Preliminary results point to ADHD

Hi everyone,

I posted before how I signed my 5 year old son up for Tae Kwon Do in hopes that it will help some of his behavior problems and be a positive experience for him. He has his second class today and one of the instructors is going to work with him privately since the first class was a disaster since he got so unfocused and hyper around all the other kids. At least they are willing to work with us.

We met with the child psychologist again and she said that Ben definitely has ADHD and that we need to treat that. We are meeting with her again next week to specifically go over all her test results. In the meantime, he may also have Asperger's as well so we are waiting for a developmental pediatrician to evaluate him and maybe another psychologist who is in the process of setting up an Asperger's clinic.

I know that many people on this board are anti-medication, and I'm not necessarily pro, but my son clearly needs some help. If he has other social problems that aren't due to ADHD, then maybe we can more easily deal with those through therapy when the ADHD component is being helped some.

It is hard. All these disorders are so subjective and there are no easy answers. My son has so many strengths, but he needs to be able to consistently function in school and at other social/group events. I'm worried about kindergarten in the fall.

Thanks for listening...

Many issues are co-morbid ... treating the ADHD may help some of the others!

(((((GOOD LUCK)))))

Please do not give ritalin adderall is better for ADD

((hugs)) I am anti-meds for MY child, at this particular time. I don't think meds are the worst idea for other kids, but I do think other treatments should be explored first. I've had great luck with magnesium supplements (at least 50% of the RDA of magnesium, preferably more; lots of the kids supplements only contain 5% of the RDA) and taking her off dairy.

My husband's brother had a lot of issues when he was younger. He was diagnosed with ADHD & his mom, a nurse, was so resistant to meds until he told her one day, he wanted to die. He was only 5 1/2 and completely in hell, poor tyke. It took a long time to get things under control. He was up & down on meds (this was 12 years ago, so pretty new). He also had a lot of behavioral & socialization focus along with the meds.

When he switched from a public to a private elementary school with very specific schedules with specialized teachers & a low student ratio, he finally thrived. The kid is almost genius level, but with a nonexistant threshold for frustration and acknowledgement of other people's needs. I can't go into much detail, but his explosions & subsequent depressions were serious. If he hadn't been on constant medication to try to help him focus, I don't think he would have made it.
He took some martial arts, but discovered wrestling was his 'thing'. It helped teach him to relate to others and gave him an avenue to express his emotions.

I don't know if he's taking medications at 19, but he has a full engineering scholarship at an extremely high tech university & is doing well in school. He even has a crush on a girl. It's so difficult to realize that this was the same person as a child who was in so much pain and learning difficult.

It really took the entire village in NJ to help raise him with a blend of meds, counseling, & consistency. If any of those vital ingredients had been left out, I'm certain he would not be alive & in school today.

I know this isn't your son. But it might give you a bit of hope that the outcome for him can be positive It's hard determining what is best for your child. Good luck & Hugs

Don't give up hope, many kids learn to function just fine with AD/HD. Teachers at school (most anyhow) are trained to deal with all exceptionalities, so he will do just fine. Although medication is frowned on by many people, the fact is that it would help any of us focus more, even if we didn't have AD/HD. Studies have proven this over and over again. Obviously the goal would be to go unmedicated at some point, but it could help him deal with it and stay focused enough to learn how to deal with it on his own. Talk with the school about this as well, because there are provisions in place to give him extra support to help. Use every resource you can. I have taught many kids with numerous issues and they all have strong abilities in different areas. Try to find your sons and focus on that. Let the little things go, tackle the big stuff, and praise the good stuff (in short).

Hugs. Use the resources available to you, demand more resources, vent here when needed, be an advocate for your son, you know your child best, be aware but not afraid of meds if they are needed. Hugs.

I'm purposely not touching the medication "debate" simply because I think it sounds like you'll do your research & choose the best option available for your child I personally worry about such young kids with meds for a behavior issue, but not every community or family has all the resources that others do -- just don't give up looking for what you want for your child & I whole heartedly agree that personality fit of the child into a particular classroom/school can often be the biggest factor at helping any particular individual child thrive!

Which is why I too am worried about Kindergarten coming up: we're moving to a new state & Leila's older brother was Dx'd ADD. She recently graduated out of speech therapy, but is still a rather rambunxious girl compared to her classmates -- her old teacher at the Catholic school was not a good fit for Leila, but her PreK teacher at the public school is a great fit! *Fingers crossed* that we're so lucky next semester or I'll have to look into attempting homeschooling + college + working to afford childcare during my classes (since the university I chose just announced it closed it's daycare facility until further notice )

((((Hugs))))

I agree with Skatterbunny. I have one child who has many adhd tendancies, although I don't think she is truely adhd. Diet and supplements help her tremendously. I do think it is wise to look into supplements and dietary changes. The Feingold diet is wonderful for many adhd kids. My preference is to treat naturally, if it works. It doesn't work for all and some kids do need meds. I once had a kid in a classroom where I student taught. The mom was in a wheel chair and refused meds for her son. I wanted to tell her that was like taking her wheel chair away from her!

Thanks for all your replies.

We just got back from Tae Kwon Do and what a difference a private lesson makes! Ben still had his moments of distraction, but he was like a totally different kid. But as soon as the other kids started showing up, I saw him slowly start to loose control where at the end we had to finish his lesson in a private room. A large group situation just overwhelms him. He is going to work privately for a few lessons and then try the group again once he is more confident about what he is supposed to do.

If we do decide to try medication, Adderral XR is what the psychologist recommended to try first. She didn't mention Ritalin so I don't think we'll be trying that.

Ben already has an IEP and is currently working with a resource teacher on his social skills and behavior and he is working with an OT for fine motor. The resource teacher says that he does very well interacting with the other few kids in his small therapy group in her office.

I'm meeting with the resource teacher, the school psychologist and someone from administration in a few weeks at the school where he'll attend kindergarten to talk about Ben's needs and which teacher will be the best match for him. I hope that he'll be able to be in a class that isn't full (meaning 24 kids) and I hope the teacher will be able to challenge Ben academically while at the same time helping him keep control of his behavior. I know that kindergarten is months away so I hope to have a better idea of what will help him before the fall.

ajweeks said:

I know that many people on this board are anti-medication

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Yes, I am one of those people... ... HOWEVER, I do think meds are worth it if nothing else is doing the trick. Life is meant to be enjoyed, right? So if you've exhausted all avenues availalble to your family, then go for it.

As a School Psychologist, I think five yrs old is a little young for meds. Of course, there are probably other School Psychologists who disagree and that's fine. I'd at least wait until school starts before trying meds. See how he adjusts, how the summer goes, etc. I believe most states don't require kids to start K at age 5 - they can delay it by one year. That may really be a good option. As he gets older, even with ADHD, he will be able to exhibit a little more control over his behavior. An extra year, if you can swing it, may really help.

Have you looked into Sensory Integration Disorder? It's often found in children with ADHD and one can even mask the other so it can be hard to get a differential diagnosis.

Nolan is very active but I don't believe he has ADHD (or if he does it may be very slight). He's just an active child. But that's one of the reasons we want to try homeschooling. Lucky for us, he has a late birthday (December) so we have an extra year (or even two if we delay him a year) before we have to make the final decision about Kindergarten or homeschooling. That's definitely not an option for everyone, for whatever reasons - financial, just don't want to, whatever - and that's fine. But just wanted to share that in case you had considered it.

Hope you find something that works for your son that you're happy with

(Oh, and diet can really do wonders. Going gluten free is the first thing I'd try, then maybe dairy-free if you don't have (or don't want) access to raw milk. Acupunture can work really well, also. With young children, they actually don't puncture them - I think they use like a little laser light thing? Not sure but a friend of ours has used acupuncture for her child and she mentioned something like that - !)

Is there a reason for age minimum on ADHD medications? If a 5 year old in kindergarten is struggling, isn't it better to try medication than to wait a few years? What if during that few years, things just get worse, the kid has no friends and his grades start to go down?

I guess those are the questions that I have and I'll have to do some more thinking before we decide. I've read one side that say not to use medication and another that says it is cruel to not give an ADHD child medication because they have a chemical imbalance in their brain and it is like not giving a child with diabetes insulin. Basically the pro-medication stance says that the side effects resulting from not giving a child medication are far worse than the potential drug side effects. I guess I'm wondering if trying medication to see if it does work is worth a try. If it doesn't help or he has bad side effects, we stop.

This is just such a hard decision. Are there tests that can be done to see if a food allergy could be partly to blame? I'm not opposed to diet, but a gluten free, casein free diet would be very hard for us.

I have looking into sensory integration dysfunction, but Ben doesn't really seem to fit. We have worked before with an OT for awhile, but it didn't do anything for him. He doesn't have any specific sensory items that he has trouble with so it is hard to target a therapy that can make him feel better. I asked the psychologist how to tell the difference and she said that kids with SID usually have symptoms that are more specific in a few areas all the time. Ben is not consistent at all, which is a hallmark of ADHD.

I don't want to hold him back because he is already so smart. His birthday is in February so he'll be 5.5 before he starts kindergarten so that is good. He is in a full-day public pre-K program right now so he should be better prepared for kindergarten because of that. I wish we could afford a private school with small class sizes but those schools are so expensive. Basically, if public school is a total disaster, we'll look into that and get family help, but I hope it doesn't come to that. Homeschool isn't an option--I work part-time and I wouldn't have the patience for it. I also want him to learn how to socialize with other kids.

Please do not give ritalin adderall is better for ADD

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Some meds work for some kids, and some don't. It totally depends on each individual person.

I'm right there with you. My son has ADHD, and has some features of Asperger's too. We are trying to narrow his diagnosis down so we can decide what to do with him.