I stared my son on meds at the age of 6 in first grade because kids were begining to label him, he is still trying to live it down. My son is successful both academically, and we keep him enrolled in a sport each season. School social issues is another conversation, my town is small and clicky, as well as gossipy, but the funny thing is you go to fillup the medicine, and the pharmacy has sold out! There are more with this disorder than admit to it!!
I would start medication to help him out - I even tell people it saved his life! I have even found that as he has gotten older, the hyperness is getting worse! Mine is a good kid, but he really needs the medication, the same way I need my presciption eyeglasses! i too don't have good days when i don't have my glasses on, which are a prescription just like my son's concerta!
email me any questions you may have!
Beth
yesterday my 6 year old first grade son was formally diagnosed with adhd,Meds is a personal decision. We have started meds due to a horrible year last year with failure, anxiety, depression and defiance. We were losing our daughter. What ever you decide you can always change your mind if it is not working how you want. Meds may take trying out a few types and different doses to get to the correct one. Alot of psychiatrists prefer to start meds first so that the child can get all they can out of other therapies. It may be more difficult to see what progress is due to meds vs the behavior therapy. My childs doctor likes to try time off the meds near the start of school to see how much maturity has occured and how badly the meds are still needed.
I do not suggest medacine if the child has any form of asd. Some asd kids meds work well with. The child main issue is the asd. This needs to be dealth with thru therapies. A asd has a right to a aid in with them for mainstream classes and Pt SE for classes where there is a LD. This is how a Asd is dealt with at the school our son was at. This was the only way I would of kept our son in his past school. I moved him cause he hated the place and 2 boys threathned his life. I also think that school stinks. I would move our girl if she was not in jr.high and a jok. We decided to medicate in 1st grade. I don't regret the decision, but making the decision really tore me up. DD is much more successful in school now. She is more inattentive than hyper, though. Good luck with whatever decision you make. You'll find support here!Woa. Here's a different perspective..
If he's having a hard time at school, request an IEP or 504. Check out the Alternatives board and there's a lot of different strategies you can try. Also check out the Schools and ADHD board. You'll find some useful suggestions there too.
I wouldn't medicate him just yet, especially if it's not recommended to. I think fear is what's prompting you to want to medicate him and with knowledge, that fear will subside. Hang in there and read up on the threads before making any decisions. You're best to walk into this on the right frame of mind rather than jumping the gun.
INaBOX38988.8585185185Beth Ann and Vickie-If you are opposed to medication, I can respect that, and I would never suggest for you to try medication. But if you are on the fence, you obviously don't have any very strong feelings either way. So here is my advise;
At first I anguished over this, as if it was some life or death decision, a "no turning back" kind of thing. But its not. This isn't irreversable surgery, its a short acting pill. A little tiny pill. You are in full control of it. Whats the harm in a trial for a few days? If they don't work or have a negative effect, you can ask for a different dose or another brand. Heck! You can even flush them down the toilet!
In hindsight, I know I had ADHD as a LITTLE GIRL. Back then, my parents wouldn't have known. But... If I found out that my parents knew and that there was a pill that would help me do better in school, be a better friend, be happier and make my childhood as normal as everyone else's, and my parents didn't even try this medication, didn't even give it a chance...I'd be pretty pissed off today.
Whatever your decision, medication alone is never the answer. You have to treat the whole child. A healthy diet, lots of exercise, good sleep habits and dicipline have to be part of the plan.
Good Luck
My personal decision on why to use meds was not that my daughter was diagnosed with ADD, but that her relationships both at home and school were suffering badly, as well as her performance at school in academics--so, I guess the real reason was that her self-esteem was completely shot. That said, it is a totally personal decision either way. Good luck! Try a good behavior mod first if that fails then you can choose to either do a low dose of med or something natural like on the alternative board. Good luck on your choice for it is a tough one, been there.I had to medicate my son at age 3. I did what ever i could to help my son and those around him. If your child is behind in school it is because with adhd children they have a hard time. Expecially with writing. Does your school offer and iep. My son gets all sorts of help from the iep team. And he has had ot since he was in preschool at age 3. It helped him a lot. Expecially with writing. We are still working on that. And his organizing. And he is 8 now. Well good luck to youreneeeilene,
My daughter's psychologist became a psycologist 40 years ago (rather than a psychiatrist) because she believed strongly in therapy and not meds for most disorders. She told us that she has come to see (due to time, studies and general progress in the field) that many ADHD kids benefit from meds. She referred us to a psychiatrist to rule out bipolar and to offer the option of meds (since a psychologist cannot prescribe meds). This was after reviewing evaluations from the educational psych, performing her own ADHD evaluations, ensuring that my daughter had appropriate accomodations at school, working with our daughter (play therapy) and ensuring that we had incorporated an appropriate behavior modification plan. With all of this, my daughter was falling into depression and anxiety. I definately was ready to try meds by this time.
Long answer to a short question.
My daughter was diagnosed with ADD in 3rd grade, and we did not start to use medication until 7th grade. I could have written your post - very bright girl, hamstrung by her messy desk, disorganization, and being labeled as "the weird girl". For us, the behavior mods worked well until 7th grade, when she hit the wall. Having to remember to take all her books to each class, and have a pencil, and have her homework, was just too much. When she started medication, it changed her whole life - it was no miracle cure, but everything got so much better for her.[QUOTE=reneeeileen]Beth Ann and Vickie-
Did your evaluator or behavioral psych recommend meds. this is why i am
confused. she is conservative and and wants to try other things. but i dont
think he has the time to waste when it comes to connecting to the other
children instead of becoming alienated and depressed. did you find the
medicine to help with understanding social cues. what kind of adhd did you
son have? How did the medicine help with the impulsivity?[/QUOTE]
reneeeileen, no one recommended meds. to us. My son was first diagnosed at 5 and went to kindergarten without meds. However, parents were labeling him that year without me realizing, no playdates, it really stunk. First grade came along and the kids made fun of him! The teacher really helped me, she had taught for ever, was the teacher to some children's parents! The teacher knew! So we started with meds, and a psychopharmacologist to figure out what was best and at what level. It took over a year to level off. I also medicate 7 days a week because he needs it! Social life is better, still living down the labeling, but if I hadn't, things would have been so much worse. My son is VERY H and impulsive. The same teacher told me he was a very good boy, but he didn't even realize he had done it until it had already happened. We had to get my son help. It is still tough with the meds, but we are dealing with it. Last night he had a pizza party after football so we had to figure out just what to do so he would behave until 9:00pm. We called the psychopharm and worked with him on the correct dosage - it is trial and error. Age is not a factor by the way, every body is different, it depends on the metabolism. Medication is a personal decision, for my son it was the right decision. I wish I had medicated immediately so he would not have had to suffer those 2 years in school. He was always the one "they"watched, even kids blamed him for things they did to get away with it. And my son sat in the principals office many a time, unnecessarily sometimes even. Oh, and the principals brother and nephews have also by the way! Social cues are still tough, but getting better with maturity. Sometimes m son didn't even r ealize they were making fun of him, but teachers told me that was good because it protected him. He now gets it - he is 9 by the way.
I hope this helps, post again if you have more questions! Also, if you do medicate, it didn't help my son when I didn't medicate on the weekends, it actually made it worse for monday's - that's a whole other conversation!
Beth