Child diagnosis with ADHD

[lollipopspot]

I have to wonder how many kids are taking pills just to make Mommy and Teacher's lives easier.

 

Kids, old people in institutions, mentally disabled people in institutions, etc. Even some animals in zoos are drugged so people can interact with them. All tragic.

[understand50]

I have ADD/ADHD, and I have a very good life and career. In stead of looking at this as a problem, you need to know that it come with a lot of pluses as well. I work at a high level in IT management, earned a MBA, and 2 degrees. I also served in the military. Just because your son has this gift, does not mean he will fail in life. He should do fine in life. Not having to hold and only hold to one thing at a time, is valuable.

 

You can work on many things at the same time. Good in many careers. Military especially. Any job, where leadership and being able to meet changes fast matter, law enforcement, project management, IT, sales. People with ADD/ADHD can move from issue to issue, and come around to the first issue with out effort. It is what we like to do. I can never understand people that cannot work on 20 different things at the same time, but must complete one thing at a time. How boring.

 

OK, how should your son learn? By breaking up task into small components. Take math, reading, and writing. When I was able to set my own work style, and not have to conform to a school's idea, I would read for 15 minutes, work a few math problems, and then write. Drove some teachers mad, but most let me work the way I wonted. Set goals, like this hour, 10 math problems, 10 pages reading and 2 page of writing. Let him decide how to break up his time to meet this. As for lectures, have him record them, he can go back to them at his rate and learn. Did this in collage. BTW, this is how I figured out how to learn, you may have to sell it to the "professionals".

 

At this time, his way of learning is hard for the school he is in. The best thing you can do is let him find what works for him, and then, if only at home, let him set how he learns. Teach him to educate himself and you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.

 

I wish you both the best.

[littleplanet]

Whew.

I read through every single post in the thread, and have to go back to the start.

OP, you mentioned an ex.

Which means what exactly? A failed marriage? A broken home?

Anything volatile in your child's life that he has no control over?

 

I mention this, because sometimes it seems that adults forget that children are emotional humans. Who have inner emotional workings that cause them to have all sorts of emotional reactions to things going on around them, that they have absolutely no control over.

Which can piss them off. Cause them to over-react, and act out.

I mean - it's all they got. They can't just go get drunk, you know? And forget their troubles.

 

This can also be true for big people. Who at times, can self-medicate, as a result. And have the idea that if it works for them, it will work for kids, too.

 

I have a gazzillion biases against chemical drugs and compounds. I always have, and I'm not going to go into them here. (The last time I did that, it almost got me kicked out. Sent to the principal's office. )

 

Moving forward:

If you have doubts and reservations, that's not a bad thing. It can be a very good thing. Your child's health, happiness and well-being are at stake.

That being the case, consider this:

 

When I was his age, about 10 years of high hollerin' hell were in front of me. School.

Which was hell, because my home life was no picnic.

Event. Cause. Result. Simple.

Thank heaven it was a different time.

So I just got punished at lot, at home, and at school.

What I didn't get - was drugged.

If I were four years old today.............I probably wouldn't live to my present age. Not with the particular brand of lucid, moral, soulful engagement with life and love that I possess in my memory's bank.

Nobody "quick-fixed" me.

 

Childhood was not a disorder then, and it still isn't, now.

I admit, I was sixteen before I could even begin to heal from my experience of it.....but I still had my whole life ahead of me.

I was not then, nor have been since - a lost cause.

 

A disorder is not a red badge of courage, nor an honorable mention, nor a welcome mat to joining the human race. It is a royal pain in the butt, for anyone trying to live a normal life.

(And for those trying to define exactly what that is?)

Well, I'd give any child the benefit of a heaping pile of doubt, before dosing them with things that could satisfy a hardcore heroin junkie.

 

The tough part in all of this - is that the percentage of the population who really do benefit in substantial ways, from medical interventions........maybe we'll never know what that percentage truly is.

Because the numbers are way outa whack.

 

But something to think about:

The total number of North American childrens' current drug useage - adds up to more than the rest of the planet's children put together. Those stats are proudly quoted too (by some...)

What does this mean?

That the children of the rest of the planet were born unlucky, to not have that resource?

Or that our children - are being driven crazy by our extravagant affluence?

 

I dunno. Why do I keep running into people who grew up in really messed up places on this planet, and come here....without disorders. Without PTSD. Without messed up minds. With nothing that a friendly smile and a warm welcoming handshake can't heal?

[GunslingerRoland]

My wife and I strongly suspected our 8 year old had ADHD before he was 2 years old. We focused on therapy (he qualified for some therapy because he had speech, ot & PT delays) for him to try to get him to help control himself. But by the time he got to grade 2, it was clear he needed medication. Night and day difference for him being on medication and off.

 

ADHD is a serious condition, it isn't a personality type, it is an imbalance in a persons body. I don't agree with deciding straight out that you aren't going to give medicine for a medical issue just because. If you've tried other approaches and it is seriously affecting their day to day functioning I think not looking at medication is cruel as you are negatively affecting their quality of life to take a stand.

[Lois_Griffin]

Do not give your child medication.

I was on these medications for a few years as a kid, and your personality becomes voided. The spark in your eyes is gone, and the inner child is suppressed chemically.

 

How some one could try and diagnose a 4 year old with a hyperactivity disorder is beyond me. THEY ARE 4. They are supposed to be hyper and have a short attention span.

I agree with this.

 

Is there a kid under 10 years old in today's world that HASN'T been diagnosed with some kind of Autism or behavioral issue? Good grief.

[vabaseballmom]

I have a son with ADHD and he is on medicine and it works great for him. Now with that being said, do your research. I do feel as if 4 is a bit young for medicine and most psychiatrists wait til they are school age. If your pediatrician is the one who wants to prescribe I would see that as a red flag. Find a psychiatrist who does full ADHD assessments.

 

You will probably have to try several different mess and dosages if and when you decide medicine is the way to go. The "zoned" out side affect usually only happens in the beginning and once proper med and dosage is found that should go away. The main side affect my son has is lack of appetite at lunch time. Definitely limit your child's sugar intake as that has a massive affect on the ADHD. I am not a personal fan of Ritalin but there are many other ones that a good psychiatrist will recommend.

[GunslingerRoland]

I feel like the media has pushed this agenda of "fake adhd" diagnoses and zombie kids on meds. I'm not saying both don't happen to some degree, but there are a lot of different types of ADHD medications and they have different side effects for different kids. If your kid is acting like a void zombie, take them off of that medication and try another one.

 

But if you don't believe that a 4 year old can have ADHD and that it's how kids are supposed to act, you haven't seen kids with ADHD. You are not taking away the free will of a child when you give them ADHD medication, they can still act up, they can still be goofy and they can still get into trouble. But they at least have the conscious control to make those decisions and can weight them against the consequences. Without the medication they are just a series of impulses and I would hardly equate the inability to not act on every impulse you have with lack of freedom.

 

Also someone mentioned autism diagnoses. There is an epidemic of kids with autism... trust me I know a lot of them. Again if you've actually met these kids, you'll know that these aren't just some made up diagnoses, these are kids with a real problem to varying degrees. When I was in school I would have known if I was in a classroom of kids like that.