social problem | ADHD Information

Not what you want to hear, but I advise you to not let this go. My son's
desire to have friends lead him to be taken advantage of and to be bullied.
The great thing is that now he has learned to stick up for himself and has
some great friends!

What helped - I didn't sweep it under the rug. We got very vocal about his
ADHD and naming what was going on with him. Then he wasn't the weird
kid, and other children learned what to expect from him, so it helped a lot.

Also he's been in therapy and has worked directly in friendship groups in
school in order to practice his social skills.Thanks corrina.  I dont plan on ignoring it.  But hoping that our school system does of some sort of social classes.  And def being his advocate if something comes up.

Hi, I'm new to this board too.  My now 7yr old son started meds earlier in Oct for ADHD.  He was 6yrs old at the time, and is just finishing up 1st Grade.  He's on the lowest dose possible of Ritalin.  He takes 1 pill at 8am, and 1 at noon.

I definitely notice a social awkwardness in my presense when he's not on the meds (weekends) and we in the company of his friends for one thing or another.  I try to call his attention to it to "calm down" if I'm around.  It's at school on the playground that I have no idea what he's doing.  There is no teasing... yet.  He just gets extra silly and hyper, but does have a lot of friends.

I have to stay, when he takes his meds I notice no personality change at all.  It's just enough to sort of "pull his focus together" during the school day.  He's able to sit still and pay attention.  But other than that, nothing different.  We may have to increse that dosage next year if he doesn't calm down.  But I can certainly relate to those of you going through this!

Karla

My son does well in certain groups of kids who have known him most of his life, but outside of that things don't always work out so well. His classmates understand his quirks, and have been taught to ignore his antics. Even negative attentions is still attention to most kids who have ADHD. My son is the same. Sometimes, if he isn't getting a response, he'll escalate his behaviors, but I think he's slowly learning to keep it under control.

Like you mention, he always goes "too far" with his clowning/playing/etc. That internal "cap" is just missing. Social group with the school psychologist has been helping. I also don't really stress about it. As long as there isn't any bullying going on, I figure he'll find a way to interact with his peers. I was socially immature growing up, but by the time I was 15 I was getting better at socializing, and by the time I was 25 I'd figured out how to interact with others fairly well.

Some of us are just a little slower to understand and respond to social cues. But it's possible to gain that maturity...and perhaps even surpass some others because it was such a struggle to get there! Too bad all of us parents didn't live in the same town. Then we could get our kids together all the time without being overly worried about judgment and censure!   

Can any of you tell me what kinds of social problems your kiddo's have specifically?  How they deal with it?  How other children deal with it? and what did you do to help

My son has social issues.  He's VERY impulsive and quirky.  His "personality" kicks in to high gear when he gets excited when other children are around.  He gets even nuttier when it's a child that doesn't really want to play with him.  It's like he keeps pestering that child to like him which only just makes the other kid like him less . 

My son is the same way. And because of that he gets picked on A LOT. It's very disheartening. He's not so bad when he's taken his medication but even then I have to try and reel him in some or his excitement will kick into high gear and I will just have to remove him from the other children or take him home. I actually had him at the Park last night and he done really well. I just make sure I watch him very closely and when I see his excitement building I bring him over and get him to calm down a bit then let him go play some more. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. Last night it worked very well and he was able to play for quite a while. There were times I had to bring him over and tell him to stop yelling and flailing his arms and stuff and to calm down or he would have to go sit down for a while. I am new to this forum and I am just learning some awesome ways to deal with these kids of issues from more experienced parents!
Good luck!