Karen, one more question: Has your difficult child even undergone either a neuropsychological or multidisciplinary evaluation? The reason I ask is that he's having bad reactions to medications, and he's got a lot of individual dxes that could add up to one global diagnosis. Anytime a child has bad reactions to medications, you have to ask yourself whether the medications are wrong or the diagnosis is wrong. The kind of evaluations I mentioned above can help answer that very important question.
My difficult child 1 was diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety at age 9. After treating him with Concerta and other stimulants for about 2 years, he became more anxious and a little depressed (and some stimulants made his tics worse). We then added Zoloft, and he experienced a prolonged intense manic reaction from which it took months to recover. He is now on mood stabilizers and slowly improving. Just this week we learned from neuropsychologist testing that he may not have ADHD at all. The neuropsychologist who tested him said he believes difficult child 1's inattention and inability to attend to schoolwork are mood related, not ADHD related. Sometimes symptoms can look like one disorder but in reality are another disorder entirely.
In terms of sensory issues, you could have your difficult child evaluated by an Occupational Therapist who has training in this area to see if his sensory issues spill over into other areas besides food (a multidisciplinary evaluation at a university or children's hospital would likely cover this area). Most kids with sensory food aversions are anxious in nature like your difficult child. My easy child has anxiety and sensory food aversions, and we are working with a child psychiatrist who specializes in feeding disorders in young children. She has come a long way in a few short months.
Hope that helps. We're here for you if you have any questions.
