A Question for Parents with a Child with an Official ADD or ADHD Diagnosis

Hi - I am so glad you asked this as I have a 5 year old that was diagnosed last fall with ADHD. We were given a prescription for Ritalin however we are going to see another dr. as my son has a lot of anxiety (and the developmental ped. seemed to dismiss the anxiety issue) - speaking with other professionals my son sees if we did strictly Ritalin with his anxiety issues we'd likely see behaviors get worse.......so, we are moving onto a specialist regarding supplements, etc. (going tomorrow).

My son was moving like crazy in the womb! At about age 4 he'd at least sit for 10 minutes or so to watch a video while I cooked or sit and listen to a book but prior to that - no way! Once my son gets revved up there is no getting him to stop doing something he's doing without physical force - it's like an obsession and he blocks everything else out.

My son also has defiance issues - in fact when he was diagnosed ADHD he was given a "presents with some ODD tendencies."

Looking forward to seeing some answers from those of older children.

Oh - behavioral therapy - it worked when both me and my husband were regularly doing it (we did play therapy w/the coaching of a behavioral therapist) but unfortunately my husband has an issue with follow-through - he thinks he can do something for a week or so then is done.......It's sad - my husbands attitude is that my son will just outgrow this 'phase' and will 'be just fine' (frustrating as I know behaviors get worse if not worked on so - hopefully you have more support than me!!!!).

I have two kiddo's diagnosised.

My oldest he has ADD. I never would have thought it in a million years!! But his Dean of Students brought it up to me and suggested I get him tested. I figured she see's him more when he has to concentrate even though he was getting straight A's so I did. Well it turns out he is on an outer ring of ADD... instead of not concentrating... he concentrates too hard on things and has a hard time getting past point A to point B with out finishing point A. We have him on meds and no behavioral therapy. Honestly we don't even see the affects of his meds, they are wore off shortly after he gets home from school. But the school does and he does and it makes a huge difference on his school work. He no longer has to try as hard and is able to get things done way more quickly!

Son #3 has ADHD. I was asking his teachers starting about 1st grade. They kept telling me they didn't see it. Well come 4th grade and they were more or less begging me to get him tested. His teacher had two children who have it and she said he is a classic ADHD child, even though his other teachers were still telling me no. I had him tested and actually after 5 mins the Dr told me he has it but finished the rest of the testing anyways so they could see where he was on the scale. He also only takes his meds at school and we don't get to see the affect of them. But now he is doing great in school and if for some reason he misses his pill in the morning he tells me "mom, I had a horrible day I couldn't pay attention to anything. I hate that I cant control the bouncing off the wall feelings, I like how I feel better and I think I do better when I take my pills" imo that says it all to me on if I made the right choice to put him on pills or not.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD at age 4. My sis in law thought she saw Autism in him (her oldest son is High Functioning Autistic) and I was struggling parenting him so we went and got him tested for Autism and learned it was just ADHD. I was a little offended when the child psychologist didn't know me, had hardly spent any time with him, sat him in front of a computer for a test that lasted a half hour and then said he's ADHD so let's talk drugs. My poor son was just barely 4 and it was hard to even imagine putting him on drugs. So my pediatrician recommended behavioral therapy. That was helpful for me as far as parenting him goes. Things were able to go much smoother at home. Now that he is at school we no longer to the therapy (or insurance stopped covering it, and it was no longer helping, it was just a repeat of everything I'd already learned). He is currently finishing all day Kindergarten and it has been a struggle. He's super smart and is the top reader in his class but he can't sit still in class, he has a super hard time getting along in the unsupervised time of the day, etc. My husband is anti meds so we are doing everything we can to not use meds. The only thing we do is give DS Melatonin at night to help him sleep. He'd lay awake for hours on end before he'd be able to sleep but still wake up at the same time every morning. Now he's getting the rest he needs. I think eventually we will put him on medication especially as he gets a little older in school. The school has lots of stuff in place on his IEP to help him and they have Behavioral Psychologist he observes him on monthly basis. I just have to ease my husband into the idea of medication and prove that we've tried all the other ways to help before we do the medication route. I hope this helps.

My 10 year old son has ADD Innatentive (type II). Off the charts in this category, but he 'scored' quite normal on the impulsive and hyperactive parts, which may be a different experience than yours. He was diagnosed with CAPD in 2nd grade as well as the ADD after his teacher pointed out odd behaviors that had previously gone unnoticed. I think the CAPD is pretty much gone/cured (after some treatment with Fast Forward and The Listening Program), so we are left with the ADD-II. He has never really received treatment specific to the ADD, and frankly I'm not sure what treatment would help other than basic behavioral changes/recommendations (like making sure he is looking at me when I speak to him, etc). His Dr gave us a couple suggestions as well, but I admit I forget to have my son do them. We tried meds at age 7, and did NOT like the results, so we stopped. We just started them again about 6 months ago, because his grades were falling (not turning in homework that was completed for instance), and both my son and I think they are working great for him. The same brand that did not work at age 7 I should add. He takes a very low dose though, and only in the morning. We noticed a huge improvement in his athletic endeavors too. We also only do the meds on school days. My husband is still on the fence about the whole thing, and doesn't think he needs them, but then my husband is the type of person who won't even take cold medicine. ;)

I'm the ADD'r in the family-one of both of my kids will most likely be also since it's genetic--they are just to young to determine yet.

Since much of ADD pertains to a chemical issue I think meds can help tremendously...I also recommend the following resources which have helped me:

www.chadd.org-Association for kids/parents with ADD
http://totallyadd.com/-I love the pbs special
Driven to Distraction: great book!

My ADHD daughter was officially diagnosed at the beginning of fifth grade.
She's not (and never has been) on any meds, though I won't rule it out if it becomes necessary, especially as she goes into high school (she's in seventh grade.) As of now the resource support and IEP is enough to keep her on track, that is, she's getting mostly B's and a few C's in her core subjects.

Looking back she always had the signs, hard time sitting still, hard time focusing/completing projects, constantly talking/singing, etc. Even as a baby she was ALWAYS on the move, she hated the stroller and the high chair, she could never just sit. My older two started going to the movies fairly young, like around three and a half, but my daughter couldn't sit through a movie until she was around eight or so :(

But unlike a lot of ADD/ADHD kids she's never had any behavioral or social problems. She has lots of friends and is very well behaved at school. I think that's why it took some time to diagnose her, we all just kept thinking that she was just a bit immature and more physically inclined and that she would eventually just grow out of it.

I think if your child is still struggling in school once s/he passes second grade then you should consider an evaluation. I wish we would have done it sooner.

I am very interested to see your responses. My 7 year old is now in the process of being diagnosed. We saw a child psychiatrist last week and she really feels he is ADHD with ODD but is waiting for all the school papers to get back to her for an official diagnosis. We talked about meds but we want to try the therapy first (we would have to do that anyway with ODD) to see if that helps. He has always shown the tendencies with the ADHD but didn't have a ton of issues last year in school. We are now starting to see issues with friends outside of school and lots of issues at home. That is why we took him in.

Hi,
I see you are in Denver, and there is a CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), group in Denver that might be good to check out.
Kim or Eric
____@____.com
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The next CHADD meeting is April 16 so you might give them a call. They have lots of information!

Did the behavior challenges start shortly after any vaccinations?