ADHD and Stuttering | ADHD Information

My 6 year old grandson, which I raise,  was recently diagnosed ADHD.  He is also a stutterer.  The med we tried worked really well and brought out all the brilliance he truely has but not would slow down long enough to be able to show.  Problem is it caused him to stutter even more and he's already considered "severe" as far as stuttering goes.  It is very difficult to watch a little one have such difficulty communicating, and as his teacher put it he has so much good stuff to say.  Help!!  Anyone else have this problem?

My son had an awful speech delay. Since begining therapy at the age of 2, he has made remarkable progress. He has an IEP that includes speech therapy at school during the day. I know exactly how you feel and what you are going through. I unfortunately did NOT have teachers telling me "my son has great stuff to say", they didn't understand him, and would tell him he was wrong when it was the teacher who was wrong. For example, per a mother in the classroom, the teacher asked what the weather was like outside, my son responded to her, it was sunny in his speech delayed way, and she said, "No you are wrong it is not Crummy out". It broke my heart This was at his preschool, who denied him speech until we fought and won! Oh, and the teacher, she was eventually fired.

Is your grandson receiving speech therapy for his stuttering? I would think he would qualify at the public school for services. And if so, you want him taken out of the classroom to receive one on one services

I would also mention this to the prescribing doctor. It may be a side effect of the medication. Some medications seem to give people tics and this may be one of those. Making something that is already bad, worse isn't so great. The prescribing doctor may want to put him on another medication.

I am glad that you found that medication is helping your grandson! it is so wonderful to hear that he is truly brilliant, I love that!!

It took my son 6 months to find the right medication, as well as the right dosage, but it was worth it.

Call both the prescibing doctor and the school(for speech if you don't already have it!)

I also have to commend you for raising your little guy as well You are a true hero in my eyes

Regards!!

Beth

 

My son has a stutter.   He just started speech therapy for fluency but the speech teacher resigned from the school so we currently don't have services.  If his stutter does not get better in a few years I am going to check into somthing called the fluency master which seems to help in many cases.  This device looks like a hearing aid and allows the speaker to hear him/herself.  Anyways the device is very expensive  ( at least 2000).   If his fluency does not get better with therapy, I will purchase the device.  The company sent me a video and other info on this product...the company also said that they had some people get this paid for with IDEA money ( assistive technology).  I know that this would be a major fight in our district.  

Anyway, the strategy that currently helps my son the most is the "start over strategy" ...if he starts to stutter he sstop speaking and start his thought/speaking over again. 

My son still sees a psychopharmacologist. He specializes in these type of medications. I hung in there for the sake of my son, and I was seeing the positive results. It was frustrating that teachers wouldn't cut him any slack when the meds needed adjusting, but we got through it! My son is tough, as well as sensitive, so I am lucky. He probably was used to being spoken to at that time. I was so sick of it, that I knew we would get there. I also knew seeing this doctor was a god send. He can mix, change dosages, tell him any symptoms, side effects and he knows exactly what to do. Our pediatrician recommended us to him.

I was so glad to read your response, you really are on top of things. I also believe that stuttering can be corrected. I have read of several actors having had it as children, only to master it. The one that comes to mind at the moment was an actor from the tv series "Buffy and the Vampire Slayer". The actor to play opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar, his name is Nicholas Brendon. He was a former stutter.

Please post and let us know how he does with his dosage change!! I have so been there, done that! 

Regards!

Thanks for the feedback!

Bethann, it was hard enough to break down and put him on something, but how did you go through 6 months to get the right med/dosage?  The worry of is this the right decision vs what I saw was so wonderful.  He's not a bad child, just hyper therefore inattentive ( I kept trying to tell myself that my two boys are 19 and 25 and I'm just a bit older and he IS a boy)

The first med was Metadate XR 20 mg.  The first day he was hyperfocused on the letter "p" and wouldn't hush but made the stuttering so much worse.  Yes, his teacher is wonderful and kept him with her even when she sent me to talk to his speech teacher (holding him I might add!) The speech teacher had a lot of infor for me the next day (she researched a while herself that night) and felt helpless because she could do nothing at all to help with this side effect. The Dr. decreased to 10mg and it was absolutely wonderful except the increased severity of the stuttering.  Last Thursday he was put on Focalin 10mg---it did nothing other than make him talk non-stop ( and he does a good job of that on his own).His teacher greeted me that afternoon with"this is definitely not the right one!"  Gave him 15mg on Saturday and saw no change from previous two days.  Tomorrow the Dr. wants to increase dosage to 20 mg--hope teacher is prepared. Basically the Metadate XR was outstanding except for the stuttering.

Joemom, he does have speech therapy through school.  Even though all things are not complete through all the channels there is no denying the problem and already see him several times a week.  (Yes, our school is wonderful!!!)

The device you mentioned sounds similar to a machine she put him on the other day.  She said he only would stay on it for maybe 5 minutes but she is increasing it each time.  Either hearing himself or the side effects have apparently made him realize he stutters (we have never made a deal over this).  He is talking about it a little bit and thinks the Focalin made him not stutter (I guess in his little mind anything "helps" what the Metadate was doing ---didn't tell him medicine was for adhd because we're not going to have a crutch in kindergarten and believe you me he's smart enough to figure that out!!)

The starting over strategy he did on his own from 3 - about 5 yrs old.  Was glad when he started it and even more thankful when he quit as it took forever to quit starting the same sentence over and over.  Before and into that phase he would get him a little rhythm going to get things out easier.  The device may acatually be helping him to slow down a bit and he's not rocking forward as much since using the machine just these few times (machine started after the Metadate stopped). 

Possibly your school district could send someone else in until they can hire a replacement.  I wish I had not accepted the explanation that he was learning so quickly (since 2) that was why he was stuttering, not realizing that secondary characateristics were already there(things I thought odd and mentioned but no one thought anything about), which I learned about a few weeks ago. We should have started therapy a long time ago. 

I requested to see a pediatric neurologist  from my pcp and got word today that the neurologist's office has already sent information back that they would be scheduling an appt--it's a God thing as our reg nurse said they have many pediatric patients that have been waiting since October to even hear if they would be getting appt.  I realize appt could be still a ways off as the best ones in our part of the state are at the state hospital.  That's okay though because my request only took 3 business days!  The nurse also said the neurologist would better prescribe --- do I just put medication on hold if appt takes a bit or keep truding forward?  Thought this would be a lot easier than it is--thought hardest part was breaking down and giving him the medicine, boy was i wrong.

I am trying to learn from those before me---thanks again for your input (and your ear!)

Missy

Joemom,

Is your son on medicine for ADHD?  If so, what is he taking and did the stuttering start before or after he started taking medicine?  By the way, how old is he?

Yes, my son ( age 7) is on medication for ADHD.  He takes Adderall and yes his stuttering began before he started any meds.  I am still trying to figure out why he can speak fluently sometimes and not others.    He was in a performance the other night and did not stutter a word ( he  was calm, spoke slow and clear). I thought he was the BEST ( but I may be biased .)

Hi joemom,

I enjoyed reading how well your son performed the other night, you must have been so proud!

I wondered, having a speech delayed son, if the stuttering occurs when they get nervous. Your son was probably in his own place, very confident, happy and relaxed.

I just know that when I get nervous when speaking to someone, I too have stuttered. It has never been a concern, but it stops me in my tracks and I simply cannot get the words out fast enough. I think this has happened to others besides me.

Just wondering!

I know from posts with mpmccathran, she mentioned that her grandson is trying say so much, get it all out, that he stutters, I have done that, but not at that age. I was an adult and nervous.

I do think that my son has SOOOOOOOOOOOO much to say, he is definitly an out of the box thinker so perhaps this is some of the issue.  He thinks faster than he can talk.

Update--Joemom may find interesting. 

I was wrong on dosage of Focalin, started with 5mg and have since increased to 10 (combining 2 5's).  Last week began the actual 10mg capsules and his teacher made a comment after two days about how much better he was doing even with his speech (she was unaware of the small change in form). The stuttering is still present ---maybe he's just slowing down long enough to try to do what speech therapist suggests.  Nothing like a slower southern drawl stutter!! It hasn't stopped him from talking all the time but the struggling is not as harsh and he isn't as aggravated about it.  It is working GREAT for us. 

I am glad I have stuck this out for all our sanity, but  teacher said she never would have seen that he has thinking patterns of a gifted child (and I thought I was biased!)  Said he works a lot slower but she's fine with that; feels he may be a little OC (oh my!).

By the way, went to pediatric neuro today and felt like I wasted her time and mine.  Let me know her primary patients were ones with tumors and seizures--doesn't do anything with other kinds of patients. ADHD was not in her area at all.  She did mention that stutterers may need psych help and med such as Lexapro but that she doesn't know really anything about.   Let her know I wasn't there for a med fix. (Maybe she was out of her comfort-zone and not really interested ?) Will see us back in 3 months but now I wonder for what!?!

I've noticed Focalin wearing off mid-afternoon but I just deal with it since he's made it through school day.  I've read in several areas about evening doses for homework---how about sports?  How long do they last and could they be given on an as needed basis (once or twice a week?)

Thanks for the input!

mpmccathran, Thanks for the update.  That is weird about the difference between 2 5's vs 1 10mg.  We were doing a similar combo to use up the old medication...I wish I payed closer attention to his stuttering. 

Also, ask your teacher if she thinks your little guy could benefit from being in the gifted program.  We are going to investigate this also.... today my ds said he was interested in making a medication (one of our neighbors has cancer) and wanted to check out some chemestry books in the library.....esshhhh he is only 7.

Our doc did give us a prescription for an afternood dose to use as needed.  We have only used it twice and it was out of his system by bedtime (9:00).