Wondering if any parents | ADHD Information

Sound like my ds! We "try" to keep Jacob out of places where he's been over-stimulated before, like toy stores, large group events at church or school, or birthday parties.

But I never learn. Last Saturday I took Jacob to Toys R Us (to give my wife an hour or two of peace) and he almost had a major melt down when I tried to get to the check out line. (Just too many things going on in his head...) Oh well, he did better than I thought, especially when I told him that he would get NOTHING if he had a fit! He did OK and I praised him for keeping under control.

At 4 1/2 years old, I know how important it is to keep your son from getting over stimulated. However, as he gets older, I think it's important to allow him to get over-stimulated so you can help him, teach him, coach him into knowing how to handle himself. Going to toys stores is a good place to teach stress management skills. Dropping off your son and leaving a birthday party where there will be numerous kids is a different story. You probably don't want to leave him with parents who don't know him and how to handle him when he's over-stimulated.

Our ds does very well playing games that have an ending, such as board games, cards or puzzles. However, games that have no end, such as video games or Lego Blocks cause our son to get over-stimulated (he doesn't know when to quit).

And it's good to not get into the habit of having too many distractions in his bedroom, such as the television or game systems.

Our ds has problems on the playground too. Whenever the school calls us, it's because Jacob had a hard time during recess (nobody played with him; someone cheated, someone cut in line, someone hit him, or he hit another kid). We are currently trying to see if there is alternate activity for Jacob to do during recess, such as going to the Learning Recource Center, or having a "job" in the cafeteria. We also have him in counseling to learn social skills.

Hope this helps. God bless... tom

can give us some advice for our 4.5 year old son on getting overexcited, overstimulated.

 

especially at school, at playground, with other kids and even when playing alone.   Has had ot for a year now, but it's private, so they see little of this like we do!   advice?   tia

We had to learn what his limits were and respect them.  We recently had a carnival at the school.  The gym was packed, it was hot, and it was loud.  We knew that this was more than he could handle.  So while we waited for the raffle tickets to be called I pulled him into a quiet hallway and we read books until it was time.

We also attened the school open house. I knew as soon as we walked through the doors that this was too over stimulating for him.  He took us quickly to his room ramble off a few things and then we left when he said it was time to go.

It took us sometime to realize his limits weren't what other kids were.  We often left the park early, etc.

You have to learn is too much stimulation for them and then remove them, wether it is a play date, or even at home.  Just remove them for what is causing the problem and redirect them to some other less stimulating activity.

My son's walkman (now ipod) has provided him with a lot more peace when in an uncomfortable environment.Hi and welcome. I would say that if he has a problem with getting overexcited, you have to plan in advance for those situations. Have your exit plan ready. Set your expectations for him before entering those situations. We had 3 rules for restaurants, sit down, be quiet, no running around. Doesn't mean they obeyed the rules, but they were easy enough for them to memorize.    Stay flexible when on an outing. For example, we never carpool with people to an event because we may need to leave early. That has happened on countless occasions! Any, HTH!