5 yrs old dx | ADHD Information

Hello all. Been reading thru these forums and thought I would post. Our 5.5 yr old just was diagnosed ADHD this week (inattentive and impulsive).

Heres his long story. Born at 34 weeks, spent 1 week in the NICU without problems. At the age of 1 he began having seizures. Hes had brain u/s, CT scan, 2 MRI's and several EEGs. They believed his were atypical and he would grow out of them. He seized for 2 yrs then they put him on meds. He was on meds for 1.5 yrs and took him off. Hes been seizure free for 2 years and off meds for 6 months. For the seizures hes seen 2 neurologists and nobody so far thinks his types of seizures has affected him developmentally/cognitively.

Hes been evaluated by Birth to Three and we were told his speech delay wasnt quite bad enough to qualify. They referred us to a PT for leg muscle tightness were we did hippotherapy for over a year. The PT in turn referred us to our public schools Early Childhood program.

At 3.5 yrs old he started in EC getting speech and OT. Hes been there 2 years and his language has caught up (still has articulation problems though) and his fine motor skills are still an issue. Different teacher each year but always the same thing, inattentive, distractable, impulsive. His IQ with all evals checks out just fine but he does aweful at school.

After first year in EC, his neurologist looks at the IEP and refers us to the local childrens hospital ABC team (autism, behavior and communication). Hes sees a developmental doc who says hes probably ADHD. Speech therapist says her eval is right on with schools and theres definate expressive and receptive language delay. Child psych says doesnt think its adhd but more the speech delay causing problems and he may be LD.

So we have the end of EC IEP meeting to transition to K and Im surprised at how they described our son. I know we have lots of issues at home but I really thought he was a bit better at school. I know he KNOWS things but why do they feel he doesnt? I dont feel their daily notes really indicated his behavior was that much of an issue. They decide to put him in normal full day K but plan to pull him around 90 minutes a day into special ed room for one on one instruction. This is on top of his usual OT and speech.

As our son grows older and his speech improves we can see how frustrated he is with how he feels. He wants to be able to wait his turn and he wants to be able to not do sassy things sometimes, he simply can NOT control himself.

Two years in EC and it hasnt solved the problem but only made us more aware just how badly the inattentiveness and impulsiveness is affecting his learning. Now its starting to affect his peer relationships. Kids think hes funny but they dont play with him for long. I dont like seeing my 5 yr old cry because some other kid tells him they dont like him. Its not fair, hes too young.

So neurology refers us to neuropsychology and they gave us the diagnosis. It was 3 weeks and 6 hours of testing and evals. I feel they really got to know and understand my son. The neuropsych was very positive and helpful and they way she explained things it all makes sense. I myself have some adhd like issues at times. Hubby has no patience. Our son is VERY much like my brother and I refuse to let him struggle like my brother did and still does as an adult.

We are leaning heavily towards trialing meds. The neuropsych straight out told us weve tried her behavior modification techniques. Plus our son is too immature and doesnt have the thought processing ability for some of the others. He doesnt eat alot of sugar. Hes not hyper. Yes when hes tired or hungry his problems are worse. Then he takes a nap or we give him a healthy snack.

Well, basically that is our story. Ive got a ton of books from the library to read and Ive been online doing a ton of research. I just want to help my son.

 

 

Only you can decide about the treatments you choose to try, and it is not easy to really know that you are doing the right or wrong thing until you do it. Our daughter is doing great so far on meds and her behavior modification program is working even better than ever now that she is on what may be the correct dosage. Being able to read the experiences of others on this board has been very helpful for us on this journey. Good luck to you and your family.

Try this test. He has symptoms of things beyond ADHD.

www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html

See how he scores. He has early symptoms of high functioning autism, which is almost always diagnosed ADHD at first. These kids are ultra-inattentive with severe social issues and language problems out the yang. You can try ADHD meds and behaviors, but, if he has a PDD, the earlier the intervention the better and ADHD treatment won't help. Often professionals don't like to diagnose autism so young, but the earlier you catch it, the better the prognosis. Certainly, I'd ask about it. So take the test and see how your son scores. People who post on the PDD board claim it's quite accurate. My son has PDD-NOS, first dxd. (at 3) as ADHD/ODD. He also had language, sensory, and social problems (and still does, to a point). Here's a PDD forum. You may want to post the symptoms there and see what the parents say. Your child is more like their kids than those with ADHD. Good luck.

www.autism-pdd.net/forum/default.asp

 

MomWI38912.6333564815Seizures do effect the cognitive and the early birth do also. These both may be the reason for the issues the child has. We understand the frustiration since our son is 10 and still no correct dx. We see the np on july 18 and will let you know what we find out.

Just another idea to throw into the pot, if you haven't done so already...

My son also is ad/hd with impulsive/inattentiveness issues( 4 1/2 years old).  When working with our psychiatrist he recommended we do a 6 hour glucose test.  Long story short we discovered that our son has reactive hypglycemia.  We had always fed our son what we thought was a careful diet since birth (little sugar if any).  In our case he was 10 llbs at birth.  Come to find out that his body doesn't process foods the way it should.  His sugar levels drop drastically contributing to some impulsive behaviors.  We found out that when we give our son fruit that we should give him protein in conjunction.  There is a lot more to the whole process...we worked with a nutritionist  associated with our doctor and have found our son to be much calmer and less impulsive.  We watch his diet and use a small dosage of medication.   

Hope this helps in some way... good luck in finding just the right thing to help your son and your family.

ERMama, welcome to the board.  Reading, reading, and reading some more is a great thing to do.  You need to really educate yourself.  Taking Charge of ADHD by Barkley is a good one to start with. He really explains well how ADHD is a defecit in executive functions of the brain.  Good luck on your journey and never stop searching for answers.

[QUOTE=cr12345mr] Good luck on your journey and never stop searching for answers.[/QUOTE]

And when you find answers, share them with every one!!

Weve done the PDD test many times, hes scores in the low 50's. His social problems stem from his impulsivity. He cant take turns, he cant follow rules (so team sports are out), etc. He loves playing with other kids and is happiest when in a crowd of children. All 4 doctors hes seen do not believe he is autistic in any way.

Neither his neurologist or the neuropsychologist believe the seizures have anything to do with his ADHD. The area where they believe his seizures came from is not in the area where adhd issues arise. Ry's adhd is more genetic in nature.

In some ways we are lucky our son had seizures as hes had a ton of bloodwork working up why he had seizures. Hes had genetic testing, celiac sprue testing, electrolytes, even some of the metals were tested. So I can say with relative certainty that there is no "metabolic" cause of his adhd.

 

if you replace the seizures with hand tremors, you would be describing my son when he was that age!  lol  my words of encouragement are these:

the school will set up an iep and the more issues they have him working on now the better!!!  I know how hard it is for him to have to leave his class room, but he gets a break from the same old thing.  my son sees a speech therapist and an ot.  he is doing great!  he is 8 and a bit behind in reading, but they are working on it with him.  he has a very detailed iep and that has been a gift from heaven!  We are holding him back in the 2nd grade this year.  He was on the A-B honor roll, all year, but with a modified lesson plan for reading.  So, the last 12 weeks of school, i asked the teacher to grade him the same as the other children.  He barely would have passed, but with the modifications, he was getting it raised his grade level to a low B.  So, we made that decision.  He is fine with it.  And with the new IEP, we have it set up to where he will be up w/ the rest of the class by the end of this next school year.  So, by the time he hits the 8th grade, he will be completely out of the special education program.  I strongly suggest that you look into long term goals and have them written down before the IEP meeting (ARD meeting).  Then you all figure out the best way to have him fazed out of the program before he hits high school. (if possible and the teachers and the diagnostician agree)  For now, the ot and the speech are a great thing for him.  It might seem a bit much on him, but with the ADHD, he will need a change of scenery and it will do him good to get up and do some thing else.  Now, after our last ARD meeting the teachers are now sending the spec ed teachers into the class room instead of taking the kids out.  They will be in the reg class room for 90 to 120 minutes a day and they are going to work with ALL the students, not just the spec ed students.  they will be having the ot work with all students with writing skills.  It's going to be GREAT!!!!  These kids are so lucky here.  It's a small school district, but that is what makes it possible for ALL students to benefit from the ots and the extra teachers in the class room.  This is a great long journey for you and your child.  Remember, most adhd children are geniuses!  You have been blessed with a special beautiful boy that will be smarter than all of his class members when he graduates from H.S.!!!  Keep us posted and sorry this is so long.  I didn't mean to hijack your thread.  sorry.