The whole "3 is too young" is more than likely an old carryover from when most 3 year olds only had one setting to be evaluated in. Back in the not so distant past when most 3 year olds were home with mom all day, every day. These days, most 3 year olds have a daycare or preschool setting in addition to the home setting.
That being said, I agree with many posters here that have mentioned the effective discipline program being an extremely important first step.
Go with what you feel is right, and then explore all of your options, including positive discipline techniques, diet and medication if that is the road you choose. Knowing the outcome of the diagnosis can only help you decide what is best for your child.
Try some behavior management strategies first to see if it helps. I recommend 123 magic. You should be able to check it out at your local library.I am brand new to this forum. I have a son who is 3 years old. From the very beginning I felt that something was wrong. My son has always been very "high maintenance". He has always been crabby, whiney, and hard to sooth since my husband and I brought him home from the hospital. I could write about this for hours, but I will try to hit the main points.....My husband and I cannot go anywhere with him. He cries whines, wants to get out of the shopping cart. He went through a period for a couple of years that he would cry so much that he would vomit, this would happen everyday. I work full time due to necessity, many morning when I take him to the babysitter(my sister-in-law) he fights me so much. Everything is fine at the babysitters so that's not a worry. He is defiant, does not want to put his shoes on and sometimes I have to put all of my weight on him to get him in his carseat. He has hit and bitten me to the point he has drawn blood. We were at a wedding last weekend where there were other kids and he was so loud and out of control I didn't know what to do. Other kids parents had to quiet their children down, but nothing worked w/ my son. It's like I talk and he's immune to my voice. He seems to have no concept of being quiet or behaving. He is soooo hyper and has so much energy. I know he's only 3, but other kids really don't act like him. He is out of control and destructive. On the other hand he is a sweet, loving, very very bright child. My husband says we have the worst kid and the best with him. I just need help and don't know what to do. I don't really have a lot of family to speak of so there is no support. My in laws are nice, but they say he is "all boy". My husband used to think that too, but not anymore. I took him to his peds dr last May and he set up for him to be evaluated from Early Childhood Intervention here in Illinois. That was a joke. We had apponitments and evaluations one after the other. His eval came out fine from the occupational therapist, the speech evaluator said he was hard to understand, but his vocab is good and to just have him revaluated before he starts school. After months of evals we were suppose to have in home therapy for him once a week. They thought he may be severly ADHD. The counselor never showed up etc etc, by November when she was a no show again my husband said "no more"! Early childhood intervention is only for kids under 3 and he was 2 months away from being 3 at that time. They were suppose to get him a psych eval and never did. Right before he turned 3 they wanted to do and exit interview and I refused. There was nothing to exit since nothing got started. I spent almost everyday off from work I had for appointments and nothing came of it. I don't know what to do and where to turn. I know when he starts school they will not put up with his behavior. I would like to get this under control before then. Any suggetions? The internet has so much info it's overwhelming. Please help!When a child turns 3 it becomes the public school system's responsibility to provide services (ie preschool, therapies, etc) if a need is found. You should be able to send a written request to your local school system to have a complete evaluation. Once they have a written request they have a certain time frame in which they must complete evaluations and hold a TEAM meeting (I'm not completely sure, but I think it is 45 days from receipt of the request). If you do this I would keep copies of everything and send everything registered mail so that you have copies and a paper trail since you had such a hard time with EI services. (a friend of mine also keep the envelopes so that she has the post mark dates becuase she has had problems with being sent things after they were due and being told it was her fault for not getting them in on time) Not to say that it will be the same with the school but a paper trail keeps you covered just in case.
Hope this helps.
3 is entirely too young for an evaluation and/or a diagnosis.Has he been evaluated for allergies? asthma?( the crying until he vomits rings a bell for that) have you considered other non ADHD issues.
Honestly my advice is to wait, implement some behavior strategies, and wait some more. You cannot get an accurate diagnosis before about 6 or so, preferably a bit older. I would also RUN from anyone who tries to do so at this age, since he has not started school he is not showing one of the "required signs". 3 is a TOUGH age, and alot of the things you mention sound like normal 3yo behavior to me.
The public school system cannot diagnose, but they can loook for LD's, so that may be a good idea. You will have to write a formal request and send it certified mail, they then have 60 days to comply.
edbson39178.4007986111Our son was diagnosed at three (accurately) with ADHD. We have a strong family history of ADHD so we were not surprised to start seeing behaviors early and wanted to get a jump on it. Diagnosis CAN occur early despite what others will tell you. We chose NOT to pursue meds at this point and have done a lot with diet modifications and supplements. You can read more about it on the Alternatives to Meds section of this board -- check out the Omegas and Magnesium threads and websearch Feingold or the ADHD diet. I knew my son was different as well and have been so happy that we have started treatment early.Welcome ANDREAH,
Some docs are reluctant to diagnose this early, but this is not the case with all docs. It really depends on the symptoms and how badly they affect the patient and the family. In the diagnostic criteria includes symptoms present in more than one setting (to make sure it is not just the setting). You can start the diagnostic process and see where it goes. Make sure the things that can mimic ADHD are evaluated. If you have a pediatric development team at a children's hospital or university available, that would be a good place to start. After diagnosis, you can formulate a treatment plan.
In the meantime implement a positive reinforcement behavior plan to get startted. Look at 1, 2, 3 magic as myjeffrey has suggested and look at ogram's marble system at the top of the parent's board. He may not respond well at this age but it is good to make sure your parenting is consistant (needed much more with ADHD than with other kids).
It also sounds like you will need help once he enters school. Book mark www.wrightslaw.com and www.schwablearning.org for your future school needs and rights.
edbson... in your opinion 3 is entirely too young. I have a son that was 3 1/2 when I took him for his first formal doc visit. My son demonstrated that day the exact behaviors we were there for directly in front of the doctor. We did a QEEG test which I have mentioned on previous posts and we did a 6 hour Glucose tolereance test. All at the docs recommendations. We also had preschool teachers reports, our own observations as well as family and friends and a play therapist. We started play thearpy prior to all this testing. And the Peditrician also recommended we see a specialist in the area of ad/hd and other disorders.
Also, public schools do evaluations at the age of 3 under the Child Find Program. All you have to do is call the director for Child Find in your local district. They will collect all the information and do an evaluation. It does not have to be purely academic reasons. If a child has ad/hd severely enough that is a problem for the child and his peers then he/she can receive services for other things not related to LD (learning dissabilities). I have a friend whose daughter recieved these services from the age of 2-4 and her daughter is in regular kinder today and never has had LD tendancies. Her's was all behavioral ad/hd related. My friend is so thankful for the services that our district provided her daughter.
Andreah, my son was diagnosed to have impulsive ad/hd at the age of 3!/2 and we use a low med dosage in conjunction to a high protein/low carb diet and continue to do therapy. My ds is 5 now and I am quite pleased with the progress we have made. He is finally happy and does quite well at school and at home. He has his moments but overall is doing wonderfully. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. It just takes time.
In my opinion, you need to follow you and your husband's hearts. If you feel there is something then see someone that specializes in children. I went to a psychiatrist for my ds and he specializes in children. I went and said I don't know what is going on with my baby but I know that I need to do something now so that he doesn't suffer the rest of his life (I'm a teacher and see far too many children that have problems undiagnosed because of adult fears). I wanted to rule out aspergers, ad/hd, etc... I'd rather know that I checked for all these things and rule out things. We were able to rule out most of the dreaded things that I thought my son might have and ended up with ad/hd only. I have no doubt in my mind that we did what was best for our son. Hope this makes sense.
The best to you in finding what you need to help your son for his future.
Vickie thanks for your post. It was well said in my opinion.
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