Seeking Information About ADHD

ask away and i'll see if I can help. Both of my children have it. My son is 13 and my daughter is 11. Both were diagnosed around 1st grade! Been through it all.

Someone else on here showed me this website which is a big help for many different learning issues, even ADHD.

www.ldonline.com it deals with all sorts of learning disabilities and foremost it tells you learning disabilities doesn't mean the kids aren't smart.

R.,
I'm a 3rd grade teacher (on my 9th year) so although I cannot offer medical advice I can offer school-related advice. There are many students that I had NO idea even had ADHD because they were on medicine. (This medical information is often not shared with teachers, unfortunately.) However, there have also been many who forgot, ran out of, didn't take medicine, or were on the wrong dosage that have been diagonsed as well. All I can say, is if this were my son, I'd make sure he was on a medicine that worked well with his body (side effects, etc.). I'm not sure your thoughts, but I'll tell you my opinion, kids have a VERY difficult time learning when they are not on medicine for ADHD. They cannot focus during lessons or work on assignments due to their constant need to focus on other things. Then their academics start to suffer and then self esteem begins to dwindle. Talk to your child's teacher so that he/she can observe him/her during the first several weeks on medicine (if you decide to use medication.) I would just explain to your child that he/she will take some medicine to help him/her learn better. Do not feel you are alone, I generally have 3-4 kids a year that are either ADD or ADHD. BEST OF LUCK TO YOU!

That must be difficult. It sounds like you're doing the right things. I am a firm believer in finding the right counselor. Do you feel that your child's counselor is good for him? I had my 8 year old daughter to a counselor (located in Dublin) when we were trying to assess whether or not she was ADD. The therapist is a play therapist, and I really liked her, and highly recommend her (the business is called Children First Counseling, she's located off of Sawmill). She gave me several good tips as a parent. Continue checking the meds, the dosage may need increased. Also, if you're not comfortable with your son's teacher, I'd go in and talk w/the teacher. If that doesn't work to your satisfaction, move up the chain, and have him moved to a different teacher.

Good luck.

R.,
Try webmd.com. I found this site very informative and there are links to other sites from there that specifically deal with adhd. They have alot of tips and advice on how to deal with certain situations involving adhd. I hope this is helpful to you.

You ABSOLUTELY need to look into this from a nutritional standpoint. Get rid of all chemicals...dyes, preservatives, etc. You'll be AMAZED at what this can do to cut down on the symptoms. As a parent, I'd do EVERYTHING in my power to keep a child from taking any kind of medication. Our society is WAY to reliant on meds to mask symtomps rather than taking care of them naturally.......through good nutrition, getting rid of toxic chemicals such as dyes and preservatives.

READ THE BOOK....What Are We Feeding Our Kids by Jacobson & Maxwell. You'll be glad you did and hopefully....you'll never look back!

Hi, My daughter has severe ADHD. Part of the reason I became a customer with Melalecua was to help get her off prescription medication. We haven't done that quite yet, but we are getting there. On the ADHD/ADD product call we had a month or so ago someone mentioned putting Mela Gel under her son's nose to calm him down when he got hyper. I figured I would give it a try. Its been working for the most part, but last night she was about ready to bounce off the couch she was going into a spiral. I grabbed the Mela Gel, stuck some under her nose (she rubbed it in), and she calmed down in less than 60 seconds and sat there for the rest of the night! Then in one of the ADHD testimonies I read that a mom sprays her sons sheets, pillows, and toys with Sol U Mel for dust mites. I spray her bed every other day and am going to have to start doing it every day because now she is asking for it! She says it takes her itchys away and she falls asleep as soon as she gets into bed. I hope this helps anyone else who might have a child with the same concerns. Thank goodness for these products.

Go to www.chadd.com There is a lot of information on adhd. I also have a book that isn't where I thought it was. When I come across it I will give you the title. It was very informative.

Be patient, tell others, and good luck.

R.

Tough diagnosis- I would get a second opinion from a child psychiatrist just to be sure before you do anything. There are a lot of excellent meds available- most research sates that is is a brain development/maturation issue and all evens out arounds the early 20's. Best of luck!

Clinical Studies at Children's Hospital Enrolling Now. This is for (ADD) and (ADHD). Participants : children 8-12 who have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and are right-handed, with no significant neurological, developmental or psychiatric diagnoses. Pay: families will be conpensated for their time. Contact: Kelly Isaacs at ____@____.com or ###-###-####.

For parents and caregivers of children ages 6 to 12 years with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), this eight-week group program provides an opportunity to learn up-to-date infromation about ADHD as well as strategies for dealing with problems commonly experienced by most children who have ADHD. Call ###-###-#### for more information or to register for an upcoming group.

Cincinnati Children's College Hill Campus 5642 Hamilton Avenue.

I receive regular newsletters from Children's Hospital since my daughter was in for a few days last year. This is where the information came from. My daughter was just evaluated through our local school district and she has other related issues. She has speech and language, Occupational ,and sensory issues. I also ordered books off of Amazon.com . I usually buy the used books and they cost less. You could also check out books from the library.

Hope this information helps.

J. R.

I am an Usborne Book consultant. Books are great for holding attention. Check out my website. (ubah.com/t2267).

We've known our daughter ADHD had since before kindergarden. Chances are, you probably knew early on also. She wasn't progressing in school, so we put her on Ritilin, as early as kindergarden, in small dose. She still very outgoing, and I wouldn't want to change her, just slow her thought process down long enough to get her work done more thoroughly. She's now almost 13, either we've gotten accomstomed to her or she has "calmed down" a bit. Being repetitive helps, also need to be scheduled and very consistant. Which is a challenge for some parents, like me. Just need to stay focused for them until they show some thought process on their own, which should happen naturally as they mature. Only a small percentage of kids with ADHD are supposed to still have it as adults, puberty is suppsed to help. Which is another whole issue! It will test every nerve you have, just keep the faith, and it should get better.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/adhd/complete...

hope this helps to understand it.
good luck
S.

first off, don't panic. I have three kids with ADHD in varying degrees.
In each case, the medication made a difference the first week.
My youngest cnild actually came to me and asked if she could be tested because she struggled so and she knew that the medication helped her brother.
The other thing you need to do is routine, routine, routine. ADHD kids tend to be very disorganized, so they forget things (like homework and to brush their teeth). Lists help too, unless they forget to look at them.
Sometimes it is hard to know what behaviors are the result of ADHD and which are just discipline problems.
I recommend "Parenting With Love and Logic" for all parents.

Hi R.--

The good news about ADHD is that there are so much that is now know about how to help, and so many resources. My first recommendation would be to go the CHADD website (CHADD.org, I believe, which stands for childhood ADD). This site is a goldmine of information, articles, links, suggestions, etc. They publish a magazine, Attention, which is very good. There are a multitude of great books, as well. The one for kids I like best (and use with my clients) is called "Learning to Sit Still and Pay Attention". The best books I have ever read about ADD are called "Driven to Distraction" and "Delivered from Distraction", written by an MD who both has and specializes in treating ADD. While there is a lot in these books about adult ADD, there are entire chapters devoted to suggestions for accommodations that schools can make, things that help with homework, ways to structure the home, parenting suggestions, etc. Oh, and I agree about the Parenting with Love and Logic book...wonderful. I think that if you need counseling, the CHADD website may contain links to professionals in your area...if not, ask for a referral from whomever diagnosed your 9 year old, BUT make sure his counselor has some solid experience in treating ADHD and has had some specific education in this area. Good luck! There really are gifts to having ADHD children, and the areas of weakness really can get better...

E.

Hi R.,

Some of the best books about ADHD have been written by Mel Levine (all kinds of minds) and Russell Barkley. They are prominent reserchers who have many, many books that will help you find the answers about ADHD that you are looking for, both the causes and the mainstream standard interventions that may be successful for your daughter. They have both spent long careers treating and researching ADHD, you will not be lead astray by anything they write.

There are many, many, many misconceptions about ADHD, what it is, what causes it, and how to treat it. Start with good, solid experts like this before you look into any of the psudo treatments out there like diet, suplements, non-clincal therapies- there is a HUGE placebo effect, and you will hear endless anecdotal "evidence" about them, but there is no clincial evidence that these are effective. The one thing they have in common is that all of these want to sell you somthing and they prey on your false hope. You will need all the money you have to access the therapy and treatment that does work, so unless you find yourself with a treatment resistant child, or for religous reasons you would not take your daughter to a medical doctor for any medical condition, you are waisting your precious money and resources on trying non standard therapy. This is a medical condition, and it needs standard medical treatment.

The standard care for this purely biological cronic medical condition is well researched (more than many other accepted treatments for other "acceptable" disorders) and it works.

I wish you well. chadd, ldonline, addwearhouse.com, and www.wrightslaw.com are also good places to look for information about ADHD.

M.

ADHD, wonderful. Son has it (he is 26 now) and raising a 9 year old with it.

Go online and pick a site. I get newsletters from several groups. The information is helpful.

Talk to your school, they need to do an IEP as soon as possible for the child as well.

You have my prayers.

PamR

My son was diagnosed wiht ADHD by one of the states supposedly leading doctors on the topic. I was told that my son was the poster child for ADHD; however, after putting him on the medicine for only a week he became depressed and violent, both were the exact opposite of my normally happy, friendly child. I immediately took him off the medicine and a couple years later found he had a vision problem...not sight problem as he has 20/20 sight, but vision...yes there is a big difference. I am trying to educate as many people as I can and am even working on legislature to get some awareness. Please go to http://www.childrensvision.com/ADD.htm and read this before you make any decisions about medicine. I recommend a behavioral optometrist as our pediatric optometrist missed the vision problems on their exam. My son is half way through vision therapy now and you would not believe the difference. I hope this helps. Good luck!!!

Hi R.
I have a 6 year old that was diagnosed with ADHD last year, but we new for a while he had it. We didn't wnt to have him on medication till he started school, that's why we didn't have him officially tested till right before school. First you need to do what some people here said and check his diet. I never gave mine very much sugar or any caffeine, or food with red dye in it. Beleave it or not it makes a big difference. My husband didn't beleave me and let him have grape juice for one week, never again.
Wesley has been on Adderall for a few month and it made a big difference, it helped him concentrate and calm him down. They started him on the lowest dose and then increased it just a little. The only problem I had was it changed his personality . He lost his temper very easily and cried over everything. So Iasked if we could try something else. We are trying Concerta right now and so far, so good. No temper, no crying and he's calmer and pays attention better.
But besides the medication we always have been giving him very strict rules. He has a schedule and I try not to change it to much. We keep his rules very tied and don't give him to much freedom, if we do he acts out. He needs strict boundaries. He needs to be told what's O.K. .
But there are a lot of internet sites that can help with tips and hints of what to do. Your doctor should have given you some information also. here's a site I just saw on TV and CHAD is one I was told by my doctor when mine was diagnosed.

www.adhdroadmap.com

Hope this helps
Michi

check out the Fiengold Diet ( I may have spelled it wrong) for many kids and famalies with ADHD it is a blessing in disguise and can SOMETIMES eliminate any need for medication when followed. we did it as a famaly growing up for my littel brother and when ever he would go to a friends house and have something not on the diet the change in his ability to focus , his behavior etc was so pronounced. Lots of info onthe internet adn Dr feingolds books are good resources. take a look

Don't be so quick to believe your child has ADHD .A lot of Dr.s will tell you this just because they have no clue to your childs real problem.Many teachers do not want to deal with spirited children and so all but force parents to drug their children.These drugs do have side effects and the kids often have problems later in life from the drugs. Please don't drug your baby boy.