ADD and ADHD, could my child have one of these.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Heather on July 13, 2009 at 7:29am

Holly,
Deep breath! ADD & ADHD are the most over diagnosed and easy outs for administrators that don't want to take the time to tech a student how they need to be taught. No, they don't always have time, but they need to make time. Each child learns differently. I have a teaching background and they need to make time to tailor a plan to your student, demand it next year for his new teacher. Yes, you can change his diet. Gluten can aggravate a lot, as can "refined" sugar, natural sugar is better the ones you find in fruits and vegetables. It's a million little things you can change, it's okay.
Please contact me off here if you'd like, you aren't alone hon!
Heather

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Stafford on July 13, 2009 at 7:33am

I have a child who was diagnosed at age 4. She was put on medication and it was the best thing that ever happened to us. She struggles with slow processing and memory issues. You need to see a child psychiatrist or a neuropsychologist who could do the tests and give you a proper diagnosis. My daughter, age 18, still deals with her ADHD and is very impulsive and has poor judgement. During the teenage years, alcohol and drugs come in to play. If you don't get them tested early, it can lead to bigger problems later in life.

On another note, I have a niece who was hyperactive and was tested at age 12 and she didn't have it. Over the years her hyperactivity has subsided and she is doing fine without medicine.

The thing to look for is how it impacts them in the classroom. Is your child still learning and doing well in school? If so, maybe medication isn't necessary. Trust your gut, teachers are afraid to "label" a child.

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Permalink Reply by Stefanie Mullen on July 13, 2009 at 7:58am

That is all great advice! I have three boys and with my first son, teacher after teacher asked me to have him tested for ADD/ADHD. I refused, and instead got busy reading and with the help of others realized it was anxiety that was causing his inability to focus. Over the years we have helped calm him, reassure him and have been fortunate to have better teachers that were more BOY oriented. He is now 14 years old, going to be a freshman in high school this fall, getting great grades and has a fabulous social life.

Kathleen Hoffman said:

I don't know where you are living but this situation has been a huge problem for me as well. I have some definite views about this. I've written a bit about it on my blog www.answersformoms.org but I would like to also comment here. First, I would like to say that I am extremely tired of teachers attempting to diagnose boys especially with ADD or ADHD simply because they don't sit for as long as girls. I'll be honest when I say that I don't believe it is natural for boys to sit in school at desks for the extended periods of time without moving that are required of them. Teachers nowadays push worksheet after worksheet at the children expecting them to complete multitudes of the papers. If the child doesn't complete, the teacher takes away the childs recess. For boys, this is truly non-productive. Recess is a time when boys get out some of that excess energy that they have naturally. I believe if the teachers would, instead of pushing children to finish worksheets, which are made for only one type of learning style, would attempt to utilize a variety of techniques, we wouldn't have so many boys diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and on drugs. That is my rant. Now for some more information. We have found that, faced with worksheets, our child's anxiety went over the roof. He couldn't write that much.or that quickly. He truly would shut down --sitting still and not working--because the teacher kept yelling at him to write faster. His anxiety has become generalized. We have finally found a pediatrician who will work with us. This is what we would recommend. Talk to other moms in your town. ASk about pediatricians and see if there is anyone in your town or in a town nearby who will prescribe medicine for anxiety disorders. Ask your stepson what is happening at school and believe him if he says that he is scared or worried about making a mistake or about writiing.. He probably is. The doctor that told you to give him allergy medication is not following recommendations of the
American Pediatric Association when it comes to giving over the counter allergy medicines (like benedryl) for something like this. Don't return to that doctor. I've also written on my blog about women heroes--moms who have gone to great lengths to help their children suceed--go read about them --it will help you to have courage in this quest to help your stepson.

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Permalink Reply by StacyMandujano on July 13, 2009 at 12:45pm

I have a child that has ADD so i know how hard it is to have them to stay still. i hope we can chat and help each other yhaoo MI usalynn@yahoo.com maybe we can help looking to talk to you. take care

Stefanie Mullen said:

That is all great advice! I have three boys and with my first son, teacher after teacher asked me to have him tested for ADD/ADHD. I refused, and instead got busy reading and with the help of others realized it was anxiety that was causing his inability to focus. Over the years we have helped calm him, reassure him and have been fortunate to have better teachers that were more BOY oriented. He is now 14 years old, going to be a freshman in high school this fall, getting great grades and has a fabulous social life.

Kathleen Hoffman said:

I don't know where you are living but this situation has been a huge problem for me as well. I have some definite views about this. I've written a bit about it on my blog www.answersformoms.org but I would like to also comment here. First, I would like to say that I am extremely tired of teachers attempting to diagnose boys especially with ADD or ADHD simply because they don't sit for as long as girls. I'll be honest when I say that I don't believe it is natural for boys to sit in school at desks for the extended periods of time without moving that are required of them. Teachers nowadays push worksheet after worksheet at the children expecting them to complete multitudes of the papers. If the child doesn't complete, the teacher takes away the childs recess. For boys, this is truly non-productive. Recess is a time when boys get out some of that excess energy that they have naturally. I believe if the teachers would, instead of pushing children to finish worksheets, which are made for only one type of learning style, would attempt to utilize a variety of techniques, we wouldn't have so many boys diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and on drugs. That is my rant. Now for some more information. We have found that, faced with worksheets, our child's anxiety went over the roof. He couldn't write that much.or that quickly. He truly would shut down --sitting still and not working--because the teacher kept yelling at him to write faster. His anxiety has become generalized. We have finally found a pediatrician who will work with us. This is what we would recommend. Talk to other moms in your town. ASk about pediatricians and see if there is anyone in your town or in a town nearby who will prescribe medicine for anxiety disorders. Ask your stepson what is happening at school and believe him if he says that he is scared or worried about making a mistake or about writiing.. He probably is. The doctor that told you to give him allergy medication is not following recommendations of the
American Pediatric Association when it comes to giving over the counter allergy medicines (like benedryl) for something like this. Don't return to that doctor. I've also written on my blog about women heroes--moms who have gone to great lengths to help their children suceed--go read about them --it will help you to have courage in this quest to help your stepson.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica Linke on July 14, 2009 at 6:35pm

Hi Holly,

I understand where you are coming from. My 9 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was in first grade. He started to show signs early in kindergarten however the pediatrician wanted to wait to test him. Finally in first grade the lack of focus as well as the inability to sit still in class, caused my husband and I to seek help. We were sent to a pediatric therapist and he observed our son in the office as well as had the teachers fill out paper work describing his behavior in detail. It was a legthy process but it was worth it. I did not want him to be medicated if it were not neccesary, and it gave me peace of mind that they were taking all the proper steps before they did medicate him. he has been on medication for 3 years now and his school work has been outstanding. He had thrived so well in school and he does not get frustrated as much. The doctor did mention that a child with ADHD thrives on routine, so we started making a checklist for him every morning and he has a chart of things that he needs to do throught the day, and he puts stickers on when he finishes each thing, then at the end of the month he can turn in all his stickers for a reward. This has really helped him. I know it is frustrating to be going through this, just know the teachers should be there to help you and help him be a success in the classroom. They cannot force you to medicate the child if that is not the choice you make. I hope this helps you in some way.

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Permalink Reply by Deborah Stewart on July 21, 2009 at 12:52am

It's a tough call and every child is unique.
I would put my kids on any medication due to their behavior. If you feel that it is unnecessary, most likely it is. You know your children better than anyone.

Debby Stewart
http://www.TheHealthForum.org

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Permalink Reply by AdSpark on July 23, 2009 at 2:47pm

Here are my thoughts:

1) As others have said, the testing at school is free. We just did this at the end of last school year with my 2nd grade daughter. What's great is that now the teachers know why my daughter acts like she does and can better accommodate (instead of being frustrated at my daughter). My daughter was put on an IEP (individual education program) and a 504 (which requires certain modifications in the classroom to help her like giving her more physical activities like being able to get up from her chair more often, sitting her closer to the teacher, etc.) We also found out she is gifted. I had no idea as her school work did not reflect this at all! And we discovered she struggles with flipping letters and numbers. So the good thing is that we KNOW what this is about now and have a plan of action and goals to reach (both the school and at home). Not so great is that the free assessments only go so far as to determine if a child needs an IEP and/or 504. The tests are limited. If you choose to pay (and it's expensive) you can get private testing done to learn a lot more to help your child. But that is purely optional.

2) It's your choice whether to medicate or not. So even if your child is diagnosed, you don't have to pay for medication. We are not medicating at the moment but are trying to keep our minds open for that possibility later down the line when things get even harder at school.

3) Yes there are things you can do food wise. Some food items can cause adhd/add-like symptoms so if you discover that and can eliminate it, great! So far we have not found that to be the case for my daughter. As mentioned by others, food dyes and other things can cause symptoms like adhd/add. I do make sure she heavys up on her protein in the morning and lunch. Omega-3 is supposed to be helpful and I give her that. I have not noticed any difference in doing this and all the other things I do to make sure she has super healthy meals but I will keep doing it.

4) Yes there are things you can do to help your child learn skills to be more focused. Yoga, meditations for children, etc. I haven't seen a big improvement in my daughter on these things but I still do some of them in order to instill early on these skills that might help her later on in life.

5) I do think that as they make school harder and harder (1-2 grade levels higher than when we were in school) that there are some kids who do great and while there are more falling to the fringes. Maybe my daughter will excel in a job that is outdoors and not sitting at a desk but for now we have to deal with her needing to fit into the traditional classroom constraints of sitting still and focusing.

6) Having ADD/ADHD is a gift! It's just hard when they have to fit into a traditional classroom setting. But aside from that, some of the most amazing people had or have it. It's just that their mind works differently. It's NOT a deficit! Your job will be to figure out how to focus your child on what he is great at and focus on that!

Best of luck!

Here are some resources for you (the first is my favorite):

http://www.resultsproject.net/index.php?page=addormti
http://borntoexplore.org/gifted.htm
http://www.sensorysmarts.com/index.html
http://www.addvance.com/help/parents/gifted_child.html
http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=986
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/adhd.htm
http://www.parentsleague.org/publications/selected_articles/helping...
http://www.theadhddoc.com/nutrition.php
http://helpguide.org/mental/adhd_add_parenting_strategies.htm

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Permalink Reply by fhaye on September 7, 2009 at 1:53am

Sad to say that we can't say on who's child will be having these disorder. Slowly you can see symptoms that an add adhd children could have and through there you can say that you're child is having that disorder. I myself had a daughter and I've not even notice that she had this kind of disorder. It is very rare for me because I don't have any knowledge at first what is an add adhd would be or how can it hit my daughter.

But through researching I've tried to seek on what are the symptoms. This might help you on knowing if your child is having this disorder CLICK HERE.

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Permalink Reply by Sheryl Loch on September 12, 2009 at 1:24am

There are so many threads in this board about kids having ADD or ADHD it amazes me.
That shows how much this is an excuse to not deal with kids in school and how greedy the Dr.'s, psychiatrist, and pharmaceutical companies are.

I suggest you look into what ADD & ADHD are before you start drugging your kids.

Here is an excerpt from a post I have -

Mike Adams of Natural News has an excellent podcast that you will want to listen to.

The ADHD Scam and the Mass Drugging of Schoolchildren

After listening to this I went to the NIH (National Institute of Health) site. I put in the search for ADHD. The 1st page I hit gave me the symptoms to watch for to see if my child may have ADHD they are;

'• Impulsiveness: a child who acts quickly without thinking first.
• Hyperactivity: a child who can't sit still, walks, runs, or climbs around when others are seated, talks when others are talking.
• Inattention: a child who daydreams or seems to be in another world, is sidetracked by what is going on around him or her.'

I guarantee that if you have ever looked around your office, a business meeting...you will find so many people that fit into this category. Yet, how many of us ever went to school with kids that were ADD or ADHD? No kids in my class took drugs for either of these "disorders".

I found the at the NIH site the reason kids with ADHD behave as they do. They have it posted right on the NIH site;

'In youth with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the brain matures in a normal pattern but is delayed three years in some regions, on average, compared to youth without the disorder, an imaging study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has revealed

So when they say that adults have ADHD WTH?? Your brain is still 3 years behind??

You may also want to read
Double Dosing

Recent studies have shown that, in an alarming trend, students are now turning to prescription drugs to cope with the stresses of college life.

Illegally buying and using prescription medications to help them study, students prefer drugs-of-choice Adderall and Ritalin, which are typically used to treat people who suffer from attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

I sure would not want to start my kids on these drugs.

You can also look up GENERATION RX is a film about families who confronted horror and found nowhere to turn for help - and how scores of children have been caught in the vortex of mind-bending drugs at the earliest stages of their growth and development.

I can't find it right now but, there is a video that interviews psychiatrist and ask how they diagnose people. They admit that there is no scientific test it is all just an individual judgment call. They can not say they have cured a person because again it is a judgment call.

As you may notice I am tired of the Big Pharma making money by drugging up & dumbing down our kids.

Sheryl

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