MIDLAND, Texas — Cayden Ramirez is a six-year old who is about to start First Grade at Emerson Elementary soon.
His mom, Velia Macias found out he had Attention Deficit Disorder, ADHD, at a young age.
“I did find out when he was very young. He's just a little ball of energy," says Macias.
She's learned that a rewards system and a steady routine works for Cayden.
"If he does do something right or good or awesome then we reward it. We reward the good behavior."
"Let’s say I was good in church, I’ll probably get something from the treasure box but if it’s near my birthday, I’ll probably get a birthday cake," says Ramirez.
A system she hopes to continue once he returns back to Emerson in the next couple of weeks.
However like an parent, Velia Macias still has her concerns.
"I do worry that if somebody’s in his face or if another child is too close. I do worry about those things, I do know that I am playing it by ear right now, right now this is working for him. I’m not anti-medicine, I’m not anti-doctor," says Macias.
Despite her worries, she does acknowledge and encourage parents with a child with ADHD to find what works best for them.
"Figure out what you should and should not do. What's okay and what's not okay and then just stick to it. Stick to your punishments and rewards absolutely the routine, for me is what does it."
Once Cayden starts goes back, Macias plans to still advocate for her child, something she urges everyone to do.
"With the teachers just have that open communication and just talk to them and just let them know like 'hey I really do need to know if I need to know what he’s doing and if he’s not okay, let me know' and we'll fix it, we'll figure it out," says Macias.