How to Deal with a Child with ADD

Updated on February 13, 2007
M.L. asks from Jeffersonville, IN
8 answers

My 8 year old is A.D.D. with some O.D.D. tendencies. She has serious issues listening to anyone at home other than me. She has impulse problems that i have been taught is a symptom of A.D.D. She yells at her siblings and is very rude. She gets very angry when they treat her the same way. Time-outs, corners, and even spanking her isn't helping. She is medicated and it helps her some but not a lot. At school, she is fine with a little problem, but nothing major.

Home work is a battle if it is spelling or reading due to the fact that I also believe that she is Learning Disabled and am in the process of having the school test her for it. So when she has homework in those 2 subjects, it really causes a battle even for me.

If there are any suggestions that I can try on her I would greatly appreciate it.

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T.B.

answers from Lima on

Hello i was looking into helping my son that is 4 with his behavioral problems with a diet change. i believe that if we can change the chemicals in their bodies then we can change the problem. its worth a try i have a message out to get some helpful food ideas. so if this is something you want i will pass on the diet changes to ya.

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E.F.

answers from Louisville on

I would work on resolving the O.D.D. very very aggresively. There are some good books on the subject that you might want to read. I've read one that suggests O.D.D. kids are very sensitive but need to connect their missdeeds with emotional harm of others. Get sad, not mad when your daughter does something bad. Punishments, especially spanking need to be avoided because it makes the kid fearful, defensive and violent. A good family therapist can work with her and teach your family some ways to handle it. I think special ed is also a good idea. Best of luck.

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L.R.

answers from Indianapolis on

My son was diagnosed with adhd when he was 10 yrs. old. He is now 20 yrs. old. He had alot of impulse problems all the time. I would receive notices that he was not behaving at school. He took LD classes through his entire life. We went through many visits to the counselors. I think back now in time, he was the only one to make a difference in himself. Noone could change the way he felt.The school he attended was not very helpful to him. He was a senior this year for two years straight. He still didn't graduate. He finally quit this year. After the new year, I am hoping to find some help for him to go get his GED. He was on different medications throughout. At first, the medication was successful but, as time went on the medication did not do him any good. The only thing you can do is keep your head up and hopefully things will get better for you. It will take quite a long time. Things do not happen over nite. I went through alot of sorrows from my son. I know it may sound bad but, I felt a little relief when my son dropped out of school. I always wanted him to graduate. I knew at the age of 20 and still needing 14 credits; he wouldn't graduate for along time. I hope this helps. Rheam

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T.L.

answers from Charleston on

http://addcare.meetup.com/cities/us/in/jeffersonville/

My gf grew up in IN and says there used to be a support group in Jeffersonville. We looked online and found this site it might help some. Also, have you tried making a game out of her homework. For every problem she does give her some kind of reward. Good luck and Happy Holidays.

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T.B.

answers from Parkersburg on

Hi my daughter that is now 19 was diagnosed ADD and ODD when she was about 12 so I know what you are going through. My son is 13 and also ADD and ODD. I'm sorry I don't know of any magic to help, it took a lot out of our famil. Maybe getting her involved in Karate might help. My brothers son has problems like that and it helped him. Basketball helped my duther greatly. Also, we were able to get my daughter on SSI which helped us get her a computer and software to help her with her math and spelling. Flash cards are great as are todays interactive computer games. Good Luck and if I can be of any further help please feel free to email me at ____@____.com

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A.W.

answers from Lafayette on

As a mother with 8 kids...half of which are ADHD, first let me say you need to learn to pick your battles. Don't get angry about every little thing. If she is doing something that will harm her or someone else then do what you need to do...otherwise warn her of the outcome of her actions and if she doesn't heed your warning let her learn the hard way. For disiplining, if you can find information on a parenting style called 1-2-3 magic, it works very well for ADD and ADHD children. You have to try to keep a sense of humor as much as possible with these kids or you'll go nuts. And as far as the spelling and reading go...repetition is key. Focus more on the spelling....you can't read if you can't spell. Every letter has a sound...if you can drill her on the sounds the letters make then she can learn to sound out most words...it's called phonics and it's the easiest way to teach a child to read. The spelling goes like this...make her write her spelling words 10 times each...she should say the word and then say each letter that she's writing as she writes it. She should do this every day from the day she brings home the spelling list until the day she takes the test. I do that with my daughter and she gets 100% on every test. Also...apparently you have a computer or you wouldn't be on here...download a game called text twist...you may have to help her sometimes, but let her play the untimed mode. It's a game so she'll enjoy it and at the same time it will help her learn reading and spelling. Bookworm is also a good one...but once again you may have to help her when she needs it. And you can talk to her teacher and have her teacher give you the address for the website that they use in school so she can practice her skills. I don't like the term LD...she's not disabled, she's just lagging a bit...she can learn...you just need to see what works best for her and it might just take her a bit longer. But keep in mind that with ADD comes a really bad short term memory...show her something once and 10 seconds later she has no clue what it was...that's why repetition is so important, so you can shift things from the short term memory to the long term memory. Above all, make sure there are no distractions when doing homework. All it takes is sitting to close to a window and bird flies by or a dog barks or a sibling to bounce their leg or tap a pencil and the concentration is lost. And try not to get upset because that's a big distraction in itself. Be patient, be consistant and give both you and her a break.

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J.H.

answers from Evansville on

3 of my 4 children have ADD, on with ADHD..... I have had alot of the same problems at home. My middle daughter was really having a hard time in school and I had her tested. She qualified for the Special Education program. She only took the Special Ed classes in 3 subjects, English, Math, and Reading. She was in this program for 2 years and I cannot tell you the difference it made for her. She is now out of the Special Ed classes and is an Honor Roll student. The 2 yrs that she was in the program gave her the one on one she needed to get the basic skills of spelling, reading and math skills down. I was very hesitant about putting her in the Special Ed classes, as most kids get teased for this or at least used to. But I cant tell you how glad I am that I did it for her. She is a much better student and her behavior is much better with the extra care she got. She really needed it. I wish I had done the same with my oldest child, she is still struggling in school to this day because she didnt learn all she needed to when she was younger.

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J.C.

answers from Louisville on

My 13 yr. old son had the same problems. since kindergarden every teacher he had said, test him for A.D.D he was evaluated 4 times. that was not the problem. He got dioganosed with a mild case of turrets. Most teachers that see these sympot,say A.D.D. However some of the same treatment that work with children that have turrets, work with children with A.D.D and A.D.H.D. I have done alot of research and talked with therepist, child psychologists, and child psychicaitrists. We have found, Limit sugars, structured days are helpful. Same thing everyday at about the same time, smaller class rooms, sitting your child up front near the teacher gives less distraction to whats going on in the room. helping with organization. focus on the little postitives, rather the little negtives. Get her invloved into energy filled activties.Find something that interst her enough to focus on it. karate, dance, basketball, drawing, etc..With my son he has always had the go of 6 kids in one, even since a baby. my mom said the daycare should charge me for 6 instead of just one. As he got older, more and more things started coming out. Inablity to focus and stay on task. howework was a battle. him screaming and crying and yelling etc.. didnt want to go to school, .. outburst. We would be sitting quitly and next thing he is burtsing out, before we knew why, we figured he was just being rude, we would put him in time-out or take things away. when we found out he has turrets and they told us alot of children that have the symptoms of ADD actually have turrets, and medication used to treat ADD on a child with turrets will make the symptoms worse. My son is on 2.5 mg of Ablifiy. half a pill one a night. It helps to slow down the nurotransmitters and balance out the chemicals in the brain. Thats what ADD and ADHD and turret are, chemical inbalance. I would talk with your DR. about her seeing a child psychologist and child pschyratrist if she is not already seeing them. Talk with your teachers about setting up more one-on-on time with her through Occupational therepy or AIS. where they would come and take her out of regular class 2-3 times a week and work woth her on her sruggles, reading, writting, math,,etc. even teacher more ways of being organized to help her and give her less stress . I hope this help in some small way. please let me know how things turn out.

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