I am a new poster to this forum but really could use some advice.  My 9 year old daughter has ADHD and is on Daytrana (10mg).  Daytrana is a patch so when she gets up in the morning she puts it on.  From that point, it takes a little while to take effect.  So, I am at my wits end every morning trying to get out the door for school!  The night before her clothes are laid out but it still takes her about 15 minutes to get dressed and come down- she recently got contacts so now it is about 20-25 minutes before she can get down to breakfast.  Every step of the way I have to remind her to brush her teeth, put her shoes on, get her backpack, etc.  I am really concerned because she has no appetite once the medicine kicks in so I REALLY want her to have a good breakfast, but most days she winds up having about 10-15 minutes to eat!!  On top of this she has no sense of time urgency!  So she doesn't 'get it' that she just needs to keep going.  Eating can also take up to 20 minutes!!  Then there is the trek back upstairs to brush teeth and hair.  My main problem is that if I don't stand on top of her the whole entire process we would never get to school.  We have done charts, tallies for money, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, yelling, EVERYTHING but year after year it is the same.  I feel bad because I know that she can't help it, but I am scared she will never make it on her own someday!!  And then what do I do when she wants to put make-up on in the morning (in a few years)??  I can't get her up any earlier!  She needs alll the sleep she can get. 

I also have a 7 year old son who has none of these issues and can be ready for school before she is even done with breakfast!  I have night and day with them!!

Anyone gone through this and made it out the other side?  Do I need to just accept that I will have to stand on top of her until she graduates high school?  Help!!!!

hi! im new here as well, but maybe switching from the patch to a pill would help some? i know my dd takes adderall, and i can see it just start to kick in around the 20 minute mark...

good luck  ;)

Boy have my husband and I felt your pain with our 8 year old so!.  What works for us is a timer.  Ours is digital and it gives our son something to keep him focused on his task (other than us asking him to do something a million times).  We still have to remind him of his next task (giving them to him one at a time really helps), but it has definitely been less frustrating.  He knows there are consequences of the timer goes off if he isn't finished.

Good luck!  Hope your mornings are less stressful soon!

I also have a 9 year old daughter who can take hours getting ready for school.  She was taking Adderall XR in the am, however, it took way too long to hit her system - and in the meantime we battled constantly.  Her doc switched her to regular Adderall every four hours and since it is not XR it hits within 20 minutes.  I still have to remind her to do things, but it has made a huge difference.  She also feels better physically - she's gotten her appetite back. 

It just seems that the extended release meds take way too long to hit their system and then they wear off way earlier than the drug manufacturers claim they do. 

I too worry about her in the future if I'm not around to remind her to do stuff - I'm taking it one day at a time.  A day we dont fight about her being late is a great day. 

Hope this helps.  I totally empathize with you!!

Hi Dawn,

This is a very common issue that comes up often.  And guess what......there is no one right and wrong answer.  What works for one child/family, may not work for another.  My son is now 16, so I pretty much tried every tip thats ever been mentioned on this topic.  I will say that there is one tip that overall, had the most success for us.  And that is taking their med early, preferrably with a nutrtious food, then letting them sleep another 30 or 45 minutes.  This one strategy, combined with all the others, reduced our morning chaos more than anything.  You may also need to re-examine whether or not the patch is working effectively for her.  When we gave our son his med, we'd give it with carnation instant breakfast plus something like a banana or cereal bar. 

Some would disagree that this is an extreme "accomodation".  I don't.  Implementing this simple change literally changed our mornings from hell on earth to calm, almost overnight.   Expect it to take a few days to iron things out if you try this approach.

Okiemom

My son is still pretty young (4) but we have similar problems.  He's on the fast acting type of Ritalin but it still takes about 1/2 hour to kick in.  I tried waking him up to take a pill then go back to sleep but that didn't work because he won't go back to sleep after he wakes up. So what I do is wake him up but let him lay in bed watching TV for about 1/2 hour.  After he's up for about 5 min I give him his first pill but I don't start asking him to do things until about 1/2 hour after he wakes up.  I end up having to get him up 1/2 hour earlier than I normally would but IT IS SO WORTH IT!  Good luck!