parents of kids with adhd

[denvergal]

i was just wondering, what symptoms prompted you to get your children diagnosed and who diagnosed them? also if you don't mind asking what sort of therapies have they received and has it been helpful? is medication the only solution?

i'm just wondering because i've been thinking that my ds may have this. at first i just thought that he had a short attention span but it is so difficult for him to concentrate. something in me just keeps telling me that he needs to be looked at for this. dh keeps fighting me on it and so i keep second guessing myself but gosh i just can't ignore that voice that keeps telling me to get him checked out and that something isn't right.

[spanannie]

We started hearing things from the preschool teachers at age 3. He would zone out. He was really distracted by other things going on around him. Very distracted. Sometimes on another planet. He could focus really well on certain things, but then he would spend so much time on those things that he wouldn't get all of his other work done. I didn't realize that he had the "hyperactivity" component until after testing. I realized that his impulsivity--like to turn on a spigot outside at school or touch other kids or not sit still in circle--was a form of hyperactivity.

At younger ages, we tried a lot of occupational therapy, since teachers seemed to think it was a sensory problem or something like that; the OT didn't do anything for his attention problems. Turns out my ADHD hunch was right. It just became more and more clear the longer he was in school. We had him tested at age 6 by a pediatric neuropsychologist. They confirmed my suspicions. Medication is the only thing I've seen results with. Diet change and supplements haven't done anything for us. Now that we're in first grade and there is such a level of self-managing, I don't know how he'd succeed without the meds. He's doing great. He still moves at his own pace and medication certainly isn't a fix-all, but it's helped tremendously and he's doing well in school.

[rfeibelm]

My DS was diagnosed at age 5 by a psychiatrist seeing mostly kids (not specialty boarded though). He did not have any testing done, but we may go through the neuropsych testing when he's a bit older. There was never really any question as to whether he was ADHD in our minds, just when he would end up on meds. He has always been very "active", and the impulsivity started to really affect him in his 4yr old preschool class. He also started having social problems then that needed to be addressed. He has since started meds and is soooo much better! Still challenging, but better. He now has the ability to sit and focus and can complete a task (sometimes). Definitely helpful and needed! No regrets for us.

[pinkmomagain]

Almost everything Annie said! Dd2 is ADHD-inattentive type. Don't know the age of your child...they usually don't want to make the dx if the child is too young. I'm trying to remember when she was dx'd...maybe 7. But a neurologist suspected it at 3 -- and her symptoms were not what one would normally think of as ADHD. She also has responded extremely well to meds...life changing.

[spanannie]

Almost everything Annie said!

IIRC, our kids are on the same meds, too!

[jren]

Almost everything Annie said! Dd2 is ADHD-inattentive type. Don't know the age of your child...they usually don't want to make the dx if the child is too young. I'm trying to remember when she was dx'd...maybe 7. But a neurologist suspected it at 3 -- and her symptoms were not what one would normally think of as ADHD. She also has responded extremely well to meds...life changing.

DH and I have been thinking ADHD could be DD's issue. She's almost 6. No teacher has ever said anything, except how "good" she is. Yes, she's sweet and tries to be "the best student" at school. But I worry as school gets more demanding. She misses a lot. She'll be the only kid of 25 that isn't where she should be at the right time, or that doesn't "hear" the instructions. We're having a lot of extreme behaviour (almost like she's 2 again with the tantrums at home). And she is constantly getting hurt - very accident prone. Trips over air, etc. What do they look for in girls who don't exhibit the classic hyperactive behaviour? Do I take her to a neuro?

We feel we have to do something now b/c of school, and it's started to affect her friendships. Her friends get frustrated with her b/c she doesn't listen or play along. She's sort of just in dream land.

[cchavez]

Jren...sounds like SPD/motor planning issues and possibly CAPD-central auditory processing disorder....get her evaluated by an OT and audiologist.

[denvergal]

jren, that sounds almost exactly like my ds who is also 6! i forgot about being accident prone. he is that too. he's just not paying attention and will trip over just about anything and he too is described as the best behaved child but i completely understand what you mean about missing alot that goes on and especially that is said. i'm thinking that we need to go see a neurologist as our next step. what were you thinking of doing?

[denvergal]

cchavez, what is an OT?

[ha98ed14]

cchavez, what is an OT?

I think cchavez is offline. Her green light is off. An OT is an occupational therapist. You can get a referral from your ped (pediatrician) or you can call a place that does physical therapy (PT) and ask if they have an OT on staff.

[spanannie]

DH and I have been thinking ADHD could be DD's issue. She's almost 6. No teacher has ever said anything, except how "good" she is. Yes, she's sweet and tries to be "the best student" at school. But I worry as school gets more demanding. She misses a lot. She'll be the only kid of 25 that isn't where she should be at the right time, or that doesn't "hear" the instructions. We're having a lot of extreme behaviour (almost like she's 2 again with the tantrums at home). And she is constantly getting hurt - very accident prone. Trips over air, etc. What do they look for in girls who don't exhibit the classic hyperactive behaviour? Do I take her to a neuro?

We feel we have to do something now b/c of school, and it's started to affect her friendships. Her friends get frustrated with her b/c she doesn't listen or play along. She's sort of just in dream land.

They thought my son had a hearing problem, as well. The first thing we did in the 3 year old class was get his hearing tested. Of course, all came back fine.

DS has also been very accident prone. He had a bad bike accident last year because he was fooling around taking his feet off the pedals. He had also knocked out his teeth at age 2. Those are just his major accidents.

I can totally relate to your daughter being the only one that is not in the right place at the right time. Very common with DS. Still one of his biggest problems, even on meds. He's doing well on hearing instructions, though, and doing well academically and socially. He's been on meds for nearly a year.

I'd, personally, take your DD to a diagnostic psychologist that specializes in these sort of things. It would be great if they also specialized in children.

Like I said before, OT is great, but it didn't help DS in this case. It helped with other things, but his OT place, which I felt was excellent, knew very little about ADHD, so I feel like we were "barking up the wrong tree" for a couple of years at $125/hr.

[pinkmomagain]

We use to say the dd was on "Planet [insert child's name here]"...spacey, daydreamer, need to repeat things cause she didn't "hear", flower child, problem interacting with friends because hard to sustain focus on play/rules, couldn't complete assignments in class like everyone else........this was dd.

[jren]

Thanks for the feedback. Helps to hear others with similar issues and getting help. I guess I've been in denial and afraid to act, but that's not really helping her.