My son is 9 and has learning difficulties. Ever since I can remember people have made comments. His preschool teacher said she could ask him a question and he would just stare at her. (To this day this is a common thing he does with everyone as if he is searching for the right words to say.) In kindergarten the only reason the teacher sent him on was because she thought he would learn more in first grade but would probably have to be held back in first which is what happened. In second grade IEPS started. He excels at math. One of the top in his class yet reading and understanding he fails at. He was behind even his 2nd year in first grade. Second grade he is still behind in reading and his sister who is in 1st is passing him. He continues to slowly learn more. He is pulled out for reading recovery, one and one help and speech for th’s and processing things. I have four kids. (He is the oldest.) And I notice such a difference in how he acts and learns. He has tantrums over small things and goes crazy throwing things or himself. Very angry and uncontrollable temper. He has certain things that trigger episodes. An example is he will not touch a wet wipe. It freaks him out. If I would accidentaly bump into him and apologize he acts if I just purposely rammed into him. At school there are no behavior problems that I am aware of. He does have a problem controlling himself and can act 1/2 his age. He has a problem following directions. Verbal and written. When I have my younger 3 kids it is pretty easy going. When my oldest joins in it becomes chaotic and crazy. Everyone notices this but they say oh thats just him and it is a typical boy. Except my mom who has a diagnosed deaf charge girl and she has my son over alot as well as my other children. She keeps telling me to take him to the neuroligist and get him tested. My husband doesn’t think it to be necessary. Even as a toddler he was like this. It is just becoming worse. I am wondering if it could be more than what I have learned from the school. Any thoughts from anyone going through or who have been through similar situations and what they have done would be greatly appreciated. He reminds me alot of my step brother growing up who was diagnosed with either add or adhd. Not saying my son has it but their personalities were alot alike. Would seeing a neuroligist be a good thing to do? Are there other tests or doctors to go to for learning disabilities? The school that told me what was wrong with my son also told my mom what was wrong with my sister and well they were wrong.
Re: Should I get my son tested?
Yes, there are doctors that test for learning disabilities. I would suggest that you contact a Developmental Pediatrician (see http://www.aap.org/family/WhatisDevBehPeds.pdf). LDOnline’s has a just published on its web site a great article regarding appropriate questions to ask an evaluator:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Questions_to_Ask_Specialists_Who_Evaluate_for_Learning_Disabilities
Best Wishes.
Re: Should I get my son tested?
Yes, there are doctors that test for learning disabilities. I would suggest that you contact a Developmental Pediatrician (see http://www.aap.org/family/WhatisDevBehPeds.pdf). LDOnline’s has a just published on its web site a great article regarding appropriate questions to ask an evaluator:
http://www.ldonline.org/article/Questions_to_Ask_Specialists_Who_Evaluate_for_Learning_Disabilities
Best Wishes.
Should I get my son tested?
As the parent of a sensory defensive child with a bunch of other LDs, I would highly recommend you get him thorough testing by several professionals. Neuropsychologist for an overall view and LD typing and learning style evaluation. OT/PT testing for the sensory issues which can be helped with therapy. Speech/Language Pathologist to see if he has more than processing issues. Should include testing for Auditory Processing Disorder.
There are many things that could be contributing to his behavior issues. Many kids with Sensory Integration Disorder react with behaviors because of their sensitivities. Also, when someone doesn’t understand or is overly frustrated, that can make them more aggressive or angry.
Thorough evaluations can help you get things sorted out and from there you can figure out what therapies/interventions/modifications need to be done to help your son be successful.
Re: Should I get my son tested?
Thank you for the replies to my original post. As to the first post. I am not looking for a quick fix to what is going on. I just feel as well as the people closest to him that there is something going on that I cannot explain. I want to know if it is something he cannot control and besides the neuroligist what kind of options are out there and if anyone has had similar issues. I am against ridalin and am more into natural ways to help him. I want to know what it is so I can understand him more and help him with whatever is going on. It affects him at school already so why would I wait until he is older?
Should I get my son tested?
Well, my last post i was responding to you as a typical parent who is desperately looking for a quick and fairly immediate solution to the problem. So as far as that goes the only thing they really offer is drug therapies such as ritalin. Which i agree is a bad alternative to a more natural system for both children and adults. People jump on the ritalin band wagon far too fast and the band wagon of other drugs too and it is far too common. The reason i would wait till he is older is this, the brain develops as we age. It has not begun doing alot of what it has to do yet at your son’s age. So for example pumping something not yet done growing and forming full of chemicals is a bad idea as it may just be a part of the development process that is a bit unusual but will eventually cease to be a problem as the child’s brain continues to develop. It is undeveloped and not broken. Broken is when it is done developing and a clear problem still exists at which point i do feel it might in some cases be beneficial to start a drug therapy perhaps or some other very real hardcore treatment of some sort. However studies are now showing the effects of drugs on the children for example who have taken it all their lives are actually causing them other brain defects. So my response to you was based on the presumption that you were the average parent looking for a quick fix.
That you are not makes me very happy and gives me hope and certainty that your son will be alright. Why? Because you will do what is actually in his best interests rather than doing simply what is simplest for you.
You should definately try to understand what his issues are i couldn’t agree more, but i just think that taking him in to be tested for ADHD is a poor idea because no one who goes in for that comes out undiagnosed. What is more there isn’t a shred off scientific credibility or methodology or evidence standard to this process so in essence it is expensive and you could see another shrink with the same kid the following day who would evaluate and come to an entirely different conclusion. Wouldn’t it be better than to try to find some method that was actually about finding out what is going on with his behaviors and understanding him and the behaviors rather than interested in slapping a lable on him and shipping out for his meds for payment from a pharmaceutical company?
Natural solutions are less hazardous to the brain and we don’t see the same kind of resulting issues as we do with ritalin. So again, i was assuming you wanted a quick fix it. But if you don’t and you are looking to help him why not take him to an herbalist and explain the behaviors and that maybe he has what most people or some people would call ADHD? See what she does, or try a vitamin supplement of some sort and talk to a nutritionist or his pediatrician. But going for these expensive and groundless tests that really do nothing but get a child labled and a new customer for big pharma is not going to help your child. The risks and long term effects outweigh the benefits. But clearly i don’t need to tell you that as i think you have come to that conclusion on your own. But the reason i advised to wait i didn’t mean wait to help him, i meant wait to pump toxic crap into his still developing brain and maybe wait to slap a lable on him and instead look for other solutions to his behavior because shrinks who do this type of testing offer and provide only 1 solution. medication.
Should I get my son tested?
After you know what you are delealing with, here is a discussion list that addresses possible alternative therapies that may be of interest:
http://millermom.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Alternative
Should I get my son tested?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-adhd-drugs-take-a-toll&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend
Re: Should I get my son tested?
The most important thing is that your son gets the help he needs in school. He is getting the help. Since he was your first born, you had no clue he needed Early Intervention which services kids ages 0-3. He could have used speech and occupational therapies back then.
You only know something is wrong, because your other kids are typically developing as you have stated.
If you want to see a Neurologist for a diagosis or several diagnosis, you can. The therapies are the most important and the help he gets in school. If he needs a self contained classroom, then demand it from the Child Study Team. Some good books to read are “A mind at a time” and “the myth of laziness” by Dr. Mel Levine. Another good book is “the out of sync child” by Carol Kranowitz.
I really blame the pediatricians, who still are not referring kids for Early Interventions because they are not aware of child neurological development or delay. Read, research and spread the word. I’m sure there are other parents wondering about the same thing about their child. Let us know how things go.
Re: Should I get my son tested?
My son sounds a lot like yours. He, too, struggled in kindergarten, was “pushed” on through to 1st grade in a different school, repeated 1st grade the next year, and by 2nd grade still could not read but a few words. I knew from age 4 that he wasn’t learning as well as his two older siblings, but figured he was just not as interested as they had been to learn at age 4. By his 2nd grade year, I was requesting testing for LD (he had already been diagnosed with ADHD, without the hyperactivity. Medications for ADHD (which I was not keen on anyway) didn’t help much and the side effects resulted in his being taken off of them. I struggled with the school for 3 years to have him tested, and after placing him in tier reading interventions and it not doing much good, they finally tested him last year (4th grade) and found that he does have a LD in reading (they never told me the technical term, but I’m assuming it is dyslexia). I wish I had been more demanding back in first grade because he starts 5th grade next week and cannot even read as well as his sister who starts 2nd grade. We have problems with anger but found that most of it stems from self-esteem issues. I would say as one parent to another, trust your instincts and find out if he has a LD or other problem making it difficult for him to read. Just a side note: of my 4 children, he is the most loving and quickest to offer help! And, he is very inventive and intelligent, just struggles with the public school-type instruction. He is a great kid now, and will be a success as an adult, as I’m sure your son will be also. Take heart and take control….for his sake.
Should I get my son tested?
The school may refuse to conduct additional testing if there is already sufficient data available to either identify or rule-out the possibility of special education eligibility. A parent also has the right to seek an assessment outside of the school at their own expense. The school or State department of special education may be able to direct you to such assessment resources or you can check your local ‘Yellow Pages’ under ‘Educational Consultants and Services’. If an assessment is conducted outside of the school, these findings must be considered when determining possible special education eligibility.
If you take him in to be tested, he will automatically come out diagnosed and wiith a prescription for ritalin. That however does not mean he has ADD/ADHD they are the same thing. To get him tested or to allow anyone to suggest that he has it would be a disservice to him i think.
Here is why, he is having problems quite possibly and likely with word recall very frusterating and irritating… Some people truly are alot more high energy than others. He could just be one of those. His brain is still developing. Pumping him full of chemicals at this juncture would be ill advised, however, your son clearly has some sort of likely language based learning disability that is troublesome and if i were you i would most certainly get it checked out. Anyone who tells you at the age of 7 or 8 your kid has ADHD you should smile and nod and ignore them and refuse to put that crap they try to scare you into giving him into his body. If the problem is persistent and if he is still behaving quite exactly the same way when he hits 14 or 15 it may be time to consider this is a real case of ADHD. The thing is over 30% of children diagnosed with ADHD are misdiagnosed. There is no legitimately scientific test that actually measures evidence of this disorder. As no scientifically quantifiable evidence has yet been presented.
The medications for ADHD at best work for upto 3 years. Then they stop working. However, they can cause long term turetts symptoms and have even been shown to shrink the frontal lobe of the brain upto 5%. If an adult who is informed with a fully developed brain is exhibiting ADHD symptoms for the longer term perhaps they should try to take something but for a child, this is simply not a solution to be explored until every conceivable option down through exercism has been attempted because the risks out weigh the benefits in most cases. plus the stigma attached to this lable and the way society views you if you happen to be so labled is horrible. I would never do that to a child. having him so labled doesn’t actually change a thing about him. It merely alters how others see him and ruins his life. In the long term he becomes less employable etc… teased in school tormented and mistreated by teachers. This is a fact i know because i along with 24% of the current population live it.
You have alot of kids… Can i make a suggestion and i am not trying to be rude here i think you are a wonderful parent but there is always more one can learn. Have you considered a parenting class? Or some sort of family counseling? Don’t destroy your son’s brain for some short term benefits please… Because the frontal lobe is the self editing center the true home of his cognitive abilities and common sense and reason. It isn’t a toy. And sadly, the first and only solution you will find if you have him evaluated for ADHD is the chemical solution.
Theyy started out telling my mother ADHD would turn into the ebola virus when i hit about 16 and before i turned 20 it would mutate into full blown AIDs (Don’t ask me how as these 2 conditions have nothing to do with eachother or ADHD) they would have told my mother anything to get her to put me on a drug so that they could get money from the pharmaceutical companies.
They can make your child part of a drug study legally without even informing you or you child. And it is common practice to do just that. They will tell you it is genetic, but they can show no proof of that according to the DSM there is no link to any physical anything in the brain or the body that in over 20 years of research has yet been found. However there are people with some pretty swanky mini mansions telling parents any horror story they can to get another mini mansion for the summer time.
Check out some legitimate learning disability likely related to verbal stuff do not please do not go this route with your son until he is significantly older. And please, do not feed him that crap they offer you. I watched ritalin kill a friend of min in my early teens. All i could do was stand there and watch. I had no idea what else to do. And she died… She isn’t the only one.
Let me make this clear theres no difference that has ever been found between the brains of those with ADHD and those without it. It is called a disorder for that reason. They can’t even show any evidence for what the cause is yet they claim to have some idea and they tell parents all about what sad shape their children are in… When i have personally viewed and as an archaeologist that deals with evolution my knowledge of the brain is rather more advanced than most peoples. I have viewed many photographic comparisons, there is no difference unless one group in the study was on medication. All the studies available besides a few are payed for by the drug companies. They try to mislead things by shutting down any study that makes their drugs look bad. These drugs can kill. I am not anti drug i am anti drug when it is not necesary or when it is dealing with a child’s brain when that child is not a danger to himself or others. if you have cancer go to chemo, if you have ADHD, start looking for strategies around it but don’t turn to a pill if you are the parent of a young child and this will be for large part the only option presented to you and if you don’t take it you will be a bad parent and they will start calling you and hastling you like they did to my poor mother. They may even file charges against you for child neglect only tto put your child back in your home so you can “foster” him which they did to a number of people in quite a few states in the usa.
America uses 90% of the world’s ritalin supply each year, the rest of the world uses only 10%. If it is trulyy genetic shouldn’t we see the same outbreak of ADHD we have in the usa in europe? After all we are quite closely genetically linked most of us within a few generation in the usa. So there is no truth to this diagnosis just wait he may out grow it. But wait before you let them pressure you into feeding him a dangerous pill that affects his brain in the exact same way as cocaine only more enhanced. (the drugs for ADHD affect all brains even those brains that do not belong to individuals the same way.) But seriously do look into the language thing that sounds like something that could be rather serious….