Grant and Chezzi Denyer get candid after daughter’s diagnosis
Grant and Chezzi Denyer have gotten seriously candid on their new podcast It's All True? when it aired last week.
One of the topics they spoke about openly was their daughter Sailor’s ADHD diagnosis, revealing that Chezzi realised she too could have the same disorder after further research.
Home schooling led Grant and Chezzi to the initial realisation that "something wasn't right" with Sailor's learning abilities.
“I noticed nothing going in, no retention, no ability to repeat anything back to me, and I thought what is going on here?" Grant revealed on the podcast.
Chezzi admits her immediate response was to blame herself.
"She kept saying to me 'Mum, I'm really dumb'," Chezzi remembered.
"It is heartbreaking, you don't want your child to say that. I blamed myself at that point."
The couple says that after speaking to a child psychologist they had begun taking Sailor to see, the symptoms soon became clear.
"She started asking me a couple of questions, like 'Does she find it difficult to make decisions in the morning, does it seem like she daydreams a bit?'
"The more we started talking, she said, 'Have you ever thought she could potentially have inattentive ADHD?'"
The parents said Sailor did not fit the stereotypical traits they believed a child with ADHD possessed, so learning of her disorder left them gob smacked.
"Sailor, No, she's my good child! She's not hyperactive and naughty, that's Scout!" she revealed.
The couple made the "difficult decision" to trial her on medication, despite initially being a "hard no" to the idea, due to the "stigma".
The pair says the results were undeniable.
Chezzi also decided to "investigate" the potential diagnosis as she "believed I had ADHD at school", based on everything the psychologist had said.
“The more I researched ADHD, the more I think I've got it. I know how much harder it made my life," she realised.
"I did a questionnaire," Chezzie said, before Grant jumped in: "I've got it here in front of me. I read the questionnaire the first time and I thought 'Oh my god Chezzi you've got it [ADHD]. I couldn't believe it."
It's a diagnosis both Sailor and mother have taken in their stride.
Chezzi said: "It's not a disability; it's my superpower, because now I know what it is and I recognise it. Now I know to utilise my strengths."
Image: Instagram @ChezziDenyer