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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Oct 10 2006 at 6:44am | IP Logged
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I have been reading just about everything I can find about ADHD. I am sure my 5yo ds has ADHD but I have not had him officially tested. My question is, can anyone point me in the right direction regarding information? I realize this is a tough question, but I get so much conflicting information. I would like to have him officially tested, but I'm not sure where to go for that. I really don't want to take him to the local public school for that service, but who else do I contact? Once I have him tested, the other concern I have is regarding medication. I REALLY would like to avoid it if possible, but the information I have read regarding diet for these kids is overwhelming. How do I sort it all out? I really don't know where to turn. Can anyone recommend a good resource to help me answer some of these questions? I realize I sound frustrated, I don't mean to be, but I have to admit I'm dreading another day. I love my ds dearly, he can be so sweet, but I am so exhausted by the end of the day and hate that dealing with his hyperactivity is often such a battle. Any suggestions on where to turn? I have read _How to Get Your Child Off the Refridgerator and On to Learning_ and _Raising Your Spirited Child_ . Both have been very helpful, but I think I need more information regarding behavior and diet, as well as testing (or if I should even have him tested!). Thanks for listening to me whine. I just don't know where else to turn.
Becky
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Cheryl
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| Posted: Oct 10 2006 at 8:00am | IP Logged
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My dh talked with a pediatrician about our ds 5. He recommended us going to a pychologist? psychiatrist?
We did go see a psychologist that my dh knows personally. Our first visit was spent discussing my ds's behavior. He had given us 3-4 different evaluations each to fill out separately.
Then the 2nd visit I went to alone with my ds. The dr talked to him and watched him play. Then our third visit we found out the dr.'s opinion. Based on our observations in the form of evaluations and the dr's observations of my ds, he would not diagnose him with adhd. He was in the range of concern about his behavior, but it was not extreme enough to diagnose. Some of it could stem from sibling rivalry. I think because we homeschool it's very hard to know how ds would behave in other situations. He does not have any experiences really, that do not involve his siblings. We are going back to the pychologist in a few weeks to talk about behavior strategies. Sometimes I have trouble with discipline, particularly with ds 5. Some things that work with the others, just doesn't work with him. I'm interested in ideas for appropriate consequences for behavior, etc.
This may not help you at all, but I thought I'd share my experience. It is exhausting trying to meet everyone's needs, especially those times when it seems they will never get enough attention to satisfy them.
__________________
Cheryl
Wife to Bob ('97)
Mom to Matthew 13, Joseph 11, Sarah 10, Rachel 6, Hannah almost 4 and Mary 1
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Taffy
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| Posted: Oct 10 2006 at 10:27am | IP Logged
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I'm dealing with PDD, not ADHD, but I am very accoustomed to all of this dietary intervention info.
There is a LOT of conflicting diet info out there. We've tried quite a few. Eventually, I've found that the best diet was one that was as close to whole foods as possible. The Feingold and Failsafe diets both promote removing all artificial colors and preservatives from the diet. These are the ones most commonly recommended for ADHD it seems. Others suggest removing gluten and casein (milk protein) from the diet as well.
If I had it to do over again, here's what I would do. Cook from scratch as much as possible and use only whole foods. I haven't seen much difference in food quality regarding organic fruits and vegetables. Frankly, organic produce probably would be contaminated with some pesticide anyway from neighboring farms using crop dusters, etc. Wash all fruits and vegetables throughly with soapy water and rinse well. If you can find a source of meat that has not received vaccines, antibiotics (often used as a preventative measure in animal husbandry), and kept away from intensive housing (including feedlots), that's the best. (BTW - Make sure you can trust the seller not to sell you a sick animal; if not then buy at the grocer.)
Books like Whole Foods for Whole Families are helpful sources for recipes and there is plenty available online for free.
Once you've made this adjustment (and it's tough for most of us), then start looking for other food issues. For my son, gluten is an issue so we are gluten free for him. Other problem foods may include tomatoes, eggs, soy, dairy, citrus, apples, and any other food we eat! Keep a detailed food diary and try an elimination diet. Remove a food type (eg. dairy) for about two weeks, then reintroduce and see what happens.
Another very important thing that gets overlooked is the importance of exercise. Exercise works to help detoxify the body ("sweat out the poison"). Mild exercise isn't enough, you need to work up a sweat. Do you have any heavy work that your son could do? If you like, I have a list of suggestions from my son's former occupational therapist that might be helpful for you. PM me if you'd like a copy.
I hope to have been of some help. Good luck!
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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
Susan's Soliloquy
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ALmom
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| Posted: Oct 10 2006 at 1:14pm | IP Logged
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I do know that my daughter had many, many symptoms of ADD (and at one point this was suggested to us and I began writing my own observations down with the idea of finding out what worked and what didn't because I began to think ADD too and didn't want to medicate). I know that ADD and ADHD are real and may even sometimes need the medication (don't know enough about that, but appreciate the reality of struggling with a child who just doesn't seem to be able to stay on - task or focus for any length of time). However, there are many other things that can also mimic ADD and these often go undiagnosed. Our daughter had a vision problem that no one found (until 2 years after we began insisting on vision as the problem)- and when we went down the checklist of symptoms we noticed every symptom but one matched up to ADD/ADHD. We were dealing with a girl and there were no signs of hyperactivity really - except she was very, very wiggly and seemed to never stay in her chair, but was always falling out. You may want to look into this if there are any signs at all of vision being a factor. pavevision.org has a lot of information and at least one brochure you can print out that has a chart showing different symptoms and some possible causes.
I know this isn't directly about ADD/ADHD but, in general, ADD diagnosis is based on symptoms that are not explained by sensory issues and is diagnosed after other possible sources are ruled out (or should be, anyways). With vision, the particular problems my daughter had were never diagnosed by a standard optometrist - she had 20/20 vision but she still had vision problems due to weak eye muscle, suppression, inability to converge. It stunned me how down the line she exhibeted every symptom of ADD yet her problem was exclusively vision.
Hope this helps - and in any case we will be praying for God to place all the right people in your path so that you can get solid answers for your child and how to help.
Janet
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Angel
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| Posted: Oct 10 2006 at 4:43pm | IP Logged
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My oldest ds (age 10) was recently diagnosed with ADHD, in addition to Tourette Syndrome (which complicates things a bit.) I suspect that modifying our diet by cooking mainly from scratch and avoiding preservatives might be good for him and all of us, but I haven't been able to do that, learn with the kids, keep us all in clean underwear, and keep up with my twins, too.
(I will give you a bit of hope before I go on, though -- growing up helps! Before my ds was about 6, I thought we were all going to die of sleep deprivation. He could be awake for *hours* in the middle of the night. Now you can't wake him up, and he *has* matured somewhat. We still have a lot of problems with impulsivity, but it is getting better. I think.)
To address your questions...
The usual procedure is to have the child seen by either a psychiatrist or a psychiologist. A psychiatrist will not usually do counseling -- instead he/she manages conditions with medication. Because of some more serious behavioral problems which went along with his TS -- and a long waiting list at the psychologist we wanted to use --, we went to a psychiatrist first. The psych was recommended by our pediatrician because he had experience working with kids with TS. We did fill out questionairres about our son's behavior -- both dh and I had to fill them out separately -- and based on what we said and what we wrote down, the psychiatrist prescribed medication. This medication was not specifically medication *for* ADHD, but it did (supposedly) have the effect of improving focus, lessening impulsivity, etc. However, it also made ds really tired. So we discontinued it after a while and things seem to be going better.
We also took our ds to an educational psychologist for testing. It was very expensive, and I'm still not sure it was totally worth it or not -- it might have been. We did not go through the public schools. Because we suspected that ds might be labeled gifted, we called a psychologist we found on the list of parent recommended psychologists at Hoagies Gifted. She put him through a real battery of tests, but she gave us an enormous pile of resources, too, which I am still trying to sort out. My ds was 9 at the time, so the process would probably be a little different for a 5 yo, but first she administered the WISC-IV IQ test, which basically showed that my ds is unquantifiable  , and also identified some areas where further testing might be advised because of underlying diabilities. For instance, she recommended that we see a developmental optometrist for possible visual processing problems and that we have ds tested for Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), which can often result in "distractible" behaviors that look like ADD. Then she recommended counseling to help him deal with his inability to handle frustration and his impulsivity. (We haven't followed up on any of this yet, but we need to soon!)
As far as what has worked in our house... I would say *enormous* amounts of time outside, especially at age 5! (He still has to spend a lot of time outside, in fact.) He can't concentrate for long periods of time on lessons not of his choosing either, so we have to break up math, writing, etc, and we have to use a pretty rigid routine; he just can't be flexible. If he needs to do anything that requires concentration, he has to be in his room, alone. (But then he's just about 10, not 5.) Being his parent *has* been an exhausting experience, so believe me, I am right there with you in sympathy.
A couple of books which were thought-provoking for me as far as teaching kids like my son are:
Teaching the Restless
and
Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful
The first is a description of ADHD kids at Albany Free SChool (about an hour away from me, in fact) and the second is about teaching ADHD kids in a Montessori environment. A caveat, though: while the books are food for thought, I really don't see how to replicate the environment in a home setting. Still, they're my favorite books on the subject to date.
--Angela
Mom to 3+2 
Three Plus Two
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folklaur
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| Posted: Oct 11 2006 at 3:28pm | IP Logged
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We actually had our son diagnosed by a Developmental Pediatrician. This was after two different psychologists had evaluated him, and we were quite unhappy with how it went. First one said PDD-NOS. Second said PDD W/ anxiety issues. Both suggested meds (he was 4 at the time.)
I knew this was wrong - I knew it wasn't the right diagnosis.
So, after many battles with insurance, he finally was able to go to Dr. Jordan, who was spectacular. I highly recommend Bahavioral / Developmental Peds for diagnosing these types of things.
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: Oct 12 2006 at 7:13am | IP Logged
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Thank you so much everyone, for your helpful replies. I really had the "blues" the day I first posted and I new I would be taking my kiddos to Mass that day - which is never very peaceful with the 5yo son and his little brother that just turned 3. Oh well. I do appreciate all of your help. I'm looking into the testing situation to see what we have available here. I'm also going to start trying more whole foods. We don't do too badly in that area but there are definitely things that should be cut out of our diets. I think it's interesting that some sources will say it's all about the food, and some say food has nothing to do with it. I guess I'd rather try the food route than the medication route though. He's so young to be taking medication. Thanks again, you are all so helpful. Blessings!
Becky
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bubbelcat
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| Posted: Oct 25 2006 at 8:55pm | IP Logged
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We had our son evaluated by 2 educational psychologists and neuropsychiatrist. All confirmed, with scary similarity, the diagnosis of ADD, non-hyperactive.
The problem with the WISC-IV and the TOVA (the major tests of intelligence and attention) is that they are normed on children 7 years of age or older. They do have an earlier version of the WISC-IV, but it is less valid. There are, however, some other valid, predictive tests that can be done. Unfortunately I don't the names of them off the top of my head.
The BEST book about ADD/HD, imo, is Healing ADD by Dr. Daniel Amen. He goes into detail about diagnosing ADD, what could be MISdiagnosed as ADD, what is comorbid with ADD and various treatments for the different types of ADD.
We do not medicate our son and we have "cured" most of his attention issues through neurofeedback. Cured meaning we have brought his TOVA scores into the "normal" range for his age. He still has ADD but now he can control his brain functioning to limit its effects. We also use a dietary supplement called Liquid Health Attention which contains EFAs,L-Tyrosine and vitamins. I am very slack about controlling his diet but we do try to limit sodas and really junky foods and it does help.
Sorry, now I'm rambling. I hope some of that helps.
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4Real Forums : Special Blessings
Topic: ADHD
