New and need advice | ADHD Information

bhj1234,

Thanks for the info.! We were referred to an audiologist for further evaluation and testing for the Auditory Processing Disorder. Our pediatrician who specializes in ADD won't confirm or not confirm our daughter has ADD. He says it's too gray right now and she needs more evaluations. (We saw him Saturday). I am hoping they will shed light on what we can do to help our daughter.

Thanks again!

I would take the results to a child psychiatrist who specializes in children with adhd and other children's conditions. That pediatrician who feels like she is pushing pills sounds like she is uneducated in the adhd area anyway.

[QUOTE=hawks2921]Why doesn't the neurologist who recommended the meds write the prescription? Thats who always wrote ours??[/QUOTE]

She won't write the prescription. She told me it was up to me and my son's primary care physician wether or not to medicate and all she could do was make her recomendations known in the report.

That sounds like passing the buck to me. I'd find a doctor who is willing to diagnose and treat your child. I kind of agree with the pediatrician. There are lots of Psychiatrists or neurologists who have large ADHD practices with alot of experience and should be able to help you.

i want to take this moment to thank all of you. and i'm looking into all of the options you mentioned

hello everyone,I am totaly overwhelmed. My 7yr old ds has just been diagnosed with combined type ADHD. The neurologist recomends placing him on either Ritalin LA or Focalin XR because of his weight; he is a skinny minnie. But his pediatrician refuses to even consider medicating. Claiming that she is tired of all the bs of these neurologists and schools evaluating kids and then throwing it in her lap to write the perscription and deal with the parents and that she doesn't want to medicate anymore kids cause she feels like a drug pusher. Any advice?? Please help! I don't know what to do.

My daughter was 15 years old before diagnosed! After years of having issues at school, and them telling me she " just needs to apply herself" I went and had private testing done. Dr. George Dorry, here in Colorado, is who did all the prelimary testing.. Woodcock johnson, mmpi, etc. Then from those findings, which she ranged from K5- >18, yes I know a very wide spread, we went to The Center for Hearing and Speech /Language They did a auditory processing evaluation and a speech and language evaluation. Come to find out she has an IQ of 130, which is probably how she made in as far in school as she did before starting to fail.

Here are her scores from the Auditory Processing Evaluation:

Filtered words Subtest 25,Auditory Figure Ground Subtest 9%

Competing Words 84%

Competing Sentences Subtest 75

Auditory Number memory : Forward 12th%

Auditory Number Memory: reversed 53%

Auditory Sentence memory 7%

Auditory Word memory 10%

Audiotry Interpretation of Directions 16%

Auditory Word Discrimination 68%

Auditory Procces 8%

Test of Auditory Processing Skills - Third Edition

Word Discrimination 75%

Phonological Segmentation 2%

Phonological Blending 35%

Number Memory Forward 25%

Number Memory Reversed 75%

Word Memory 37%

Sentence Memory 95

Auditory Comprehension 25%

Auditory Reasoning 1%

Now mind you, I have been in and out of the schools since 3rd grade saying, something isn't right. Same school system since she was in pre-school. She is now in the 10th grade when finally diagnosed. She started failing classes in 8th grade, 9th grade and ofcourse 10th grade until we got accomodations in place. Her last 9 week report card was honor roll! I am still in the process of completing her IEP, and arguing all the way with the " specialists" at the school. But have no doubt I will get what I want. I have a fabulous advocate and have 100% trust in her.

Check out the other message board first before putting you child on meds. Go to the Alternative and Complimentary Meds message board and try alternatives first. That is just a suggestion and that is what I have been doing. Also, I have just found out my daughter has Auditory Processing Disorder and may not be ADHD afterall. Medicating her won't help that. ShelbysAdvocate38835.4470023148

Hi there -- welcome to the stimulating world of ADHD diagnosis and treatment!

Sorry your pediatrician is being such a roadblock. OTOH, it frees you up to seek a specialist who really knows the ADHD world and will help you find the right treatment as fast as possible.

I am just in the process of going to a specialist for my DS, after his ped essentially told me a) he didn't have any kids using Ritalin after school (how do they do their homework? upside down?) and b) he'd recommend summers off meds.(and parents who are completely insane?)

This in spite of the fact that DS has responded wonderfully to Ritalin LA, is having a much better time at school, and our family dynamics have improved immeasurably, all the while he has not had any side effects to speak of. So, *why* would we not use this treatment?

Sorry for the rant; I think it's my week to fight the "systems."

My daughter has a CAPD disability also. She is add inattentive, which we are still trying to figure out if that's true. Luckily for us she is 16 and can relay information to us easily, and she swears the med's do help. She is on a low dose of adderall rx, and even her friends can tell if she misses medication. If you look at " short term memory " problems , there have been studies on how caffine can help with it. We are wondering if the add meds since they are a stimulant, help with her memory issues.

Who diagnosed your daughter with CAPD? How old was she when she was diagnosed? What did they tell you to do?

[QUOTE=TillyT]

Hi there -- welcome to the stimulating world of ADHD diagnosis and treatment!

Sorry your pediatrician is being such a roadblock. OTOH, it frees you up to seek a specialist who really knows the ADHD world and will help you find the right treatment as fast as possible.

Sorry for the rant; I think it's my week to fight the "systems."

[/QUOTE]

My DS is CI and has been in SPED since last year with a IEP and the annual review is comming up on 5/10. I am not sure what to ask for since he has been diagnosed ADHD. And by the way TillyT thank you and I don't mind the rant we all need to from time to time. And what is a ADHD specialist and how do I find one? I live in NJ

That is great! Who is your advocate? How did you find her? Also, what kind of accomodations does your daughter have? We had a recent evaluation done by her elementary school and it showed her "average' in most areas. Whatever that means.

Accommodations, Techniques and Aids For Learning - Learning Disabilities Assoc, here is another place to get information.Learning Disabilities OnLine: LD In-Depth: Visual and Processing Processing Disorders

My daughter Brittany is very fortunate, we have some fabulous resources here in Denver, Colorado. Dr. George Dorry is who recommended my advocate, she also tutors kids with learning disabilities. She has been an educator, third party administrator, an Administrator, and director of a talented/gifted school for kids with learning disabilites!

I know this will sound " harse" but, I would have your daughter tested by OUTSIDE professionals. Most schools, not all, are in it for " their" bottom line, not your childs best interest. Did they show you the results of the test, by law they are suppose to. Another little trick school systems do, is imcomplete testing, meaning , only giving certain portions of the test, not the entire test, so you don't get the " full " picture. She is so young, it will be in her best interests for a successful future, to get a complete accurate diagnosis now, which I believe is done with private and independant testing facilites.

Balbert76-

Since you already have an evaluation, I would look for a pediatrician that specializes in mood disorders/ADD. My son's doctor's office recommended looking at the CHADD.org website for a friend that lives out of state. A good university hospital may be able to recommend too.
Why doesn't the neurologist who recommended the meds write the prescription? Thats who always wrote ours??