My daughter just turned five, and she is special needs. The last month, she has had a horrible attitude with her daddy and I. She won't do anything we tell her to, she is downright defiant, even going so far as looking at us a screaming "NO!" at us. My husband and I are perplexed! This little girl literally was one who you would tell her to jump, and she would ask how high just a few weeks ago. She is doing great at Head Start, and her teacher said she has not had any issues with her at school. I am hoping this is just a stage she is going through, and not something worse, but now it is worrying me more, because the last week, she has been just absolutly exhausted. She gets home from school about 3:00PM, and will go to bed. I have problems getting her up to eat supper, and if she wasn't so underweight, I wouldn't worry about her eating, then she goes right back to sleep, and will sleep until 7:15 AM. Then she goes to school, and it is all a repeat, comes home, and straight to sleep. My husband and I are hoping maybe a growth spurt? Hopefully someone can help me understand this. I will be calling her doctor tomorrow just to see, but I mean really, she is just sleeping a lot, and got major attitude, so I am not sure how much help that will be.
Sorry, her special needs are all physical, she has a seizure disorder, developmental delays, and a cyst on her spine. Her doctor wants to see her tomorrow to check everything out, so we will know more tomorrow.
If this is a new pattern and the doctors aren't aware of how much she is sleeping I would definitely put a call in to rule out medical issues. I have no knowledge of special needs issues but I would be concerned if my 5 year old was that tired and not eating.
My first thought is thyroid issues but with ANYTHING you always want to rule out medical first. Make an apt and ask her questions about how she is feeling-other than tired- does she have an appetite? Stomach hurt ect
Once you've rulled out anything medical then you can move forward
Special needs cognitive/emotional, or special needs physical?
I only ask because if it's the 2nd, there could be something that needs to be checked out on the quick.
If you'd left out the special needs part... I'd say she sounds sick. Sudden lethargy/fatigue w/ 16+ hour nights of sleep for a week actually rules out quite a few illnesses... but again... I'd rule out medical causes first off before trying other solutions.
