Have any of your kids be diagnosed with ADHD?

[nesser1981]

I'm thinking about starting the process to get Cooper tested.



If you have a little one that has it, could you give me some information on what led you to get them tested and how you treat it.



I'm a little nervous about the idea of giving him medication, and I'm not sure he has it. Just curious on any background information you can share from previous experiences.

[KristinCB]

Have his teachers brought up concerns to you?

[nesser1981]

I did, we have been talking about it the last couple weeks. She's watching him a little closer to see if she notices he's having trouble staying focused, or just being stubborn.

He's very busy at home, like there are days he'll just run from one side of the room to the other, for no reason.


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[nesser1981]

I have no experience with it, Sean think he has ADD, but hasn't officially been diagnosed.

And since Coop is my oldest boy, I don't know if it's just boy behavior or something else.

He's been getting in trouble at school for things he knows he shouldn't be doing, he wanders around the class a lot, he's gotten in trouble more than once for drawing in the teachers books, messing with her stuff.

His art teacher told me he seems to have trouble just sitting still.


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[mariewilcox]

Mine haven't but both of my sister's kids have. It started with the teachers noticing that they were always wandering around the room and not focusing on what was going on (but not until they were in 2nd or 3rd grade because before then pretty much all kids wander around and don't always focus ) The school tested them and recommended meds but my sister and her DH were very reluctant so they started with dietary adjustments and other non-drug things but after a year they finally started their son on meds and it's made a world of difference. He takes a drug holiday during the summer months and starts back on the week before school. My niece just started on meds this school year and it's made a big difference in her focus and her confidence at school has soared.

[nesser1981]

Good to know Marie. Cooper is in 1st grade, he'll be 7 in February. I don't see a focus problem at home.

But, I see the not sitting still, being restlessness, etc.

I guess I'm wondering what should be a red flag that's the issue.

Another thing his teacher told me today is that in first grade, in both classrooms there are more boys than girls, and it could be all the boys are just feeding off of each other.

Originally Posted by mariewilcox

Mine haven't but both of my sister's kids have. It started with the teachers noticing that they were always wandering around the room and not focusing on what was going on (but not until they were in 2nd or 3rd grade because before then pretty much all kids wander around and don't always focus ) The school tested them and recommended meds but my sister and her DH were very reluctant so they started with dietary adjustments and other non-drug things but after a year they finally started their son on meds and it's made a world of difference. He takes a drug holiday during the summer months and starts back on the week before school. My niece just started on meds this school year and it's made a big difference in her focus and her confidence at school has soared.

[Lyd]

I've been wondering about this with my 4th grader. He has always been a super active kid, but it's really getting to be a problem at school lately. He doesn't get his work finished and ends up with a lot of extra homework for things that should have been completed during the school day. It is really affecting our relationship with him. I've also noticed that he often stands up while he's eating and will start to walk around the kitchen. I'm constantly telling him to sit down if he's still eating. He also has anxiety that is in pretty high gear lately, and I know that that has an affect on his ability to focus as well.

It's so hard to know what to do. If there's something wrong, and a diagnosis will help us address it and make it better than it is, that's what I want. But, I don't want to slap a label on him just for the sake of having a name for his behavior.

[nesser1981]

I wonder too, how can you know at 6, aren't they all busy and restless at that age?

[nesser1981]

Exactly!

I did a little ADHD quiz online and scored him at a 35, which said possible ADHD, so who knows. I think I'm going to give him another couple of months to see how things go.

Originally Posted by Lyd

It's so hard to know what to do. If there's something wrong, and a diagnosis will help us address it and make it better than it is, that's what I want. But, I don't want to slap a label on him just for the sake of having a name for his behavior.

[carrie1977]

My daughter is 11 (a 5th grader). She has always had issues with focusing at school which reflect in her grades. Only last year did her teacher say that she could have an ADD issue with focusing. Luckily, the teacher has a son with the same issue so she knew how to help her while in class.

This year at her parent/teacher conference her teacher said the same thing. She has an issue with focusing but he doesn't think she'd need to be medicated. I did just start using some essential oils on her and in the last two weeks her grades have shown improvement (I get an email daily with assignments that have been entered in). She says she notices a difference so I'm going to just stick with that.

[nesser1981]

What kind of oils do you use?

Originally Posted by carrie1977

My daughter is 11 (a 5th grader). She has always had issues with focusing at school which reflect in her grades. Only last year did her teacher say that she could have an ADD issue with focusing. Luckily, the teacher has a son with the same issue so she knew how to help her while in class.

This year at her parent/teacher conference her teacher said the same thing. She has an issue with focusing but he doesn't think she'd need to be medicated. I did just start using some essential oils on her and in the last two weeks her grades have shown improvement (I get an email daily with assignments that have been entered in). She says she notices a difference so I'm going to just stick with that.

[adi&co.]

Marcus has it. I don't give him medication. We give him a supplement of B vitamins to help him out and it really does help him focus!

[carrie1977]

I use a blend by doTerra called InTune. It's a blend of different oils known to promote clarity and focus. It comes in a roller ball and you can roll it on their feet, up their spine to the base of the skull or on the neck just to the sides of the base of the skull. It doesn't have the greatest smell in the world (very woodsy) so we really only put it on her feet. We also diffuse other oils. Vetiver and/or lavender are good for children that need to calm down. Peppermint is good for concentration and focus. There really is an oil for everything....lol!

Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

[rach3975]

We started suspecting Ben might have ADHD when he was about 4, we were referred for testing when he was 5, and he was officially diagnosed at 6, right after kindergarten. Technically he's diagnosed with combined type because he struggles with both focus and impulsiveness, but he's not hyperactive. The first red flag for us was his extreme distractability. At 4 he couldn't make it through an age appropriate task (like putting on his pants) without getting distracted and needing to be redirected multiple times. Cleaning up toys just didn't happen. If he had a dumped bin of cars in front of him, we had to coach him through it one car at a time (pick up the red one, pick up the blue one, etc) and he still had trouble seeing it through. He focused beautifully on things he was very interested in, but it was nearly impossible to get him to stay focused on things he didn't want to be doing. His impulsivity came through in lots of ways, but one of the most obvious was that he frequently did things he knew he shouldn't, like hit or splash sink water ALL over the bathroom. Lauren was 3.5 when Ben was diagnosed, and I could trust her to follow rules and make good choices much more than I could her 6 year old brother.

Ben has other issues as well: high functioning autism, a sleep disorder, sensory processing disorder, and a motor planning disorder. For most of his diagnoses there's no easy way to help; it takes hard work, therapy, and time. So when he was diagnosed with ADHD it was an easy choice for us to try meds; if there was anything we could do to make things easier for him, we felt like we had to try. We found one that worked well for him right away, and it helped a lot.

Ben is in 3rd grade now and doing so much better. At home we don't see a ton of difference in medicated vs. unmedicated behavoir so he's med-free on weekends. (He used to need meds at home, too, but he has matured a lot. We still see the effects of the ADHD, but it's much less disruptive than it used to be.) Meds still make a big difference at school. I was waiting for a new prescription so he hasn't been taking his meds for a week or so. His teacher didn't know that, and I got an email from her yesterday saying that he'd been needing a lot more support than usual to stay focused and on task.

Good luck with everything!

[luckyme]

There are some supporting items you can buy as well to help calm/focus kids with attention issues. There are weighted blankets, weighted vests, fidget toys, fabric stretchy cocoons... Lots of options - you can check some of them out here:
http://funandfunction.com/calm-and-focus.html

[nesser1981]

love all this information ladies! I think I'll try the B vitamins and check into essential oils and see if either of those help.

[KristinCB]

We notice a huge difference with keeping lucas off of anything that is made with color or artificial flavoring as well

[julifish]

Hannah has ADD and we've been using medication since she was in 2nd. Her first grade teacher knew we me well, she had my older daughter a few years earlier. She told me at the end of the year that she knew there was something in Hannah's head, but she just couldn't figure out how to get it out. She looked me straight in the eye and told me I needed to talk to my pediatrician because Hannah needed something to be able to focus and I needed to do it soon. So I tried dietary changes and then finally bit the bullet and talked to the pediatrician.

The pediatrician and I talked for a long time and then we sent surveys to her teacher and the head of the after school program for them at assess Hannah. We did one too. I remember clearly it was right before Christmas when the pediatrician told me she qualified as having ADD and she recommended we try medication. We started with Vyvanse. The difference was absolutely amazing. She went from being the kid never got anything and could barely sit to eat or learn to the perfect student. She could read, should could focus...she won student of the month the first month. It was crazy.

Downside is that the Vyvanse made it hard for Hannah to fall asleep, we did use Melatonin and it worked. It also made her not want to eat. She stayed at 50 pounds for a year and half before we decided to switch meds. So then I had a 4th grader that only weighed 50 pounds, was not growing, but she could focus and have friends. We switched to Stattera. She started gaining weight but then she was so overly emotional. It was terrible. She would have anxiety and crying attacks if she saw a homeless person asking for money on a corner. So we took her off and then switched to Concerta. We've adjusted the Concerta over the years as she's grown. She started gaining weight, she's grown - it is a game changer for us. It works and it makes her able to be a normal kid in the classroom. She does have an IEP that gives her the ability to stand in class if needed (when we switched from Strattera to Concerta her teacher did not work with us and punished her for not being able to sit still.) She also gets extra time for any timed tests, so she does all standardize testing with a group of kids that also get extra time or other modifications.

I can understand not wanting to medicate - I was there before I talked to the pediatrician. The thing with ADD or ADHD is that it can be controlled different ways. Maybe food, maybe medication, maybe strategies to cope....I think doing your research, talking to other parents, taking to your doctor - it's the only way to figure out what is best for your situation.

I have to say that I'm glad we decided to medicate. I have friends with kids with ADD and each pediatrician seems to have a different take on things. We've opted to reduce Hannah's dose this school year so she continues to eat and grow while we still have time (she's pretty small for her age). My doctor doesn't advocate for giving two does in a day, but my friend's doctor does. They also don't give medication on weekends. My doctor doesn't like the up and down that creates so we do an all or nothing approach. You have to feel your way through it and realize it might take a few tries to find the right thing for Cooper.

Sorry this is a book - but let me know if you want to FB chat or something. The difference in Hannah amazed me. I know she wouldn't be the young lady she is today if we hadn't made the decision to medicate. Hope this perspective helped!

[nesser1981]

Thanks Juli!

[BrattyMeg]

My oldest is 18 and still takes meds....been a life changer for her and me! She was 8 when she started meds

Kids with Attention Deficit Disorders can't differentiate the importance of sounds and things happening. Our pediatrician explained it like the bird chirping outside the window is as important to the child as the teacher talking in the room....

Some of Cooper sounds like BOY and AGE...but you are his mama and know him best so go with your gut feeling. I was a big advocate for NO meds for the longest time (I was a "ritalin kid") and it was a last resort when I realized it wasn't a parenting or behavior issue..changed life for the better though

[nesser1981]

Thank you guys all so much.


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[shupe]

My DD was diagnosed with ADD (inattentive only) in 3rd grade and started Vyvanse. I could echo the academic turn around success stories from above, but the most meaningful thing to me was when she had to write an essay for her 8th grade honors English class on a life changing moment. She described that day in the doctor's office vivdly and then said something to the effect of "I didn't know it then but this moment (getting a diagnosis and starting medicine) would change my life for the better forever." Still makes me teary-eyed (in a good way)

[Kara]

My son's kindergarten teacher brought this up with me 2 years ago. He was easily distracted and lacked focus in class. He's now in 2nd grade and while he's still easily distracted and kind of flighty, I think it's just his personality and the age. Little boys are just made to sit at a desk for hours each day! He does so much better with school at home -- his favorite is to do practice spelling words while bouncing on an exercise ball.