New to this all, sort of..... | ADHD Information

Hi, my ds was just dx with adhd he is 8 1/2 so we have suspected this for awhile, he acutally has been on stimulant meds before (adderal) and had bad reaction with tics and such we tried to go the natural way, tweaking diet, and flax seed oil, fish oil, behavior modification with no luck.  After his last eval it was decided he should try non stimulant meds, and we cant get appointment with pyscitrist until march 10th, I am so worried he will have no luck with the meds again any advice would greatly be appreiciated. Also I'm wondering how to approach things with the school, he has an IEP but currently qualifies under cognitive delay ( which he clearly no longer is he has caught up and is solidly average in general thinking and problem solving skills) how do I convince them to change his IEP to say he qualifys for help under adhd or other health issues such as adhd, from what I've read it is likly to be a big fight.  He just recieves services in things like getting more time to complete tests, having directions read to him, speech and language and expressive writting, as well as organizational skills.  I feel hes not ready just to have all these things dropped, but am definitly not comfortable with the cognitive delay label any longer.  Any thoughts?

You may want to look into Strattera.  It's a non stimulant medication that isn't supposed to cause tics like the stimulants.  Also, you could try another type of stimulant.  They are all different and your son will react differently to them.  My son couldn't take Adderall (bad rebound, aggitated, moody etc) but Ritalin works well for him.  He did still have side effects though so the doc added Tenex and it helped tremendously.  He wouldn't be able to take Ritalin without it!

I'm sorry I don't have any advice about the IEP.  My son is in Pre K so I don't have much experience in that area!