Help - new here

I have a friend whose son was having a horrid time in K. She had him evaluated finally by a neurospychologist. Turns out the child is gifted but ADHD. He is now in first grade, on medicaiton, and an IEP and doing marvelously. Having been diagnosed opened the door to discussions about how to best meet his needs.

So certainly children as young as yours are evaluated for ADHD. I think it is significant that he doesn’t pay attention when she looks him right in the eye and that he reports that he “can’t listen”.

Beth

No, not too young. Kinder is often the time for first evals and medication, if needed.

I don’t know about that middle of the night prowling around and eating though. I’m not sure that can be chalked up to attention deficit. Maybe lack of impulse control it could be related. Hopefully your eval will tell you more. If he’s oppositional you might be looking at Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Check www.conductdisorders.com for some help with that, if necessary.

>My son is in K, turned 5 in October. He has always been a handful. Since he was 2 yrs old, waking up in the middle of the night climbing on the kitchen counters at 3:00am wanting a snack. We went to disneyland and I swear, I could not control him. The last couple of weeks his

Well if he has an attention problem that is quite severe the stimulation of Disneyland might have been quite a lot. Not sure of the middle of the night wanderings. He could have nights and days somewhat mixed up, and this could be the result of ADD or something else.

>Kindergaten teacher has been telling me that he just is not “paying attention’. She will get down on her knees and try to get him to give her some eye contact (which is what I do also), but he just seems inattentive.

She could be making it worse by forcing eye contact. Some kids with autism or ADD may not be able to pay attention while looking at someone. As it is, eye contact requires some ocular motor (eye movement) that may not be developed yet. Also visual attention when he is listening may be overstimulating.

>If there is a distraction he is there. If there is someone doing something wrong, he is there. He told me that “he can’t listen”.

I have no doubt your son’s assessment is the correct one!

>They school wants to bring someone in to view him for the day. Do you think this is too young to be considering ADHD? He got his report card and he got all 1’s (which is the best), but he got a 4 in listening.
What does this mean?

No it is not to early to consider ADHD. I might be more inclined to want to get my own evaluation though. You might ask here who to go to as you can’t just get a name out of the phone book.

BTW, someone mentioned ODD, I wouldn’t consider that at this point, unless there is severely opposional (and you still want to be sure there isn’t a reason for that).

—des

I know of a three year old who was put on ADHD meds and the getting up at night was one of the biggest reasons they went with meds that young.

He would take things apart and get into everything in the kitchen-open a bag of donuts, taking a bite of each

For his own safety and their sanity, they went with an early diganosis

Perhaps the night wakening is more noticeable in younger kids-perhaps older kids are simply more likely to stay put???

My ADDer has sleep issues but is such a daydreamer I didnt realize it for a longggg time. He just stayed in bed and fantasized. It was the stint with Strattera which made him sleep that me hear things him say things like “wow-I sleep all night long with this”

Thanks for the replies. We all ponder the world of medication. But it is very hard to come to grips with it. I would much rather try something else than putting my child on such an addictive drug. I have researched it over and over again, and some people say “well, if your child had diabetes, would you not give them insulin”, man, where are people’s heads. Older kids are selling their Ritalin to others on the streets to snort, so what does that tell you what is in this drug.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, and all other drug enforcement agencies worldwide, classify methylphenidate (Ritalin) and amphetamine (Dexedrine and Adderall) in the same Schedule II category as methamphetamine, cocaine, and the most potent opiates and barbiturates. Schedule II includes only those drugs with the very highest potential for addiction and abuse.

I cant do it, I can’t even think about doing that to my child. I read in a survey that 75% of children on add/adhd medication end up addicted to this. I understand also that if kids don’t abuse it, they won’t become addicted, but do I want to take that chance….no thanks.
I think there just may be a better solution.
I truly believe that kids will improve their attention with the drug, but is there not another alternative to this?

I thought you wanted help for your child, I guess I was wrong. Because part of his problems are based with ADD as you stated in another post.

I spent ton’s of money and time on remedial therapy until I got my own head out of the sand with my daughter’s ADD 5 years ago. It was like a lightbulb went on in her head and mine. When she went on meds, she was finally making sense of a world that had confused her for years and said. “Mommy, is this what it feels like when you ask me to focus?”

I have seen the proper medication work wonders for kids and adults. It has turned their lives around so that they can function, feel good about themselves, be happy and hold jobs and not feel overwhelmed because they can’t organize their life…they ARE NOT ADDICTED either. They use the proper medication to fit their deficit under supervision of professional Medical Doctors

It is the ONES who aren’t diagnosed and end up self medicating to treat their ADD who become addicts. I am sorry but you hit a real nerve with me with your post. Please forgive me if I have offended you too.

I have a 8.5 yr old who is mild cognitive, and my child who just turned 5 is the one I do not want to put on meds, only because he has a problem with authority! 5 yrs old seems kind of young. All I can do is take peoples advice and search it out. All I can do is educate myself, and talking to people who are going through the same thing is how I can learn and educate myself.
I am sure that no one WANTS to put their children on medication….we have all worried about it I am sure at times….if not then that would be flabbergasting! Everyone is different - sorry if I hit a nerve, but opinions on this area seem very strong, it is kinda like talking about “religion or politics”. I guess I should have kept my opinion about the medicine to myself.

Also, wanting help with my child who has severy speech delay’s has nothing to do with his ADD. (I think)

There are ton’s of children who have been “busted” here in my city where they are selling their own (presribed medication) to other kids in the school for a good “high”. It goes on everywhere I am sure!

about ‘meds’ but that does NOT give you an informed opinion!

Tereseml, you need to look into the meds being discussed via other sources than the newspaper. Newspapers are looking to make ‘issues’ which they can write about — their interest is NOT to effectively discuss the pros and cons of medication, in general or for specific children — their interest is to make controversy, which sells newspapers!!!!

Given the problems you report in your child, you NEED to properly research meds for ADHD. And given his nightful waking and lack of impulse control, you should also research ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) and COBP (childhood onset bipolar).

Although the science of prescribing meds for ADD, ADHD, ODD, and COPB/BP is young and inexact (unlike diabetes!), this does not mean that these serious problems do not exist. Building your opinions from newspaper and TV news reports — sounds like some rather ‘trashy’ ones at that — will not help your children, especially if they need medication.

It is one thing to research your child’s problems, decide to use non-med interventions, and successfully help your child. It is another thing entirely to ‘hide your head in the sand’ as Patti says.

You are new, so please don’t take our responses in the wrong way — but if you want to keep your opinions about meds, you are correct that you should keep them quiet! Some children MUST HAVE these medications — no one should avoid these medications based on supposition and inflammatory news stories that are probably exaggerated or at least have a very complex history that is not mentioned in said stories…such as children with serious disorders (as I mentioned) that are mis-dx’d or have parents who hide in denial rather than get them help…

I’m not saying that you are doing or will do such a thing, but I feel your mis-perceptions of these meds are dangerous to you and your family — forgive my strong response, please. It’s because I care.

BTW…when my grandmother was sent to try insulin in 1926 or so, many people thought that she and her parents were CRAZY…gee, I’m glad they decided, after much research and soul-searching, to give this ‘unproven’ treatment a chance…according to many opinions at the time, insulin was nothing more than snake oil! I’m only posting because they took that chance…

All your information has been appreciated
Thanks

Opps, sorry,keep forgetting to sign in

[quote=”tereseml”]
I cant do it, I can’t even think about doing that to my child. I read in a survey that 75% of children on add/adhd medication end up addicted to this.

You really should cite a source for this information. It sounds very troll-like to me.

[quote=”Elizabeth TO”]about ‘meds’ but that does NOT give you an informed opinion!

Although the science of prescribing meds for ADD, ADHD, ODD, and COPB/BP is young and inexact (unlike diabetes!), this does not mean that these serious problems do not exist. Building your opinions from newspaper and TV news reports — sounds like some rather ‘trashy’ ones at that — will not help your children, especially if they need medication.

It is one thing to research your child’s problems, decide to use non-med interventions, and successfully help your child. It is another thing entirely to ‘hide your head in the sand’ as Patti says.

Wow, Elizabeth! This is fantastic, commonsense advice. Thank you!

Never say Never. I, too, said my son will never be on medication. But, there comes a point when a child is struggling *so* much that the pros of medication outweigh the cons.

ALL prescription medications have risks. You just have to consider the risks/benefits and make a decision. That decision can change over time. If you can improve your child’s life and experiences without medication, GREAT.

But ADHD is a *medical* problem. The brains of ADHD kids look different than the brains of non-ADHD kids. The same areas of the brain effect speech and reading. They are all connected. Most kids with early speech problems turn up to have other issues as well, like ADHD.

These drugs are scary, but they help. Accutane is a scary drug, but it helps solve severe acne. Chemotherapy is scary, but it helps destroy cancer. Radiation is scary, but it helps destroy cancer. Vioxx was scary but it helped people in pain. Phen-Fen was scary, but it helped people loss weight. It’s just a choice, an option to improve quality of life. Unlike Vioxx, though, Ritalin has been around a long time and has been researched a lot.

My son is helped a lot on Ritalin. He’s not teachable without it. I made a choice to help him with his quality of life by giving him a small dose of a powerful medication. He’s teachable on it and the teachers can address the speech problem better, the dyslexia better, the dysgraphia better. Without the medication he’d just be a lump in the classroom. He attends a private school only for kids with LD and/or ADHD and they require their ADHD students be medicated - or else why pay the $20,000 a year to have him in this specialized school if they can’t reach him? If he can’t pay attention to them? If he’s bouncing off the walls? The school is on the cutting edge of research and they understand ADHD needs to be medicated because the brain is different and needs assistance to take on basic academics.

It’s a tough choice.

If we lived 100 years ago, my son wouldn’t be in school. He’d drop out by 3rd or 4th grade. He’d be an illiterate farmer and he’d have a fine life anyway I’m sure. But this is 2004 and our kids spend a good chunk of their lives in compulsory schooling with high stakes testing. That’s the reality.

Everything you say is right, but for a child who just has turned 5 yrs old? I mean, are they still not growing? are their brains still not growing? I think that is my concern.

[quote:09d84fe66b=”tereseml”]Everything you say is right, but for a child who just has turned 5 yrs old? I mean, are they still not growing? are their brains still not growing? I think that is my concern.[/quote]

Yup, and that is why you should consider medication. Take a look at a study by Dr. Castellanos, done through NIMH, I believe. After some people opined that ADHD meds would cause harm to the developing brain, specifically that they would cause the brain to be smaller, he undertook a study. The study showed that children with ADHD, medicated or unmedicated, have less white matter in their brains than do children without ADHD. One interesting fact that showed up (but which needs further study) is that the brains of medicated kids with ADHD had MORE white matter than the brains of unmedicated ADHD kids. This suggests that treatment with these medications may cause positive changes in the brain. It is not conclusive, however, because Castellanos was not actually studying that proposition. Nonetheless, this research is good support for a conclusion that ADHD meds do not cause harmful changes to a developing brain and some suppport for the conclusion that they may cause helpful changes. Stop being a victim of those who do not have your child’s interests at heart when they generate fear about ADHD medications and start looking a valid sources of information. Only then can you make an intelligent decision. That decision might be no meds, and that is fine. There ARE still questions about the long-term effectiveness of these medications. But don’t say no on the basis of half-truths published by folks that are out to make a buck by demonizing those who do choose medication.

His word recall issues and difficulty formulating his thoughts to speak can also be signs of executive functioning issues. It has been proven in medication trials that children’s motor skills improve as the executive functioning areas are located in the frontal lobes of the brain where motor planning and organization for the entire brain occur.

He may be co-morbid for speech and ADD deficits especially if he is plateauing and not making gains it may be time to talk to a psychiatrist or MD who specializes in ADD.

For my daughter it was her pediatrician who finally figured out it wasn’t just her CAPD/Hearing Loss that was causing the severe speech and language delays..it was her lousy executive functioning skills (ADD) that had more of an impact on her remediation and learning than anything else. This was after we had spent thousands of $$’s on private therapy and she just wasn’t progressing and her lack of motivation and low self esteem was an issue. On meds she has done so much better and it has been wonderful to see the growth and progress from where she was 5 years ago to now.

If the kindergarten isn’t particularly academic perhaps you can wait on medication until 1st grade - age 6. If it is academic (and with NCLB it should be) then I would go ahead and start the medication now. The other kids will be reading quite fluently when they start 1st grade. He will get behind very quickly.