Hello,
Just want to post my story as an adult. Without BP but with a small collection of issues (see below).

It was hard for my mom, and also for me, to get the proper diagnosis (boy, in France, we are at Middle Ages for psychiatry !!) and the proper care for me.
I have a younger sister, now things are getting better that now, she is currently living in Canada for her studies. I am still jealous that she can go and study abroad, finish her studies in time whereas I couldn't (ADHD too debilitating and 5 years .to get the proper diagnosis : ADHD is not recognized from psychiatrists in my country, it is considered as only an excuse for parents not wanting and being able to love their child. Well, I have a rough time fighting for my rights, but I refuse to give up. The worst : only two hospitals in France can diagnose and treat adults with ADHD, since psychostim can be prescribed only from a hospital setting and from a specialist. No wonder I have such a rough time to fight for my rights !! On the top of that, I can't rely on associations here in France, they didn't help me and it's just an euphemism. Sorry for the mess explaining myself, it's becoming emotional and with English not being my mother tongue....)

It was hard to get my bac (French equivalent of SAT: it qualifies you to go to university). But HS were my best years : strict but fair settings. Rules were clear, but some accomodations were made, like the Italian teacher let me help her by taking the notes at the blackboard for the other students.
I still hate when people consider that I have to follow them just because and being a ship (in French, "being a ship" means you follow blindly a group, like a group of ships in the mountain who follows the shepherd. No idea for the English equivalent).
Ms Zoli, my Italian teaccher, was great by letting me help her taking the notes at the blackboard during Italian lessons : despite the deafness (so not very easy in the classroom), despite the AD, I felt so useful. I could help the other ones who needed help.

I didn't want to let the SSD diagnosis stopping me from learning languages. It was diagnosed late, at 14, and ADHD was diagnosed 9 years later.
"Doctors say that learning languages with a prelingual SSD is impossible ? I'll prove them they are wrong !". I am nearly bilingual in Italian, fluent in English and Modern Greek (to be honest, Modern Greek is a life saver when it's time to read scientific articles). Yeah yeah, despite SSD : seems weird, and unbelievable.

Conclusion : never give up about getting the right diagnosis.
Remember that before getting your child to a pdoc, have her evaluated for hearing and sight to an ENT doctor and an ophtalmologist, as behavior labeled as "psych disorder" can actually be a sensorial impairment (how can a little child be calm when he can't hear what you say ?). A pdoc needs to know that before making a proper diagnosis : he can think that the patient doesn't respond because of PDD whereas he's "just" hearing impaired, or he seems not to understand visual cues from PDD whereas he doesn't see them because of sight impairment. Exactly like a pdoc can think about anorexia because the person is very thin, whereas the person is very thin because of constitutional thinness. Not sure the technical word, but I hope you understand what I mean).
Remember also that a sensory impairment can be very tricky to diagnose : don't rely on tests at school (at least in France, they are not reliable at all : they were saying I hear on my stone deaf ear, whereas my deaf ear has always been stone deaf. A malformation in inner ear).
Sensory issues can also come from a sensorial impairment (seems fool but actually isn't) : the remaining sight/hearing compensates for which misses. So the remaining sight/hearing becomes hypersensitive : the mechanism of compensation.
Last but not least, effectiveness of therapies, education etc.... takes time to get its full effects.
And despite any issue the child can have, she will surprise you at the moment you never expect.

--

25 yo, ADHD, sensory issues, Maths LD and prelingual Single Sided Deafness.

Preparing myself to go back to university to study Law (hope to become a lawyer).

Interests : languages (I speak French as mother tongue, Italian, English and Modern Greek), medicine, law, computer.