MEET THE
By Maria Smietana Photos by Heather Gregg – 21 Vines Photography
Davis Family Andrea, Mike and Lacey
Like all new parents, Andrea and Mike Davis were full of hope when they started their family. The two Indianapolis residents had met several years earlier at Primo Banquet Hall when the popular southside venue had Sunday night singles dances. Mike had attended IUPUI and Andrea graduated from ITT Business Institute. They married and led a frugal, low-key life, enjoying flea markets, coin shows, and going out for pizza on weekends.
The Davises brought their daughter Lacey home from Saratov, Russia, when she was only 1-year-old. Lacey appeared to have quite a sense of humor at an early age. When she started talking, Andrea has a sweet memory of her whispering what appeared to be a joke into her dad’s ear, and then bursting into giggles. Lacey is now a 16-year-old high school junior and most memories in the intervening years haven’t been nearly so sunny. “Adopting Lacey was one of the best moments of our lives,” Andrea said, “but at the time we adopted her, we did not realize that she was a special needs child.” Andrea remembers that Lacey was extremely hyperactive during her toddler years, with a non-stop, bouncing-off-the-walls kind of energy. But the first hints that something more serious was going on emerged as Lacey entered school. She naturally had an incredibly difficult time sitting still and paying attention during class, but her teachers also started to see increasingly troublesome incidents between Lacey and her classmates. Unlike most kids, she resorted to hitting and kicking when she didn’t get her way. That was a real red flag for Andrea. Our first visit to Riley Hospital was an entire day, in which she was evaluated by five
22 Special Needs Living • August 2021
different Drs. there and had been given the diagnosis of ADHD. From there began a years-long journey of visits back to Riley. Andrea wanted to continue therapy and behavior modification techniques rather than resorting to medication to deal with her daughter’s anger and excessive energy. “We were given things to try at home, like a reward board, where she could earn points for good behavior, leading to a reward at the end of the week,” Andrea recalled. Unfortunately, those approaches worked for less than a year.
So it was back to Riley, where the family was connected to Heike M. Minnick, Psy.D., HSPP, who had worked with internationally adopted children. “Dr. Minnick did get Lacey to open up some, so we saw that as a positive sign,” Andrea said. Lacey was also diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome around that time. With each passing year, Lacey exhibited new troublesome behaviors. She started to lie and steal at 8, and at 9, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), which occurs in about 40% of children with ADHD, was added to her growing list of diagnoses. Regular sessions at Adult and Child Therapy Centers became part of the family’s routine. Lacey’s doctors started her on Concerta, but it caused her to lose weight, so she couldn’t stay on it. Over the years, she has been on several medications, including Ritalin and Vyvanse (for ADHD), Zoloft (an antidepressant), and Lamictal (a mood stabilizer). Around age 10, Lacey started to make violent threats toward her mom. “While I couldn’t help feeling some fear, I really never
