
Tiffanie - posted on 11/23/2010 ( 54 moms have responded )
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I'm going to take my youngest to get his checkup today and while I'm there I'm going to talk to the dr about my 9 year old whom we think has ADHD. I was very against medication for years and in denial I think. If you look at the symptoms list it says the child only needs 6 to be evaluated and mine has 18! My issue is that I know this is overly diagnosed and I get worried about drug addiction in his future. I know that the stimulants are addictive but also because his biological mom, who he lived with until he was 6ish, was a big pill popper and pot smoker. I think a lot of his ADHD "symptoms" were learned behaviors from never really having the discipline early in life and he's a lot better than he used to be. But he is constantly getting in trouble in school because he talks out, plays around, gets out of his seat and he even got in trouble the other day for running out the class to follow his friend, even though he didn't have permission to leave. He is also getting more and more forgetful. He forgets to call us when he gets on the bus, he forgets to bring his lunch to school, or if he remembers then he leaves his lunchbox there (sometimes for a week at a time even though it's at his desk and it's bright red). He forgot a bag of cookies for his Thanksgiving party in class today that was literally right next to his backpack. I don't want to do wrong by him either way. I don't want to put him on meds unnecessarily but I don't want to keep something from him that could help him either. We have tried every form of punishment from grounding to taking away tv, etc.Nothing helps. He is capable of making A's and B's but he struggles to do so especially when he's learning something new because he gives up or he goofs off and then doesn't know how to do it. Someone please give me some advice!
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Phyllis - posted on 11/23/2010
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I would get a referal to a child psychiatrist to have him evaluated. Even with an ADHD diagnosis, medication is not the only course to take. The combination of medication and therapy is generally the most successful, but therapy and certain supplements can be helpful for some kids, particularly if the symptoms are not severe. My son was diagnosed at age 4, has been on meds and in therapy since. He is doing wonderfully. Many kids also benefit from diet changes. There are lots of options. The bottom line is that he needs help and deserves to be able to have the best chance to succeed. A proper diagnosis ( be it ADHD or something else) opens doorways to education plans and other programs that will help him be the A and B student you know he can be.
Kim - posted on 12/01/2010
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Take a moment and just breathe, it will be okay. There are many different types of meds that they can put your son on if he has ADHD. Please understand that these meds only "help" the situtation not make it go away. My son is 11 and has ADHD and is very forgetful all of the time. The biggest thing I have been able to do to help him is to make a check list for my son. He has a "morning" checklist, "afterschool" checklist and a "bedtime". I know this seems like a lot of work for you but it will help keep him on track. Also know that most kids are able to come off the meds by there teen yrs. I know its tough. Good Luck
Bobbie - posted on 11/30/2010
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Sounds like a boy to me. Don't label him. Clean up his diet (remove artificial color, sweetener, maybe wheat?) My son has had plenty of bad days, could it be normal while "normal" just isn't for a boy these days?
Stacey - posted on 11/30/2010
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Never took one of the symptoms tests for ADHD but there was a time when I thought my 4 soon to be 5 year old so was Add or something because he was constantly getting in trouble at daycare -- I mean every day he "had a bad day" where there were times I would get defensive and respond with, "really? can you tell me anything that he did GOOD today?" and this is a reputable day care center -- the YMCA! So I did exactly what you are doing and checking in with his doctor. Come to find out, my child LOVES structure and rules/consistency so the freedom at daycare was too puzzling to him. He didn't know what to do with himself because there was so much "room" to be bored and get into trouble. We moved him to an all day 4K program and his behavior changed drastically. He was no longer the "bad child" he was the very polite creative gentleman that we knew!
My situation is different -- but take a look at his classroom size. Is it too large where he's not getting enough one on one attention? Do the teacher "know" how your child "ticks"? Our son was disciplined with only 1 warning at home and a 2nd warning resulted in time-outs, groundings, etc. At daycare we found out he was given sometimes 10 warnings and always ended up in outbreaks!
One last thing we learned is that our son relished on rewards rather than punishments, so we changed our discipline actions and rewarded him morresoe for the good chices he made rather than always focusing on the bad choices.
Hope this was helpful -- good luck at the doctor!