How to Get a kid to take a pill | ADHD Information

OK, we are starting Concerta tomarrow.  My son 9 can not take a pill.  He swallowed it once and we saw great results but then he never could again and this was when he was 7.  So we are trying again.  How can I get him to take this pill.  I know it is all in his head as the pill is a little bigger then a sprinkle.  We tried applesauce, ice cream, pudding, i threw it in there...bad result....and still nothing.  I just orderd the ortho cup? from amazon and am hoping that works.

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

silverbelle99040280.1835185185I can empathisize with you as it took alot to get my 8 year old at the time to take a pill. now that he finnally takes them he is very anxious about starting a new vitamin because it is slightly larger than the stim he gets. very frustrating. he has such bad anxiety. He does take Zoloft for anxiety but it doesn't always help to that degree. I have no magic answer He just decided to take them at age 9. he is now 11.5 and we are in the situation I described the size of the pills freak him out.My daughter just was diagnosed today and she also has never tooken pills so i didn't know what i was going to do. The doctor told me to buy tick tacs to have her practice with taking pills. I did and after a few tries we found that it was easier for her to put the pill on her tongue then drink a big gulp and she was able to take it. Go buy them and have him practice that way when he starts to take it he wont have any problems.

Our DS takes his Tenex in a mini 3 musketeers bar.  Not Mom of the year stuff..but hey it works.  Tenex is one that does not need to be swallowed whole.

I cut the pill into smaller pieces. My son is already on a dose where he only takes a half-pill each time, but I go ahead and cut that pill into smaller pieces and then tuck them into the apple sauce (so he can't see them either).

Boy did he fight taking them at first. I would have to stand next to him and make sure he didn't spit them out. I asked around about that dosing cup...but I never thought to look on-line. I don't think it would have helped anyway. It was more of a mental blockage than anything else.

Especially since I've seen my son swallow favorite foods in GIANT bites...or even swallow noodles whole and pull them out again (it's a boy thing). Now it has become such a routine I could probably even get him to swallow them with water, but I'm not going to push my luck just yet.   

Good luck...and let me know how the pill cup works out if you decide to go that route (I may end up needing it for my younger son some day!).Search this board for information about the EZY-dose pill cup.   I'm not sure of the exact spelling.  This cup helped my child and many others learn to take pills, and it's not expensive.Unfortunately I have no other ideas for you other than what you have already tried...hopefully the ortho cup will work. I know there are many of us on the board who's kids can't or won't swallow a pill. We had to start our son on a capsule (focalin xr) that you could open and put the contents in applesauce, yogurt, etc. That was probably the main factor in selecting the medicine. Even doing it this way was very stressful in the beginning because he often would fight it and I remember a few mornings (after wasting 2 or 3 pills because he would knock the spoon out of my hand) just sitting down and crying. But it does get better... I hope tomorrow goes well for you. Just remember, there are so many of us here who are happy to lend an ear if you get frustrated, or cheer you along as things are going well!We are doing the pill dance at our house also. To help motivate my son I bought a Bionicle toy and Pokemon cards. When he takes a pill, he gets a couple of Bionicle pieces until he has them all and can build the toy. Then we will go onto a Pokemon cards for each pill, by the time we are through the toy and 10 cards he should have no problem. That should be in about 2 weeks.