Talk to me about ADHD
jlw2505
member
I know my DD is still on the young side to really be able to diagnose ADHD but DH and I really think she it based on some behaviors. One of my nephews has a pretty sever case and I see some simlair things from when he was young in my DD. She also has a sever speech delay (is in speech therapy and has an IEP). She was born with a brain injury and the behaviors we are seeing and the speech seem to be the only lasting things from this injury. I will be talking to her ped tomorrow about a referral to the child development center in our medical practice (We have played phone tag today) but her teachers also agree that her behavior is not typical/ normal for an almost 5 year old.
Please share your expeirence with your child - when you started to notice things, when diagnosed, anything you think I might find helpful.
Thanks
Re: Talk to me about ADHD
I'm sorry that you are going through this. It is so hard to see your child struggle. Have you considered an independent evaluation from a neuropsychologist?
Newlyweds since 2007
Our ped has referred us to the medical centers childhood center which is very highly thought of for childhood issues. We are scheduled for our intake appointment on May 31st - on the wait list for anything that might open sooner. At the intake, they will review the stacks of paperwork that we complete before the appointment - this includes my DD's IEP and stuff from her teachers plus background information from DH and I and an inperson meeting. From that appointment, we would be assigned a more indepth team to work with us on a diagnosis and treatment.
I hope you all don't mind me posting, I just started lurking on this board and saw this post. My DS has ADHD along with being growth hormone deficient. We first noticed his ADHD towards the end of kindergarten. I believe he was in 1st or 2nd grade when he was diagnoised. We made the decision to put him on medication (even though I hated the idea of medicating my DS). It has helped him tremendously. Right now with him being 12 we are experiencing anger issues and we can def. tell his ADHD gets in the way as far as him being able to take time to think before he acts. We currently have him in counseling to try to deal with this. From my experience ADHD DS constantly has to be doing something, we always have to remind him to do things. This year has been a huge struggle because things changed with him going to middle school instead of grade school. There is alot more demand on him now and I don't think he was prepared/ready for it. It has been a constant struggle to keep his grades up because he constantly skips doing his homework everyday because he would rather be doing something "fun".
With your DD, get her into counseling (that is where DS was diagnoised). They will also help you with how to deal with this or how to react in certain instances. You can decide if you think medication would help or if you would rather do behavior modification. With DS behavior modification wasn't going to work due to his high activity level. He couldn't concentrate long enough for you to make any lead-way with him. The meds helped to slow him down some. But we still continue to do counseling every week to try to help him with his new found anger issues.
I had noticed signs in my son when he was 4. He was diagnosed with combined type ADHD at age 5. I didn't opt to medic's the medicate until his grade reflected that he had trouble focusing. We have changed the medications a few times and still trying to find a good fit for him. He is almost 12 and with that age I dont know if it's medication or puberty. His grades are doing well. He has some problems with his attitude/tone and can be rude but is oblivious to it.
I moved to this area about 6 months ago from Dayton and my son goes to a pediatrician that specializes with children with ADHD and I find them very helpful and caring. Getting a doctor that cares and explains things well to you is a very big help.
Our son was just recently DX'd. We'd seen the signs since he turned 3 however. We made the decision to go ahead and medicate him now, prior to starting Kindergarten. He has had a really difficult time at preschool and is very impulsive and aggressive with his peers when he is not medicated. It's been about a month since we started him, and we haven't had a single incident with him being aggressive at school since. We're still trialing his medication and determining what will work best for him. The last time we went in, the Dr upped his dosage, but he's been having more frequent emotional meltdowns, so I'm thinking this one isn't the right one for him- I'm going to call this week to see what the Dr thinks, b/c he'll be out of town until May after that, and frankly, I don't think it's fair to keep him on a med that is so obviously not working for him.
We also got a referral to a behavioral therapist- the research that is out there shows that a combination of medication and behavioral therapy is the best course of treatment for most ADHDers. We couldn't get in until early June, so what all this will entail, I haven't the slightest clue.
But I do feel that we're on the right track with him. It took me two years of hearing bad reports from preschool, watching him being socially awkward with his classmates, neighborhood peers and even strangers at the park... it was time. I wanted him to have a fresh, clean slate by the time he went to Kindie so he could start school on the right foot and experience success, not constant getting in trouble b/c of his behavior.