ADHD

I was reading through this and wondering what her symptoms were. Then you posted that she didn't have the hyperactivity part but had a hard time paying attention. This is my son!

How old is your daughter? My son has always had a very hard time paying attention, he daydreams constantly. It has driven his teachers nuts since kindergarten. In first grade his teacher suggested an ADD evaluation because he was *disconnected* (daydreaming) most of the day. She would have to physically nudge him many times a day to bring him back. She was baffled by him because he seemed to be learning everything while his mind was somewhere else.

The eval was very interesting! Lots of little tests. For example the Dr. would show him a tray of several items, then take one away and see if he knew which one was missing. At the end of the evaluation he told us that my son had a very high IQ and also had ADD. That was the beginning of my challenge with my son and the public school system. The saga continues now in the 6th grade. We chose not to medicate but to try and manage his inattentiveness with more challenging work. I could write pages of my dealing with the school and trying to keep my son challenged enough to have some sort of focus and interest in school. Some years have been better than others but we always need to work closely with his teachers.

Good luck with your daughter. If any of this post sounds familiar or like it may be similar to your situation feel free to pm me :) I'd love to talk.
 
My daughter was diagnosed last year after her school did a number of tests. She isn't hyperactive and is a really good kid, but her attention, comprehension, etc.. lacks. She fits the profile and ironically our pediatrician has it as well. She is on a low dose of Concerta, but I am not pleased with it. The 18mg. really has little effect and 27 mg. has her functioning really slowly and she is moody and depressed from it. She also has little appetite and is sooo skinny that I need her to eat. We take her off on the weekends and she is happy, creative and fun. I don't know what I want to do with her. She does seem to be maturing and becoming more responsible without meds, however, she is forgetful, and needs constant help with homework. She is 10. She will read a book for school and comprehend very little and has trouble retelling a story. She misses important parts of the story. We aer now in a new state and school district and pretty much have had to get her all settled in new programs. Math is her real problem area. She is finally getting help with it after constant complaining on my part. She is getting pretty good grades. I am not sure medication is the solution to her problem. I don't seem to get a lot of encouraging responses to the med issue. I am think of taking her off altogether.
 
Wow! You guys are awesome. I never imagined I'd get such great responses. Thank you all so much for taking the time.

I'm going to sort and sift through all the information I've been given and to those who sent me e-mails or PMs, I'll get back to you soon.

This is why I love this place:)
 
>My daughter was diagnosed last year after her school did a
>number of tests. She isn't hyperactive and is a really good
>kid, but her attention, comprehension, etc.. lacks. She fits
>the profile and ironically our pediatrician has it as well.
>She is on a low dose of Concerta, but I am not pleased with
>it. The 18mg. really has little effect and 27 mg. has her
>functioning really slowly and she is moody and depressed from
>it. She also has little appetite and is sooo skinny that I
>need her to eat. We take her off on the weekends and she is
>happy, creative and fun. I don't know what I want to do with
>her. She does seem to be maturing and becoming more
>responsible without meds, however, she is forgetful, and needs
>constant help with homework. She is 10. She will read a book
>for school and comprehend very little and has trouble
>retelling a story. She misses important parts of the story. We
>aer now in a new state and school district and pretty much
>have had to get her all settled in new programs. Math is her
>real problem area. She is finally getting help with it after
>constant complaining on my part. She is getting pretty good
>grades. I am not sure medication is the solution to her
>problem. I don't seem to get a lot of encouraging responses to
>the med issue. I am think of taking her off altogether.

This sounds like my 12 year old daughter. Math is a big struggle, she does homework, forgets to bring it to class, or forgets she has homework. Her focus is so bad. However, she is wonderfully creative, is a very good artist, has 4 differents stories being written on her own, and they are really good. We have an appointment to have her tested on December 3. She is adament that she will not take medecine, has expressed that will make her feel weak, and wants to resolve this on her own. So we are working on getting her organization better to get her homework done and turned in. She has promised to quit sketching in class and try to pay attention more. She needs nightly help with her math(luckily I am strong in math), and when I work with her one on one, she understands it, and is able to do the problems. turning around and doing a test, however, is not a strong point. She loves history, and actually this is her highest grade. Language arts would be, except she keeps forgetting homework. She struggles with Science, and I have to tell you, the stuff they are doing is HARD. When helping her study for tests, I am always thinking: I would flunk this test.
We are frustrated, but doing our best to help her. She has agreed to the testing, which is good. At first she was fairly angry about it, but one of her good friends went through testing, so she does not feel so isolated.

It is good to see we are not alone with this. It is sooo hard.
 
The responses about the girls sound just like my daughter. Math is also her weakest suit. She loves science though, and social studies and reading and .... well, almost everything but math:p

She has such a hard time paying attention in class. Yesterday in music (one of her favourite subjects), the teacher had to remind her 12 times about her cue and she still missed it. The other day they did desk clean-out and she had 21 books in her desk, all in various stages of being read. 21 books. The teacher has tried instituting some policies to help her concentrate - step 1 is to walk by and take whatever it is she's playing with from her desk, step 2 is to have her push her chair back from her desk, step 3 is standing up behind her desk, step 4 is standing next to the post. None of them work because she always finds something to distract her. Her teacher actually said that in ten years of teaching, she's never met a student who is SO bright, yet so incredibly distracted.

Dorthy, just as you said, if I'm working one-on-one with her at home on homework, she does a great job and she even gets the math. But it's more difficult at school, where she's in a class of 20 and it's not fair that the teacher should have to spend all this extra time on Sophie to the detriment of the other students who might need her help.

She's a super-bright kid. Quite often she comes out with things that amaze me. Things that show comprehension or processing of information that's quite mature for a 7 year old. But she just can't seem to focus at all.

I love her so much and will do anything for her that will help her get past this hurdle. So our first step is to have her evaluated and to see just what we're dealing with, and then we can move on from there.
 
Dorothy, I think our daughters could be twins! My daughter too, is so creative and a wonderful artist. I hate the fact that our educational system focuses so much on test taking. I have arranged to sit with my daughter outside of class during tests and help read directions and questions to her. Her teacher is good that way. I don't think this school really understands ADD very well. I keep explaining to them that she knows the information but when it's written down it's confusing to her. You have to be very visual with her. I was pleased she just got an A+ on her science test.
 
Hi,
Your daughter sounds like she's bored. Do you think the class she's in now is too easy for her? I would definitely, definitely hold off giving her meds if it comes down to that. I think doctors are too quick to give kids medicine. I do believe some need it. VERY VERY small percentage. Have you thought about possibly have her tested at a private school as the class is smaller and she might do better in it if she's not already in a private school. Also, consider having her tested at "gifted" school for intelligent kids. I knew someone and he did so much better at that school than in public because the class was SMALL and they give you harder work, etc.....

Also, math is not my strong subject AT ALL either. Just because someone is terrible in one subject doesn't mean they have a problem. Nobody is good at everything. I was able to do trig. and calculous with NO PROBLEM but simple math....Forget it. My mind definitely wanders. Try giving her a harder problem to solve and see if it helps her. Teachers in school used to give me harder math problems to solve because I did better with that than easy, everyday math and they looked perplexed. LOL

Lisa
 
My son has SI Disfunction too, like Pinky mentioned about her son. We just had him tested for it, I have not gotten the results yet but I am sure that is what he has, the profile was him, all over. He is only 4. Hard to assess at that age.

LOTS of stuff masquerades as it, you need to be very careful. Even thyroid issues....

Jen
 
While I do believe there are some kids with problems but a lot of kids are just kids. A lot of kids love to play, they don't pay attention, etc. Another thing I noticed is people want kids to grow up too fast which saddens me. Kids are supposed to be crazy, silly, funny, creative, dopey, etc.... It's very hard. You know your daughter much better than anyone else so go with your gut, Shelly. Also, is her relationship with her father and your SO good?

Lisa
 
>
> While I do believe there are some kids with problems but a
>lot of kids are just kids. A lot of kids love to play, they
>don't pay attention, etc. Another thing I noticed is people
>want kids to grow up too fast which saddens me. Kids are
>supposed to be crazy, silly, funny, creative, dopey, etc....
>It's very hard. You know your daughter much better than anyone
>else so go with your gut, Shelly. Also, is her relationship
>with her father and your SO good?
>
> Lisa

I agree that some people are hyperactive and don't pay attention and that doesn't always mean that they have ADD or ADHD. You know there is a problem when they can't stop these behaviors. There are certain places and ocasions where people should stay quiet and people with ADHD simply cannot do that. There are normal levels of hyperactivity (kids or adults just being who they are, maybe they had way too much sugar, etc.) but there are excessive and abnormal levels of hyperactivity. I think the way to recognize it (besides of course taking them to a trusted professional to get tested) is to know the difference between what's normal and what is not. My exbf was diagnosed in his early 20's and I was the one that told him "I think you have ADHD and you should get tested". He simply was not able to have a normal conversation with me without moving all over the place.

The attention deficit part of it is another thing. Some people don't pay attention by choice, they simply don't want to pay attention to you, and some people daydream a lot too and they do not have these disorders, but the way to recognize there's a problem with this is by comparing their skills with kids or adults their age. My nephew was way behind in school compared to kids his age. He was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 8. I think some doctors find it easy to diagnose an adult or kid with ADD or ADHD and put their patients on medication right away when sometimes their disorders are mild or they don't even have these disorders but some other learning disabilities (like dislexia for example). That's why people have to find trusted professionals, like I mentioned before, to make these tests.
 
Hi Jen, not to hijack Shelley's thread, but when you said your son also has SID (or DSI is what they call them these days) AND he's only 4, my heart skipped a beat. My son had just turned 4 when we got him tested. He's almost 5 and a half now and is about to complete treatment.

I just want to say that 4 is the best age to have your child treated. At least that's what the OT's at the clinic said to me from the very beginning. They're not too young that they can't express themselves, and they're not too old that they have problems on top of problems. The OT's told me, "A lot of kids, we start seeing them at 8 or 9, and by that time, they're a mess. When they're much younger, the nervous system is easier to work with." I started seeing tiny improvements about six months into the treatment. Nowadays, people who haven't seen him in more than a year tell me he seems like an entirely different child. In a good way. I'm glad we caught it while he is still really young.

Good luck with your boy.:)

Pinky
 
Nowadays, people who
>haven't seen him in more than a year tell me he seems like an
>entirely different child. In a good way. I'm glad we caught it
>while he is still really young.
>
>Good luck with your boy.:)
>
>Pinky

Pinky,

I'm so glad that your son is doing so well:). That is great news. I've been so touched by your blogs where you have written about him. I know my husband loves it when his little patients have a parent like you--so dedicated to finding the answers and then devoted to running the distance. Believe me, you're the exception.

Michele
 
Thanks, Michele. You're very kind.:) It has only been a little over a year, but it feels much, much longer than that. It has been a tremendously tough road indeed. Many times I wanted to give up. And I'd be lying if I didn't say this didn't affect my marriage as well. It has been very trying, but through it all I didn't want to sit in a retirement home somewhere one day, feeling terrible because I gave up when I shouldn't have, and have my boy running around somewhere, still desperately needing help. I used to think that because I got through the pain of labor, I could get through anything. I was wrong. This was harder. It was more painful in many ways. But you know what Cathe says... it's all about how you keep your brain occupied under pressure. And... don't let the weight (in my case, the weight of my son's condition) jerk you around.;-)

I apologize again, Shelley. I know this thread was about ADHD.:D

Pinky
 
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