ADHD and KIDs

[stallion]

Anyone here have kids on ADHD meds. Just started our 5 year old on some, seems to help but he definetly needed it. I used to think that ADHD was just a label for bad parenting but SOOOO not my thoughts anymore. These kids cannot control some things they do and my 5 year old is very hyper. Just checking for ideas from other members if they have experienced similiar issues.

[KeepinItReal]

Hey Stallion, your a good brutha. I know you are only doing it because it is actually needed. Keep me posted on how things go ok? Good luck. PEACE! KIR

[Shibby]

Try just to give it too him as little as possible. Just like anything your body can become dependent on it. I guess you can bacically cycle im on and off in small cycles. I have known people to dry and quite it and go into severe depression. At least that was the diagnosis.

[Puddles]

My daughter, nearly 12 y.o., is ADHD. I suspected it for 2 yrs. before the Montessouri teacher would finally agree that she should be tested. The frustration was so much that my daughter started to show some depression and she was only in kindergarten...I wasn't gonna let that continue. Behaviour modification methods would not work alone so we agreed to try Ritalin. It's been a life saver for the child. She's got above average intelligence but simply could not focus or remain calm enough to perform in school and it was affecting her social skills. I had homeschooled for for a while and saw a huge difference in her abilities when I tried not using medication. She's still on relatively low doses and her hyperactivity has slowed down dramaticly as she's approaching puberty. She usually only takes medication on school days.

Keep an eye on the child's diet. Simple carbs should be kept to a minimum. Continue (or learn about) behaviour modification techniques. Some things will work, some won't, but medication alone is not a great solution. Also, have a lot of patience and realize that their problems are often out of their control. Work with the child to help support achievents with verbal praise. Try getting the child to focus energies into something productive or creative like a hobby such as playing an instrument (avoid drums unless you want to be driven insane). :)

I'm curious aboout members here who have ADHD and were or were not medicated and how they feel about it.

[KeepinItReal]

WOW GREAT INFO MRS. P

PEACE! KIR

[pencilneck]

Have you ever tried laying hands on your child and rebuke possible generational curses? It's true. I've witnessed this personally. Now, if you don't believe in it, or understand it, you'll probably think I'm a nut. However, it's a very good possibility of it.

Please don't think I'm trying to say that your child is demon possessed, because I'm not. If you want more information, send me your email address and I'll answer any questions you may have. Remember, pleading the blood of Jesus over your child for protection, and removing of generational curses literally shakes the gates of hell itself.

[Doom]

Thats one hell of a post MrsP

At a young age, trying to blend with the other kids is the hardest thing to do, and young kids can be mean lil buggers, so they way a person acts in society, will cause a reaction from the people around them, and then based on the reaction the child sees thats how they are going to be towards people...did I loose you?

Basically, what Im saying here is that ADHD, is one of the few disorders that needs to be medically treated, its a chemical imbalance. Adjusting that balance, and regulating "abnormal" behavior before settling in around other kids, could save a great deal of problems.

I put things in " " because its just a label, and i really dont like giving people labels, everyone is their own self, and they define that through, family friends and expierences, and it shouldnt have to be right or wrong, it should just be...

[trip]

I have ADD and work with clientw who have it.

Follow everything that Mrs. P said, and the keys are

1. medication - Doom is pretty much correct here without going into a lot of detail, the brain is just wired differently

2. behavior modification - extemely important, even more so that medication IMHO, because with the add their is a tendency to be erratic the child and or adult needs alot of verbal positive re-inofrcement, ie,spend more time pointing out to your child what they are doing right rather than wrong, this helps tremendously with their focusing abilities, it is also is the only way to combat Negative Self-Talk which is debilitating to an ADD person, it is their worst enemy, they are ten times harser on themselves on the inside

With kids and even adults, rather than try and verbally correct your child, which usually doesn't work because they are not focused on listening, and your verbal commands actually interrupt their thoughts process and makes it more jumbled, try and use HAND SIGNALS, this allows the person or child to take in the information and process it slowly as to not be more confused

As an example, I use a flat palm gesture to have the client slow down his speech, speech tends to get going fast, becomes jumbled and erratic, so the hand gesture allows them to slow down at own pace rather than interrupt with verbal command

Do alot of thumbs up when they are communicating ideas well or are acting positive, again better than verbal because it does not interrupt their thought process and get them off track.

As a note, INTERUPTING them verbally only makes their thought process more jangled, so if you can have patience and allow them to fully complete their thoughts it pays tremendous dividends in the long run.

One more hand signal, open palm held vertically, put in front of nose between eyes and move it in and out. What trying to communicate here is to stay on track, as you know the ADD tend to jump all over the place with communication which leads to bad communication, so the signal just gives them feedback information without interrupting their thought process that they need to be much more clearer.

On medication, as sure you know, be careful, their are lots of them out their, and trust your childs feedback as to how they are feeling, cause if that is one thing ADD folks know 100% is how they feel.

A high five to you to acknowedging their were difficulties and seeking help, so many try and avoid such issues, says alot about you.

If you got any q's fire away.

Hoped That Helped
Good Luck

[trip]

Stallion,

Over the years have done quite a bit of reserch on the brain, in reference to learning. 90% of books on the brain are highly technical, kind of like the o's, h's, and carbon rings of AS, which is nice, yet too hard for me.

One book that highly reccommend is:

"A Mind At A Time" by Mel Levine PHD

He has 30 years of research in the praticals aspects of how the brain process's information based on certain stimulus.

All his research is geared towards how to help ALL children learn.

He shows how due to the fact the brain can be wired several thousand different ways, some children have processing weakness's, ie, short term memory, long term memory, verbal, spatial, visual skills, etc.

Once a weakness can be indentified it can be corrected through excercising behavior modification and then the child can begin to learn at a normal pace and grow their feelins of confidence.

Not saying, your child has this, just that it is the no. 1 book would reccomend, it is that good, and understandable.

Again, hoped that helped.
Good Luck

[Puddles]

Trip talks about hand gestures...I've never read about that before but have been doing it and didn't even realize it. Even when she was young and needed a time out, all I'd have to do was point to where her time out area was and she'd immediately stop and go in time out, calm down, then we'd have a brief chat about what happened. Now, when she's getting hyper I give her a calm down hand signal, it's especially helpful when other's are around...only she and I recognize the sign so there's no embarrassment on her part.

Praise works better than punnishment. Lots of verbal praise, thumbs up, a high five...definitely focus on the accomplishments. My daughter will be 12 and still can't do what it takes to get ready for school in the morning without being reminded. I'll ask her if she's ready, she'll say yes, but she's forgotten to do at least one thing (brush teeth, brush hair, taker her medicine, or put socks on). Or I'll tell her it's time to get dressed and she dissapears into her room...10 minutes later she's still not dressed and doesn't know what she was doing during that time...mornings are the worst for us here!

You can make up charts with things the child needs to do on a daily basis and have the child check them off as things are done. When everything is done right for the day, they get a sticker. If they get a sticker for every day that week the get a special treat...it can be something like a visit to the park or extra time with the child playing a game of their choice.

There are tons of books out there to help give you ideas of different kinds of behaviour modification techniques to try. There's also a good deal of info. right here on the net.

There are different medications available to help treat the disorder. We've only used Ritalin and it's worked very well for my daughter but we have changed doseages from time to time. At first it was 5mg 3xday, after about 2 yrs. we needed to go up and we tried 10 mg pills but those were too strong. They don't make anything inbetween so we'd split a 5 to give her 7.5mg and that worked great. After a while we lowered it back down to 5 as that was all she needed. There is a rise and fall with the 3xday medicating inbetween doses so when they came out with the once a day pill we tried that and have stuck with it for nearly 2 yrs. now. It doesn't supress the appetite as much as the regular ritalin and she's on a more even level from morning until evening. She doesn't take medication on weekends or during school breaks usually, but sometimes when she's out of school and playing with the kids in the neighborhood she'll tell me that she's needing the ritalin because she's too hyper. I leave it up to her to judge during those times.

Remember when you're trying to find the right medication for your child that the first 2 or 3 days on the medicaiton the child may seem a bit off...very sluggish, tired, unemotional or overly emotional...those things should be gone by the 4th day...if they're not, the medication is probably wrong for your child. Most of the meds surpress appetite, so getting a good breakfast is important. Lunches will probably only be picked at. If they don't eat a good dinner, offer another snack before bedtime...the meds are usually worn off by then and they can eat more.

ADHD kids have a lot of difficulty staying on task, but when it's something they have a strong interest in, they can usually manage well. Work with the child to figure out what really interests them so they can enjoy the sense of well being from sticking to something and making accomplishments with the things they enjoy. It's a needed ego boost since they will be dealing with a lot of struggling with many other aspects of their lives. (ie. My daughter loves animals, so we worked on flyers for the neighborhood offering pet sitting and dog walking services. This summer she quickly earned enough to buy a video camera (which she wanted really bad) from her jobs. Although she can't get herself ready for school in the morning, she loves the animals so much and has such a strong interest in taking care of them that she succeeds in being responsible enough to do the job well.)

[stallion]

WOW, this is some great information from everyone. I had no idea that this many members had this much knowledge on ADHD. I was diagnosed when I was young with the same thing for the most part, just hyperactive. My teachers would tell my folks that I just wouldn't listen, I was doing what I wanted to do and was overall just a bad apple. This is what was instilled in my mind at age 5 and up. A few teachers did suggest Ritalin but my mom was not having that at all. Now looking back, I wished that she did and tried to acquire the knowledge needed as I graduated high school with a 1.8 GPA. This was due to me just not being able to focus, and day dreaming alot and just the hyper activity all of the time.

Long story short, as I was told so many times that I was not a good kid, destined for failure etc.... I am now 34, own a business and am in the top 3% of money earners...without a college degree and barely graduating High School. I beat the odds and I know my 5 year old can as well as other kids going through this, it's just so hard to watch them go through all of this but knowing that they will be ok in the end with proper care from us as parents, friends etc... makes the struggle worth it.

I still suffer from the ADD aspect but as a grown up we know what's happening in our brains and can focus on it better than a child. Keep the information coming for those of you that have more to give. And thanks again to all of my buds on the board for the helpful input.

[MuGGsy]

I had ADD for who knows how long of my life, as a senior in highschool I finally got tested for it and it was if my parents actually understood i wasn't just a gigantic fuck up ... the things that I tried to explain and the fact that I simply couldn't stop my mind from floating around actually made sense to them... in alot of ways it was too late but better to know now than always be in doubt about yourself.

[trip]

Stallion,

Good for you.

Just note as you said in your post all of the shame and anger etc. of CONSTANTLY being told you are no good. Some folks rise above this input and excel, others believe what they hear and fail.

Cannot say how important it is to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS point out what the child is doing right first and foremost, not what they are doing wrong. By constantly supporting and pointing out what they are doing right, you will build the habit of listening such that when they need help learning something, they will accept the info cause they are attuned to listening to you because they trust you because you always point out what they are doing right.

Do this one thing everytime and always and life will be as we dream it.

Good Luck

[stallion]

Well said TRIP. It gets difficult giving praise always especially during really frustrating times...but that is one of the only things that will help in the long run.

[trip]

Stallion,

During the frustrating times try and use this technique when correcting them, always start with 2-3 positives, ie, "son, your enthusiasm, and energy are awesome, that is so rare and so few people have it, and those are some of your great strengths, just realize it overwhelms people at times, know you don't mean to do it, just try and remember that your energy overwhelms others, if you could do that you'd be making your strengths even greater, that's what great leaders do, and your smart enough to do it to"

Also, another good one is REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT the same message until it sinks in. I work with adults and I still have to do this. ie, using example above, you may have to say that a hundred times before it dawns on him, "oh, yeah, if I bring it down a notch, it's better." Yet, realize could take a hundred times of same message, and it is not that they are not smart, it is an issue of processing so much information all the time.

It's almost a sin, because it is not a deficit of attention they lack, they pay attention to everything and anything all the time, it's really focusing on low level stimulating activities that they have trouble with because mind is always searching for something to be stimulated by, ie, pay attention too.

So, yes, it will get frustrating, yet, if you use the same habit all the time, it will develop such that it will make frustrating times 10 times easier.

Good Luck