He sprinted into the kitchen and opened the gate to the utility room where Cody's bed was.
"Cody!" Danny shook his head.
"No, you know the rules. No Cody until you've been a good boy and got dressed. You need to get ready for school before you can play." They'd had to put that rule in place over the last week after finding that nothing got done without stopping the kids from playing as soon as they got up. Clara soon came in the room and sighed. "Noah!" Danny said. He was ignored again. "Noah Pink!" He raised his voice slightly, just enough to make him look round. "Come here now." He walked to his dad slowly and sat down at the kitchen table. "You know the rules Noah. You need to get ready first." He shook his head.
"But-"
"No buts." Noah shook his head again.
"But you do have a butt! I have one too! And mummy!" He started to giggle uncontrollably. Danny had to try extremely hard to not laugh with him.
"No, this isn't funny. You need to follow the rule like everyone else. Go with your mum and find your uniform please. Off you go." He nodded and walked away from them. Once he was out of earshot Danny started to laugh a little.
"The things that come out of that little boy's mouth." Clara laughed too. He needed to be disciplined but it was always so hard not to laugh when he began to giggle. His laugh was infectious.
The first four weeks of the term had gone relatively smoothly. Everyone plodded along, there were no disasters much to Clara and Danny's approval. Clara begun teaching her fourth class of the day. They were all extremely unfocused and seemed to want to do anything but the work. She sighed as she shouted at them to be quiet for the sixth time.
"The more you chat now, the less work we'll get done. Then you'll have more for homework." She was ignored by most of the class again. This time she sat down and let them carry on chatting for the last ten minutes. As they we're about to leave. "Right then, so I want the next three chapters of the book read for Monday, along with the essay we were going to talk about today. Thank you, off you go." They all looked at her with shock.
"What?!" She shrugged.
"Well you chose not to listen so now you can catch up. Have a nice day." She opened the classroom door and let them filter out. She smiled as she went to sit back at her desk. Oh the feeling of sweet success. She began to do some marking but stopped when she heard her phone ring. She grabbed it out of her draw to see that it was Lily and Noah's school. She frowned and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Mrs Pink?"
"Yes, has something happened?"
"There has been an incident yes. Noah has been refusing instructions all day and hit another student. He's very agitated so we've taken him out of class. Would you be able to come and get him?" She placed her hand on her head and sighed.
"Yes, I'll come as soon as I can. Thank you." She hung up and then stood in silence for a second. Why had he hit someone? It was so unlike him. She couldn't take it in. His behaviour had been so strange recently but she couldn't put a finger on what was causing it.
She jogged down to Danny's class and entered quickly, ignoring the kids sat in there. "Danny." He could tell by her face something had happened. He set the class on a task and followed her out of the room.
"Clara? What's wrong?" She took a deep breath.
"It's Noah. The school rang and he's been misbehaving all day. He hit another student as well." Danny looked at her in shock.
"He did what?!" Clara nodded.
"I know, I know. I can't get my head around it. It's so out of character. I don't know why he did it, something's not right Danny." He pulled her into a hug, seeing that she was very distressed about the situation.
"Are you going to get him?" She nodded. "Make sure you ask the teachers exactly what happened. You never know, it could have been provoked. We don't know the situation yet so try not to worry too much." She nodded again and sighed. "Keep me posted?" She smiled and kissed him quickly.
"Will do."
She got to the school in record time. She walked to the doors quickly to see the teacher already waiting for her.
"Ah, hi Mrs Pink." She smiled a little. "He's just through here." They went into a small room. It was the same room she had come to get Ellie from so many times before. It brought back memories, bad memories. Noah was sat on a beanbag, arms crossed, looking more than frustrated. "I'll let you have a word with him." The teacher headed out of the room. Clara sighed and sat down beside him.
"Mummy." He hugged her tightly.
"Noah what happened today?" He looked at her.
"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." She shook her head.
"Explain to me what happened."
"My teacher was giving me work that I couldn't do. And then James called me stupid and I hit him. I got cross. I couldn't do my work mummy." She sighed.
"Why couldn't you do your work?" His eyes searched around the room as he spoke, like was unable to focus on one thing at a time.
"Too much in my brain. My head didn't let me do it." Clara paused to think. "Am I in trouble mummy?" She sighed, she didn't really know what to say to him. He should be in trouble but somehow she felt as though there was something going on that wasn't his fault at all.
"Daddy and I need to talk to you about it but you're not in bad trouble. You need to be a big boy and talk to us without being silly, yes?" He nodded. She kissed him on the head. "Can you stay here for a minute whilst mummy goes and talks to your teacher?" He nodded and laid back down on the beanbag. Clara sighed and headed back out of the door.
"Hi, I've spoken to Noah about this and he says that the boy he hit, James is it?" The teacher nodded. "He called Noah stupid which is why he hit him." The teacher nodded again.
"Right, I didn't know that. I will ask James about it."
"Thank you." Clara hesitated before speaking again. "Does this happen often? I mean, is Noah quite distant in class a lot of the time?" She followed the teacher to sit down in an office to the side of the corridor.
"He is rather distant yes. He has trouble staying focused in class. Although, he has a lot of friends and is a bag of fun so I wouldn't be worried about that side of him." Clara nodded. "At the moment Noah not paying attention isn't so much of a problem, he's young so class work is revolved around the practical side of things. But as he gets older it may start to impact him." Clara nodded again but frowned as she did.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that it may be a good idea to speak to someone about the situation. I've worked with many children over the years and Noah does seem to be less engaged than most of his age."
"What do you think it could be?" The teacher stopped to think.
"I'm not a doctor so I wouldn't take what I'm saying for certain but he could have ADHD. I used to teach a boy who had ADHD and Noah is a lot like him." Clara sighed a little and nodded.
"Okay, thank you so much for your time. Am I allowed to take him home now?" The teacher nodded and showed Clara out. She went back into the room and grabbed Noah's things. He then picked him up, seeing that he had dropped off to sleep, and carried him to the car. Before driving off she sat for a second in silence. She didn't want to believe that he could have ADHD. But at the same time, it made so much sense. He had always been a hyperactive child but sometimes it was so hard to get through to him. Thinking about the possibility made her feel so guilty. So many times they had told him off but now there could be a chance that he just couldn't help it. She hated that.
She got home and laid him down on the sofa to leave him to sleep. She made a cup of tea and sat down, she continued to think through the situation. Danny came home with the girls a while later. Ellie ran off to do her homework and Lily got changed for her gymnastics class. He looked into the living room to see Noah asleep and frowned. He then went into the kitchen to see Clara looking rather lost.
"Clara? What happened?" She sighed.
"Everything got a bit complicated." She said as she rubbed her hands over her face to wake herself up. He sat beside her and took her hand.
"Talk to me." She nodded and told him what had happened in the classroom and what Noah had said about it.
"So Noah really just reacted to what someone had done to him." Clara nodded. "I'm not saying that he was right but he was provoked. So what have they said they'll do?"
"They're going to speak to James and his parents." She looked away as she finished what she was saying. Danny frowned again.
"Why do I sense you've got more to tell me?" She sighed and began to fiddle with his wedding ring as she held his hand.
"I had a word with the teacher without Noah there. I asked her about his behaviour in general and she said that he's always really distant from the lesson and he can't focus. It's like he can't order his brain. Nothing makes sense and it all gets muddled so he gives up." Danny sighed. "She also said that she recommends we get him checked by a doctor because as he gets older things may get more difficult for him."
"What do you think could be wrong though?" Clara hesitated. She had to tell him. She had to.
"ADHD. She's taught a student with ADHD before and she said that she recognises the symptoms." Danny put his head in his hands and sighed. Clara stood up and walked to stand outside the living room door. He got up and followed her.
"Bless him. He's so young." Clara nodded.
"He doesn't need this. But I think we need to get things sorted, for his sake. There's definitely something wrong." Danny nodded back.
"I agree."
Once Noah had woken up, Clara and Danny sat down with him to speak to him properly.
"Mummy and daddy aren't angry at you. But we need to know that you won't hit anyone again. Hitting is bad, you know that. If you get cross or upset tell someone about it. Don't hit. So because of what you did you're not allowed to go for a walk with Cody for the rest of the week." He sighed and nodded.
"Sorry." They smiled.
"It's alright." Clara paused.
"Can I go and play now?" Clara nodded and smiled.
"Yes, off you go." He jogged off happily out of the room. Clara sighed and moved herself to sit on the sofa. Danny did the same. "There's something wrong Danny. I don't want there to be something wrong." He pulled her into a hug and kissed her head.
"Hey, if there is something wrong then we can sort it. Like we always do. It's okay. Do you want to make a doctors appointment?" She nodded.
"Yeah, I'll do it now."
The next day Clara got ready to go food shopping. She'd been putting it off for a week now but the cupboards and the fridge were too bare to leave. Danny had offered to do it but all he bought was chocolate which wasn't great to make meals with. So she said that she'd go. Noah ran downstairs and watched her put her coat on.
"Where are you going mummy?" Clara smiled as she grabbed her keys.
"I'm going shopping."
"Can I come?" Clara thought for a second and then nodded.
"Okay. You have to put your coat and hat on though, it's really cold outside." He did so, with a little help, and then they headed out. Clara decided to walk, she needed the fresh air.
In the shop Noah began to be his normal mischievous self. Clara left him in the trolley for thirty seconds and came back to see him putting all of the crisps from the shelf into it with him.
"Noah, stop." She started to put them all back but he had other ideas. He grabbed the chocolate from next to it and pulled that in as well. "Noah! We don't need this, stop being naughty!" The tone of her voice made him stop for a second. They carried on through the shop but Clara had to stop when Noah started calling her.
"Look mummy! Power ranger pyjamas!" Clara shook her head.
"Not today buddy."
"But mummmmm!" She shook her head.
"No, you've been a naughty boy so you can't have them." She carried on walking, ignoring his moaning.
They paid and began to walk home. Clara had ended up carrying all of the bags as Noah was having none of it. She couldn't help but regret bringing him. She loved spending time with him but not when he was in this sort of mood. She just prayed that they could get home in one piece.
She watched Noah run on ahead.
"Not too far Noah! Stay where I can see you!" He looked back but giggled and kept running. "Noah!" She looked ahead to see the main road not too far from them. "Noah Pink, come here right now!" He sped up more and showed no sign of stopping. She shook her head and began to jog after him. The road got closer and closer and he didn't even look back. "NOAH!" She put the shopping down and sprinted to stop him from going further. She managed to grab him seconds before an oncoming car hit him. "Noah don't do that! That was dangerous! You could have been killed! You have to listen to mummy!" Now, even he looked a little shocked. It was as though he hadn't quite realised what he was doing and then the realisation hit him suddenly. "Come on. We're going home." She grabbed his hand and refused to let go.
As she walked in the door Danny walked over to help her with the bags. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. He immediately moved closer to her with concern.
"What happened?!" She shook her head.
"I'll talk to you in a minute. Kids, can you all go and play please." They nodded and ran upstairs. Clara and Danny moved all of the shopping to the kitchen. Clara sat down at the table and started to cry a little. Danny came to her side. "Clara, what's wrong?"
"We were coming home and Noah ran off ahead. He kept running and he wouldn't stop. I had to run after him and he nearly went straight into the main road. It was lucky he wasn't hit." Danny sighed and sat beside her.
"Come here." She leant her head into his shoulder as he held her in a hug.
"I feel so bad Danny. I should have stopped him quicker." He shook his head.
"No, don't blame yourself. If it hadn't have been for you things would be a lot different now. It's okay, we'll get this sorted." She sighed as he kissed her head. As he did so, Noah walked into the room.
"Why is mummy crying?" He said to Danny. Danny picked him up and put him on his lap.
"Mummy's a bit upset about what you did on the way home from the shops." He looked down and nodded, knowing he did wrong.
"I'm sorry mummy. I didn't mean to make you sad." She shook her head and smiled.
"It's okay. But you must listen to daddy and I when we tell you to do something. You could have been really hurt today." He nodded.
"Sorry." Danny kissed his head and hugged him tightly. He then looked to Clara who gave him the nod. "Noah, mummy and I are going to take you to the doctors tomorrow to talk about you not being able to concentrate at school." He frowned.
"Why?"
"Because we don't want you to get left behind. People think you're a bad boy but you're not. We want to sort that out." He now nodded.
"Okay. Will it be like when you took Ellie to the doctors?" Clara was surprised he remembered any of the Ellie situation. He hadn't been old enough at the time to know what was happening so he had been told about the day instead.
"A little bit yeah."
"So you and daddy will be really sad?" Clara quickly shook her head.
"No no, we'll be fine. We'll all be fine. We just need you to be a brave boy." He nodded again and smiled a little bit. The smile that made Clara's heart melt every time she saw it.
Clara laid in bed the next morning. She was dreading their appointment. After Noah had said it would be like Ellie she couldn't shake the thought. She knew that it was an entirely different situation but, still, the whole thing made her feel nervous. Danny rolled over a while later. Still half asleep he laid his arm over her and pulled her closer. She smiled and moved to lay within is grasp.
"Morning." All she got out of him was a grunt making her laugh. "Oh good morning Clara, did you sleep well?" She imitated what she had expected him to say instead. He laughed a little bit and opened his eyes slowly.
"Sorry. I'm sleepy." She stroked his chin gently and kissed his cheek.
"I know you are. It's okay." They laid there for a while longer before Danny started to wake up properly. He moved so that he could see her face.
"Are you okay?" She nodded.
"Yeah I think so." He frowned.
"You think so?" She sighed and smiled a little.
"I just feel a bit weird about today. I know we need to go and that it'll help Noah but, I don't know, I can't help but feel that it's going to be like Ellie all over again. I don't want it to be like that." He kissed her head and stroked her arm.
"It's bound to bring back memories but, trust me, it'll be completely different. Noah doesn't have PTSD, put it that way. And this is something that we think we know already. So if it is ADHD then we're expecting it." She nodded.
"I guess so."
"I'll be there for you, by your side. It'll be fine." She kissed him softly and laid back into him.
Clara went to get Noah from his room a few minutes later. She smiled to see him laying with his legs hanging out of his bed and one arm resting on the headboard. How he was asleep in that position she didn't know. She woke him up gently. He refused to wake up so she picked him up and walked him to Danny.
"We've got a very sleepy little boy here." Danny smiled as Noah snuggled into him.
"Ah let's leave him for a few more minutes. Look at his little face, I can't bare to wake him." Clara kissed him on the cheek and smiled.
They arrived at the doctors after leaving the girls with Dave. They only sat in the waiting room for a few minutes before they were called in. Clara liked that, the longer she waited the more anxious she got. She just wanted it over with.
Inside the room, Noah sat on Danny's lap and looked around the room as he always did.
"Hi, I'm Doctor James, how can I help you today?" Clara looked slightly to Danny for him to speak first.
"We've got a few concerns about our son, Noah." The doctor nodded.
"Okay, how old is he?" Noah looked up.
"I'm five!"
"Wow! You're a big boy now aren't you!" He nodded and smiled. "What seems to be the problem?"
"He's always been a very... lively, let's say, child. He's very difficult to discipline and often has trouble taking in instructions. It's as though he can't work it out in his head. Clara, my wife, went to his school to collect him just the other day and his teacher said that he always has trouble with concentration in class. He can't focus or listen." The doctor nodded.
"Okay. Was the teacher concerned about this?" Danny nodded.
"Yes, she suggested we bring him to make sure everything is okay. We don't want this to impact him as he gets older, as you'll understand."
"Do you mind if I take him over and have a chat to him?" He pointed to the table beside them. Clara suddenly felt a huge amount of deja vu.
"So Noah. What do you like doing?" He spoke as he scanned the room.
"I like playing with my dog Cody. We got him for Christmas!"
"Wow that's cool! What about at school? What do you like doing there?" Noah seemed fixated on something behind the doctor, a poster on the wall it looked like, so he was quickly losing interest in the conversation as he usually did. "Noah? What do you like doing at school?"
"I like playing with my friends."
"What about learning. Do you like doing your lessons?" He shook his head.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because my teacher always makes me listen to her and I can't." The doctor nodded, Clara could almost see the cogs going around inside his head.
"Why can't you listen?"
"Because my brain doesn't want to. I think about other things. So I can't think about my work." The doctor nodded again.
"Okay, good boy. Do you think you can help me?" He nodded. "You see those toys over there? Could you put them away in the big box for me?" He nodded and started to do so. The doctor came and sat back with Clara and Danny. "Right, so I definitely can see what you mean about the loss of interest and concentration. A lot of five years old are like that, but I'd say Noah more so. From watching him I know what I would diagnose him with. But I have a few questions first, if that's okay?" They nodded. "Does Noah often change what he's doing? So he can't sit and maintain one activity for a long period of time."
"Yes, he's always moving about."
"When he is given an instruction does he ignore it or does it seem more like he can't understand it?"
"He can't understand it, I don't think he has the intention of not complying."
"Finally, does he fidget a lot? Sat at dinner? Whilst watching a movie?" They nodded.
"Yes, he doesn't sit still." Now the doctor nodded. He typed up a few notes and then turned back to them.
"I believe that Noah is displaying a form of ADHD. Within that, I believe he has ADHD-C. This is a combination of the two main types of the condition. It means that he displays hyperactivity but also unresponsiveness." Clara and Danny nodded back. "I sense you were expecting this verdict?"
"We had a feeling that it would be this."
"I want you to know that it is treatable. There is no cure but medication can be prescribed and tailored to what he needs. And there are counsellors who can help him to overcome it and deal with it through cognitive behavioural therapy. I will also refer you to a behaviour specialist to confirm the diagnosis but I don't believe that it will change." Clara looked over to Noah who was happily playing in the corner. "It's a lot to take in Mrs Pink, I know. But you made the right decision by coming today." She smiled and nodded.
"Thank you so much doctor." Danny shook his hand as they headed out of the room.
"You'll get an email about the follow up appointment soon, I wish you the best."
"Thank you."
They drove home in silence. Clara and Danny knew what was coming but now that they had heard it they felt a little uneasy. Guilty even. If they'd known earlier, would they have treated him differently? How was he going to cope in the long run? Did they want him to have medication? So many questions ran through Clara head. She didn't know how to comprehend it.
Andddd slight cliffhanger
