CAPD and AD

Who is telling you to put him on Strattera?

From what you say, I would agree with you, it seems like over-medication, a try for a quick fix or a magic bullet, which it is not.

What’s missing here? Are they advising the STrattera because of the CAPD? Or have they talked about things like “non-hyperactive attention deficit” (and if so, what makes them bring that up… because CAPD can **look** like attention problems, because it’s really hard to stay that focused on something that is that hard to process just as I’d have a rough time staying focused on a movie in Spanish… and Straterra wouldn’t be the proper remedy, a review of my Spanish would).

0!)

A neurophycologist (sp) .sorry for the spelling if it is not right !…..has recommended the Straterra and I have not even heard of nor has his doctors mentioned non-hyperactive attention deficit. … feels like a quick try to fix.I mean he hasn’t even had the hearing test yet and that is not until the 15th …….to top it off..this weekend J told me he had bubbles in his ears that were popping .so Monday I took him to his ped Doc and sure enough he had fluid on his ears ( no infections ) okay I told her he has his hearing test coming up and how sure I ensure that his ears are cleared up before he goes.(didn’t make since to send he for the test if I already know that he is hearing through fluid) her advice was to give him plenty of fluids and rest give it about three days and if it starts hurting call back and i’ll call you something in What???? I was told that you cannot treat a virus only the symptoms okay.well isn’t there something to help speed up the drying of the fliuds in his ears.I mean come on .he already is having a hard time processing what we are saying now he has even more trouble is there something I can do? The Ped DOc didn’t even want to recheck his ears before he goes into his test…(banging head up against a brick wall lol) To answer my questions that I have forthe Straterra she told me to read the insert and go to the website.okay did all that already did’t get my questions answered that is why I was asking her! Is there a non medicine .natural alternative to Straterra?? Oh.to get back on the subject….I was told that the Strattera was for the CAPD. That is why I am conflicted about putting him on thisbefore the testing ..I mean if it can help him and he needs this .than so be it he will have it , but shouldn’t we have more concrete evidence first than to just throw some med at a 5 1/2 yr old and say try this for a while and see what it does.oh and by the way let me know if he starts have stomach problems,headaches,mood swings we’ll try something else.Does anyone else get this kind of “stuff” thrown at them? (Sorry for attitude as I read back over this My hubby tells me that I have been in protection mode over all of this .I told yep and a lilltle ticked off too! LOL) Thanks for the feed backgang.Any advice or thoughts of questions to ask the Audiologist Doctors.anything will be appreciated. thanks…..hope all is going good for you and yours.

You need new doctors. No other option.
Changing doctors and insurance may be difficult, but imagine ten years of life with this situation just getting worse and you child’s education being destroyed.

Strattera is not a treatment for CAPD. It just is not. Now if the child has ADD as well as CAPD, maybe, but that is a big maybe.

Your doctor is right that viral ear infections cannot be treated with antibiotics — but what has been done to make sure it is viral and not bacterial?
If a child has a history of ear problems, as mine did and as yours may have with CAPD, then more aggressive treatment is required. After I had taken mine in with four or five ear/respiratory infections in a year, the doctors clued in and starting writing out antibiotic prescriptions the moment they saw red in there. This is NOT overusing antibiotics, it is responding to the needs of the individual patient (there is a huge difference.)

Anyone who will hand out Strattera just in hopes it may work for the wrong condition is simply not the person you want prescribing for your child. And anyone who does not tailor treatment for the individual patient’s history is also someone you don’t want guiding the treatment for your child.

That said, once you get some good doctors who listen to you, be sure to listen to them too. Sometimes you get a diagnosis that you may not like or may not agree with, but that is why you go to a doctor, to hear what you don;t know.

Can you take him to a ENT? Allergies can cause fluid build ups in the ear canals and allergy meds may be able to dry it up. I have allergies and really notice pressure behind my ears when I don’t take my meds.

There are a lot of non-medication treatments for CAPD. You may want to consider looking for someone who works with auditory integration therapies. My dd has CAPD and used The Listening Program which is an auditory integration program - http://www.advancedbrain.com/products.asp . She also used Earobics - http://www.earobics.com/ - which helped with auditory discrimination.

My son has ADD Inattentive Type. No hyperactivity and the sweetest young man you could ever meet. He does have issues with sustained attention but not auditory problems. As a matter of fact, he loves the lecture classes in college because its easier for him to pay attention to a lecture than for him to spend hours and hours reading. His dyslexia makes reading slower, even though he has a very high comprehension level.

Good luck finding what works for your son! Its great that you are researching options.

I feel the same and I have been asking the other parents I happen to run into who they take their children too. We are in the process of my hubby interviewing for a new postion closer to home which will help with the insurance .it will be better coverage and a lot easier access to more speciallized Doctor

If you can get the attention of Beth in FL, she knows a thing or two about fluid in the ears and treatment for it. I think it is a pediatric ENT that you would need to consult.

The Straterra (sp?) Rx doesn’t sound right to me either.

Nancy

I also have allergies, and yes, you can reduce fluid in the ears and that is a good thing. Before adding drugs to the system, it is *much* better to reduce allergens (balance: clean air versus strong drugs and side effects - think).
You can get rid of all dust attractants, all animals, all wool, and (my big thing) *all* perfumes. In my case, one hour in a room with a Glade plug-in translates to 24 hours ill and disoriented, no joke. Sleeping in a room with cigarette smoke, even from hours previously next door, translates into a day of vertigo (ear canals swell up). Try removing these things and see if the fluid goes down — it may take a few days to a week.

Can you please quote what the neuropsychologist wrote in his report regarding the Straterra? It is possible that your son could have ADHD Inattentive symptoms as well as other problems. I don’t think most pediatricians work with a child long enough and in such a way as to see inattentive add. I do see it when I test a child for two hours, and I suspect a neuropsychologist often can as well.

It will not matter if he goes to the audiologist with fluid in his ears. The testing will pick that up and show you exactly how well he can hear when he does have fluid. That might explain a lot of things. He may not have APD and he may not have an attention deficit. All the hearing evaluation will do is to diagnose a hearing loss and whether it is a sensori-neural (permanent nerve) loss or a conductive (something interfering with the transmission of sound such as fluid) loss. (Most audiologists do not test for auditory processing disorder, incidentally. You usually have to go to a specialist for that.) Oh, and if there are suspected medical issues as a result of the audiological eval, they should refer the child to an ear doctor. So the audiologist is definitely the proper next step in this process. And I will say that it definitely should have been done before the neuropsychologist. I hope a vision evaluation was done as well. Ruling out vision and hearing problems should always ovccur before ANY educational or other testing is done, because the results could be meaningless or invalid if there are undiagnosed hearing and vision problems.

The other thing I find puzzling about this is why a child would be in speech therapy this long without having a hearing evaluation much sooner.

Yup, reduce the potential allergens… tho’ I think for the test I would toss in a decongestant to dry things up - but ONLY if it’s a medicine he’s used before. I’d no more do testing on a drug I didn’t know than do a 100 mile ride on a bicycle seat I didn’t know :-) It could make things better… or not…

Just to clarify something, the audiologost can differentiate between fluid in the ears and a nerve hearing loss, so I do not feel she should do anything before taking the child for the test. It is best to see exactly what he is usually hearing in order to have an idea how much the hearing issues are affecting learning. Then the ear doctor can best determine the treatment.

thanks ya’ll.didn’t know that it could be differentaited at the audiologist.that makes me feel better. Ditched the Glade air freshner,would have never guessed! have not received the paper work from the neuropsy yet …… mind you he went weeks ago……nor has he returned calls.out for vacation -out for Mardi gra- now out for Spring break…..(how’s he going to help if he’s never there?)
Okay so he goes to the Aud on Wed.. I have been asking his Doctorfor the Aud testing but could not convience her that he was having trouble .it wasn’t until I received his IEP and drove it to her and demanded that something be done..( I am looking for new Doctors by the way) We are on Medicaid and contray to what they say we are treated differently and the red tape tha thte Doc have to go through seems to put this one off-I have been calling around but I keep getting the same answer.have they been here before?no.well we are not accepting Medicaid at this time…. I have had his sight checked .he has healthy eyes.but that was last year in Sept.Medicaid will not allow for more than one vision test within a year.and yes I am saving up to have that done next week…puzzles me too but in order to have the hearing test He has to have a referral and beleive me I feel like I have been hitting my head against a brick wall, His speech teacher wrote it in his IEP for him. Also found from the pharm that if I do fill the presction that our insurance may kick it out because Medicaid requires that he would need to be put on two other stimulate meds and have complications or insuffect results before they would accept the request for Straterra.Straterra is a little over $100./30 pills….. He had a hearing test done at 4 mths and at 3 but then his Doc had to be changed andI can’t seem to get back on track with this Doc.thought about trying to get a referral to see an ENT Doc .can they do the testing ? What questions would you suggest I ask the Aud?

I don’t think you need to ask the audiologist anything except questions needed for you to be sure you understand the results. The audiologist will refer your son to an ENT if there are probable medical issues regarding the ears that need attention.

Even with private insurance, you are not usually able to access all medications. They all have certain preferred drugs and you have to get a different prescription if one is not accepted by your insurance.

hey gang How’s it going?! Okay.We have gotten the report from the neuropsy. and by the way although he recommended the Strattera in the office and his Ped Doc presc. it there is no meantion of it in the report of his recommendation or why he suggested it.I have a call into his office and his Ped. to get that answered. Behavioral Observations: He performed required tasks right handed. . No problems noticed with gait and coordination were observed. J appeared to be comfortable and relaxed during the testing session. He seemed to put forth a good effort overall and did not appear to have any difficulty understanding the nature of the tasks. J speech was understandable although some difficulty with blended sounds. These test results are considered to be valid and representative of J’s current level of Psy functioning.
Cognitve Functioning….. The Beery Developmental test of Visual-motor Intergration was admin.Standard score 115 Percentile rank 84 age equivalent 6-8 (he’s 5 yr 8 mths)
A Qiuck Neurological Screening test Revised was used. (QNST-R).J’s overall score placed him within the Suspicious Range.
I will give ya’ll the overview of the tasks ..if you need the details I’ve got those to….
1. Hand skill normal
2. Figure recog and Production Suspic(poss Auditory-expressive delay)
3. Palm Form Recog suspic ( poss tactile delay)
4. Eye tracking normal
5. sound patterns Susp poss auditory-perceptual difficulty
6. finger to nose suspi
7. thumb and finger circle susp assoc with reading difficulties
8. Double simultanous Stimulation of hand & cheek normal
9.rapidly reversing repetive hand movements suspic
10.arm and leg extension suspic
11. tandum walk (10 ft) normal
12. stand on one leg normal
13.skip normal
14. left-right discrimination suspic assoc with reading difficulties
15. behavioral Irregularities normal no behavioral irregularities observ.
Achievment testing
wide range Achiement test-3 (WRAT-3)
reading stand score 91 percintile 27 gr equil preschool
spelling Stand score 81 percent 10 gr equil preschool
arithmetic stand score 87 percet 19 gr equil peschool
Personality testing house -tree-Person (HTP) J’s drawings appear developmentally approp for his age….drew motorcycle with 5 stick people with smiles (represtive of family) .dog with smile. and himself on a skateboard with a smile
Diagnostic Impessions:
Axis I: 315.32 Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Disorder
(rule out) Central Audtiory Processing Deficit
Axis II : No Diagnosis
Added note : further assesment by a neuorologist should be considered.

Testing with the Audiologist tone and pitch were normal as well as temphonic although he had fluid on both ears they were pleased with the results and did not feel that he has a hearing loss. We have an appointment schuled in 3 weeks for another temphonic to check that because of the fluid for the records. They did not sched any time to testing for the CAPD because they do not want to test him before he is six, they said that the guidlines for the test are based on the results for 6yr olds.I asked about A Scan-c revised that I had read about structured for 5 - 7 yr olds .did not do that test…… The Audiologist did a short one on one calling words out and having J repeat them he noticed his diffiuclty and noted that J was going to need futher testing …so that we will do in a few months.okay my question to this is when should I have him tested„„they want to wait until school starts he will be 6 and2 months.????? is that enough time????
Spoke with The Neuorpsy which told us we did not need to go back to him.
Spoke to Audiologist do not need to return to them for few months
Spoke with Ped Doc has not read report from Neuropsy yet. wants to keep him on the Strattera for now and take him off when he gets out of school in May.

Any ideas ?????so confused????? MIXED RECEPTIVE EXPRESSIVE DISORDER CAPD???????????????????????????????????????????

OK, my take on this is that he is a bright kid, has no *severe* visible problems, and is cheerful and cooperative. Great! Now is the time to teach reading and math using the most effective methods possible — not just hope and pray he’ll pick it up — and work on the other things over time.

Email me if you would like copies of the how-to-tutor outlines/book in progress. [email protected]

Thank you Victoria, I appreciate it.

I have been going over the e-mails you sent .thank you.

J came home yesterday with a list of Capital letters that his teacher says he doesn’t get………I told her that I want her to start stressing the Lower case letters as in your tutoral that was sent to me. Because as easy as it occured to me more letters are Lower cased .seems so simple now( can I just say DUH on my behalf !! lol) And by the way He is loving making his own fancy big book of letters…..new outlook on it all.thank you thank you thank you…….

wish you were closer

Hurray, hurray!

Keep working on that big book of letters. One teensy little step at a time. Grit your teeth, SLOW DOWN, and celebrate the teensy little steps.

Another analogy I like to stress:

Pick up one sheet of paper. Can you etimate its weight? Its thickness? It’s so tiny it seems almost negligible, right?

Now pick up a package of a thousand pieces of paper. Pretty darned heavy and bulky!! Try to pick up five thousand — can you? How much space will the five thousand take in your closet?

OK, that is how it goes in teaching and learning. Learning the letter a is one little thing. Doesn’t seem like much progress. But every day you do ten little teeny things, and in five hundred days you have five thousand teensy little things and a huge weight and a closet full of *real* knowledge.

Work on getting each teensy little thing *right* and *solid*. OK, remember that rule, don’t go for over-perfectionism; when you have reached eighty to ninety percent correct, it is time to move on — but you cycle back and review in twenty different positions until over time it gets to be near a hundred percent.
Also, if he becomes really frustrated with a certain exercise, *stop*. Give it a break and try it for a short time again in a day or two. The difficult exercises are the ones where you need the most work, so do NOT omit them entirely. But do them a little bit at a time, with lots of support, until they get less difficult.

I am hoping to hear from you in six months that he is reading books, and in two years that you are trying to find a school that will challenge his mind enough. It does happen — ask other parents here.