Hi
I usually post on the LD board as my dd has been diagnosed with learning problems for a couple of years. We recently had a trienniel retest done by a neuro psychologist . He suggested that although she has made progress in the past 3 years he still sees some signs that may be ADD . Especially from her teacher’s report . Difficulty staying on task , organization and memory problems . Could be LD could be ADD. He suggested we might want to check out medication for her. MY question is this , If we try the medication It would be better to do it with a teacher who knows her off the meds ? yes ? But I cannot get an Appt. at the university Adhd/Add center till May or June they haven’t even mailed me the application yet . Isn’t that too late ? Should I just get the prescription from one of the local Psychriatrists who will prescribe on the basis of the neuro-psy report and do trial and error or should we wait for a full eval at the University center ?
Thanks
cwk
Re: which would you do ?
My pediatrician prescibes my daughter’s meds. I think if you are ready to try meds I wouldn’t wait. You will know pretty quick if it is working or not. With my daughter we saw instant results, she made almost a grade level gain in reading within six weeks of starting meds.
As Sara said, just make sure whoever prescibes is available for follow-up during the fine-tuning process. Sometimes it can take a few times to get the dosage right.
Good luck
definitely go for it now....
otherwise you will be second guessing yourself in the fall-maybe its the new teacher? maybe shes matured?
Actually it s a nice trial run period(april/may)
Re: which would you do ?
I just recently had to make that decision. I felt that my son’s current teacher knows him best and if there are any changes, she will notice them. After much reseach and soul searching and the fact that I couldn’t get my son evaluated by a Neuropyschologists until July (which means he starts 2nd grade with a new teacher) we decided to try meds (Adderall xr 10mgs) a week ago. She updates me daily and thankfully it has all been positive. My son is doing well in school - he couldn’t not concentrate before, had to be reminded to stay on task many times, plays with school supplies etc, he is not hyper. When I first brought up my suspicion that my son is ADD/In, the teacher kept insisting he was not, up until the day before we started his medication. When he went to school after the meds, she was blown away. She did not expect the effect to be so fast. He is able to focus and does not need reminders and is aware of what is going on around him instead of being in dreamland . It was just amazing. Because he is not the hyper type, it is great that his current teacher is able to observe the changes which would not be so obvious to someone who does not know him. I would presume that would be the case with your daughter if she is not hyper. Our pediatrician was the one who prescribed the meds and he is available anytime we need him (this is important because of possible side effects). My son has difficulty falling asleep. The other side effects have worked their way out of his system - loss of appetite, motion sickness, weepy (although he still gets that way sometimes when he doesn’t get his way). To cut a long story short, if you are going to try meds, try it with someone who knows her. In fact, the school nurse told me I could have done a blind test, that is not tell the teacher she is on meds, but tell the school nurse you are doing a blind test so she can keep an eye on side effects etc . Then after a few days ask the teacher if she noticed any changes with your daughter. I wished I had known this when I started but as it turned out the changes were so obvious that my son’s teacher was amazed.
Re: which would you do ?
My dd is ADHD Inattentive with learning “differences”. She’s been on meds for two years, with intensive school remediation for three years. This is the first year she is on “transition” out of special ed, with no remediation support.
A few things I’ve learned:
For some, ADHD can affect learning significantly as it does in my dd’s case. When we treated just the learning differences and not the ADHD, she made some (and more than we had seen before) progress, but relatively speaking not that much. When we treated both, she took off.
Not that many of the teachers we encountered, at least at our school and this includes the RR teachers, truly understood the nuances of what was effecting what.
DD’s had fabulous classroom teachers - textbook classic great - for teaching ADHD kids. She went to school last year on a trial of no meds - her classroom teacher didn’t observe many significant changes in her - although they most definitely were there! All kids have “off” days anyway and this teacher didn’t put two and two together (sloppy handwriting, unfinished work, homework taking forever, falling off chair at school, night studying fruitless). I would imagine she would if those “off days” happened for a month. This year’s classroom teacher is the FIRST teacher who notices those days I/she forgets her meds. Both were/are considered “in tune” with her.
Per my dd’s doc and the sp ed director at school, the best time to change/try meds is after Jan. when the classroom teachers know their kids fairly well by then. When we’ve done it, we’ve done it in spring when the teachers really know my dd. For us, we prefer trials and test dose changes on the weekends before sending her to school with it, b/c we notice the nuances more than a classroom teacher with 24 charges would so that might be something you want to consider too.
So, it all depends on your comfort level with all of this. But, yes the very long-winded answer to your question is you should see some progress in school work, particularly with teachers who know her well by this time. Just bear in mind that the teachers aren’t doctors when you ask for their observations. You, who know your dd best, should be able to determine the med effects (with their help).
GL
This is a good question. Some teachers are more observant than others and the best observer of any changes in your daughter from medication is likely to be you. If you are comfortable with medication, and you know physicians who will prescribe based on exisiting reports, I wouldn’t think further reports are necessary - unless you feel you need the ‘blessing’ of further reports to consider medication.
As to ‘trial and error’, whoever prescribed the medication should stay with you and be available to you and your phone calls while your daughter is newly on medication. It deserves to be mentioned that some family doctors and pediatricians are comfortable prescribing for ADD/ADHD as well.