New ADHD diagnosis in the home | ADHD Information

I'm so afraid to post in the wrong place.  I'm getting used to the format here.  I'm also confused still and I've been having trouble concentrating something like post trauma.

This is what I'm confused about--where to begin.  I figured getting medication is where to begin but I've been having trouble getting the appt done when as soon as I call there is no answer and then I have to remember to do it again.  It took me a week before realizing that I have to organize myself and so I've been sending  myself emails of what I've done where I've called and where I need to revisit.

I need to know whether behavioral therapy is worth it.  If it is who do you go to for this?  Psychologist?

Also I found a study in Dallas, teaching reasoning skills to teens.  I'd love to do that but I live way up north.  I've called them and they have not called back.  I want to make some progress here but it's not going fast enough and I'm frustrated.

The other thing is what other options have there been to improve reasoning skills.  How about medication? From what I read here so far there is a possiblity that if I change my daughter's med (concerta) for something better that I'll start seeing behavioral changes that I've never seen out of her before, like aggression ......her problem has only been inablility to focus and poor reasoning.

Anyone has any suggestions?
Hi, and welcome!

Don't worry about where to post - we'll get you to the people you want to
be talking to.

It would help if I had more info on your daughter - her age, for instance,
and what her issue is.

If she's still having problems with focusing on meds, then you should
start there. Talk to her doctor about the dose or the medication. Don't
be satisfied with it working a little.

Behavioral therapy - depends. It sounds like your daughter is older, so it
would be more willing to stick with her. But also it depends what you
want her to get out of it. It's good for somethings and doesn't work so
well for others.

Please keep talking. Give us some more info so we can tell you our
experiences that might help with your decisions. :)I'm so sorry.  I realized I have given no information.  Well, my daughter is 16.  We did lindamood after hearing so many complaints from the teachers about her not living to her potential and after getting her psat scores of 95%tile.  I wondered what's going on.  The LMB eval came back low in the verbal absurdities section.  She was performing 2 years below her age.  I was that with their classes she improved and raised that score up a whole year.  But what they do is target a wide range of areas.  It's very expensive and I want to spend only in targetting her problem areas.  It would be even better if we could use insurance.

She was on 54 concerta and 18 more when she got out of school.  Her neurologist who saw her for headaches made a comment that the dosage seems to be high.  I got scared and changed it to 36.  I now realize that he may have been confusing it with Ritalin dosages which are lower because they have to be repeated throughout the day. 

In either case, she was helped by the concerta but she still insists that she has to reread things many times and it took her 4 days to do an English paper.  She gets very little sleep trying to do all her school work etc.

I'm not sure what behavioral therapy is but I was hoping that they can cover habits and skills because I realize it's difficult for me to understand how she thinks it may also be difficult for me to help her.  Things that come second nature to me she is not doing and I don't know how to help her get into the habits of thinking on how not to repeat behaviors that do not work and how to recognize when something is not working and the next step is to ask for help which I would then come in and ask the necessary questions to see what's going on.

She's been so used to me treating her like a regular teen with regard to her school work, she works independently and i suppose that is good for it taught her compensatory skills but now I'm concerned that those skills are not effecient and that  is the reason High School is such a challenge now, it finally caught up with her, her methods take too much time.  I'm thinking she's almost done, what a shame if she can't finish 12 grade by next year.

I'm hoping to find answers in what it is about her study habits that need to be changed.  You'd think that asking her is the way to go but she honestly has no clue and I understand that now.  I would need to observe her.  I tried it briefly and she cannot concentrate with me breathing down her neck and I got frustrated and let her be.  But I did explain to her that I'm sure there is a better medication and better efficient ways to work that she can possibly be taught.