New to all this... | ADHD Information

I would send him. THat is who evaluated and diagnosed our son. It will only get worse for him as he gets older.

This way you will know for sure either way!!

I agree that the specialist may be a good choice.

If medication remains a treatment option you are ok with, talk with your doctor about pushing the dose up until you see some side effects. You need to know what the medication CAN do. Many people stop when the dose is too low thinking that it's ineffective.

Proper treatment for ADHD will help a LOT with his inattention and may help him get back up to grade level. He may have a learning disability, but it may also be that he's falling behind because he's unable to focus on the work.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Thank you everyone.  I really do honestly believe he is ADD.  I am not so sure about the hyperactivity but I know the focusing part he does have a hard time with.  I think he would have more self confidence too if he wasn't falling behind, which would help.  I don't think he really has any type of specific learning disability like dyslexia.  He will know something one time, the next forget it.  So the knowledge is there and the "smarts" so to speak.  He was labeled early on as having no motivation or not being real positive.  I do believe it is the ADD mostly. 

I have a feeling our doctor will increase his dosage today.  We'll see what happens.  If no results I probably will be heading to the specialist.  I would hate to put him through a lot of testing too.  I know that is scary for young kids.  I am not sure how soon we could get into the clinic either.  I know with me I have to call 6 months in advance for an appt. 

I feel really new to this.  My stepdaughter was diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic last year and I threw myself in educating myself and it kind of consumed our lives for awhile.  Now I have this on my plate and I don't even know where to start with it.  I have been reading etc. and doing research too but I still feel like I don't know much.

What med is he on? The increase may do the trick.

In school he may be struggling due to a processing learning disability OR his focus isn't there. The med increase my solve that, not sure.

Hope all is well.

Right now 10mg of Adderall. I put it on applesauce/yogurt every morning.

Are you happy with the results when the dosage was the correct one?

My son turns 8 in a couple days.  On September 25th we took him to our family doctor, thinking he may be ADD.  He is part of a small catholic school  and in the 2nd grade (10 boys in his class only, not a boy school just turned out that way for his class).  Ever since preschool we have noticed him having trouble.  He is reading 1st grade level now.  It's mostly spelling and reading that gives him the trouble.  He is on task 67% of the time, whereas the other kids are about 93%.  He's rather be playing, messing with the eraser on his pencil, you name it...whatever than doing work.  His school has him going to Title I every day and a Learning Center 3x a week.  We had him tested last year by the public school and he was borderline so he didn't qualify for any services.  We are now starting up this year again to see if he will qualify this year. 

Anyway, both his 1st grade teacher and his teacher this year wrote up long reports and we took in the testing he did last year for special ed to the doctor.  He said we could have him tested but it would be a 4 month waiting period and they probably would just start him on meds anyway for a trial period.  So we opted to get him started on some medication now.  He is taking Adderall.  It is now one month later and the teacher tells me she sees no real big difference.  I had a hard time giving him medication to begin with so the idea of increasing his dose scares me. 

I am now wondering if we should just take my son to a pediatric neurologist who specializes in ADHD.  There is one in the same clinic I go to for my neurologist (I am epileptic, controlled for 11 years and seizure free).  My gut tells me to do this.  I think they could give me more specific answers and tell me for certain what is going on here.

I know my son exhibits all the symptoms of ADD.  The having to repeat things to him several times, the lack of follow through and bad organization skills, the no focus, the learning disabilities that accompany it, etc.  I read all the web sites and it sounds like him to a T save and except he really doesn't have all the hyperness.  His favorite pass time is playing video games because he feels he does well at that.  :)  We struggle with homework.  His school has cut back his work load to help him now, though.

Any suggestions or ideas to me would be great.  Thanks!

zell82840108.6031481481Boy, he sounds alot like my 10 yr old son.  He attends a catholic school and they have institued an IEP for him, he also attends Resource for reading. Reading is a huge challenge for him.  Tried a couple of meds before finding focalin XR and it has been excellent.  He loves video games too.  School will only become harder for him as he progresses, so please continue to look for help.  My son also has dyslexia.  I was able to get him tested by a specialist through his behavior doctor to uncover the dyslexia.  Private testing (15 hours worth!) was about 00, (insurance paid for 60%). If he is a bright kid, you just may need to do the work to help him reach his potential.    There have been no results yet.  He's only been on it about 4 weeks and his teacher says she sees no difference.  I haven't noticed anything different either. 

This is the example that the dosage is too low. You increase it. Call his doctor and tell him/her this. They will write a prescript for the next dosage.

Do not wait, the med isn't working. The teacher's feedback is very helpful, by the way.

When he is where he needs to be, you will know.

My son couldn't handle adderall, side effects were horrible. He changed to concerta and it took us a good 4 months to Finally level off at the right dose.

Hang in there, but DO NOT WAIT. I remember upping his dosage daily until we finally leveled off.

hang in there and please let us know how things are going.

 

Thanks, we are actually going to see the doctor later this afternoon so I am pretty sure he will increase the dose. 

What side effects did your son have from Adderall?

It was horrible. He was angry, emotional, go in the kids faces the teacher told me, very irratable. He broke down in his pediatricians office who took him off the med immediatly, and started concerta and referred us to a psychopharmacologist. He was like psychotic. 

From what I have read people usually can only handle one of the two families, the adderall family OR the ritalin family. My son is now on concerta, 5 years now and very successful. He also takes guanfacine
BETHANN40109.6071759259

Well, we are back from the doctor.  He increased the dosage to 15mg now.  He said for my son's weight and size he probably should be taking about this much, but he started out with 10mg just to be safe and watch and see what results we got from it.  Since we had nothing happen at all (side effects either) he felt okay with increasing it then.

That is terrible with the Adderall side effects your son had, that must have been awful for you

Yes, it was terrible, BUT concerta has been a life saver. He is fine 

I just wanted to chime in with adderall xr is NOT weight dosed nor is concerta. The doctor should know this!! your son's dose is based on his success. When he is successful, and the teacher can help you with this, is where is dosage is. NOT his age or weight.

Strattera is based on weight, it builds up in the blood system.

Our kids are on meds that leave the body for good after X number of hours. Then when you give it to them again the next day, it is back in their system.

It does NOT stay in there like strattera does.

Any questions? Please ask!!