ADHD / ADD

Today was the first day of school and after seven years of practice, I think we've almost got it. It's helpful to know your children well enough that you can anticipate their reactions and help them compensate for their weaknesses. I have one in high school, one in junior high and one in elementary school, all with different schedules, start times and finish times. It's a little bit like being in a Paris train station with the destinations, arrival and departure times whipping around the boards continuously. I knew Gavin (10th grade) was going to be very anxious until he actually got to school this morning, so I didn't worry too much about him trying to sleep all day yesterday, or… [more]

Justin, Justin, Justin. He’s calmer and less of a motor-mouth on his new ADHD medication, but we’ve been watching for 11 days and there’s no question that he is much MUCH more whiny and petulant. He had a touch of that already, but it’s so excessive now that I asked the doctor if we could try a new medication. When my oldest son had to start taking medication for ADHD and Depression, it took us a few months to find the right meds in the right combinations. This is only one med and we’re now going to try the one that works for my two older kids so hopefully it works for Justin. I asked Justin his opinion about whether he thought… [more]

Just last week, my 8-year-old started ADHD medication. My older two (15 and 13) had started in junior high. Neither of my older two are hyperactive, so there were no behavior problems in school (other than my 13-year-old talking too much to all her friends). But they couldn’t focus, organize, remember or discipline themselves to stay on task in a six-period day. I had been hoping against hope that my youngest would never need medication. He has had some behavior problems in school (chatty, lots of energy, seeming unwillingness to buckle down and work), but I was hoping they were just normal little boy problems. I told myself I wouldn’t medicate him unless he wasn’t able to function in school and that we… [more]

Nothing ever seems to go just right or easy for my 15-year-old son with ADHD. He is smart, in fact he is very smart, at 15 he is a sophomore at the local community college. His younger brother is jealous of him, as many of the kids who know him are, because he is so smart. However, most do not realize how difficult life is for him. Everything seems to go wrong and for no reason. He has a good heart; he would do just about anything for anyone. Yet many people don’t like him. Adults think he is a know it all, rude, or disruptive. Other children think he is mean, too smart, or a troublemaker. Does having ADHD make everything go wrong? How many kids… [more]

Whether you have decided to homeschool your special needs child, utilize public, or private school, you will still need to teach your child. Special needs children require much more practice and reminders to learn than “normal” children do. They take more time to complete their work. They need more assistance than other children do. What that means to the parent is, homework help all evening, every evening. Sometimes it means your child will cry with frustration. You will still be teaching your special needs child long after other children have begun to run their own lives and families. We all know that special needs children can learn. It is just so much harder for them to grasp concepts and to retain the information. Teaching our special… [more]

My 14-year-old adopted daughter seems to be making huge efforts lately to do the exact opposite of whatever I say. She has even taken it to the ridiculous level of not doing things she wants to do that are good. For example, I went through the McDonalds drive thru the other day. As the employee handed me the drinks, I handed them back to the children. Most of them stood up and grabbed their drinks. Most stood up, except for my 14-year-old daughter of course. She refused to take off her seatbelt and stand up and she was in the second to the last bench seat in our 15-passenger van. Therefore, I sat her drink and her meal on the floor of the van between the… [more]

I have blogged before about my genius son who has ADHD. He has been homeschooled since the very beginning for many reasons. Had he attended public school, I am sure he would have spent a majority of his day in the principal’s office. He cannot sit still to save his life and is constantly fidgeting. Some days he can complete a month’s worth of work and some days he cannot concentrate at all. We knew we were in trouble when he turned two and we had to put poison control’s 1-800 number on our speed dial. When he turned 13, he began trying to convince me with various impressive arguments that he no longer needed to take Language Arts. We knew that he had genius potential… [more]

When you have a child with special needs who attends public school, you usually negotiate an IEP for your student with the school. The IEP, Individual Education Plan, outlines the special services your child will receive during the school year. For example, some children go to another class for reading, math, and spelling. Some children receive speech therapy, occupational therapy, or physical therapy during the school day. Some children even have a one-on-one aid who goes through the school day helping a single student. There are children who have so much difficulty with typical education that the school focuses more on teaching these students life skills. Special education students require additional assistance from teachers and support staff to be successful in school. They may also require… [more]

Struggling with controlling impulses seems to be a common problem among traumatized children. It doesn’t seem to matter whether that trauma was in utero from drug or alcohol exposure, or inflicted during early life. Our adopted children, with a trauma history, FAS, or RAD, seem to all have struggles with impulse control. Sometimes, it seems like the behavior was intentional. I have often asked my 11-year-old recently adopted daughter if she thought about the consequences of her actions. I have also asked if she would want another person to treat her or her property the same way. She always tells me that she doesn’t think about the consequences of her actions until she is finished. It is only then, that she realizes that she should… [more]

In a recent post, I blogged about my surprise that my daughter’s IQ continues to increase despite the fact that she has FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.) A reader wrote an interesting comment about her child who is diagnosed with inattentive ADD. She said that their family psychiatrist told them to expect their child’s IQ to increase after she had been on medication for a while. While I had never heard this before it really could help to explain my daughter’s IQ increase. Momtomany wrote; “Actually, just the medication alone can help. Our psychiatrist told us that we could expect to see a jump in our child's IQ scores, once she was on medication for a while (inattentive ADD). We did-- about an increase of 10-12… [more]