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I have a 8 yr old son who the DR wants to diagnose with ADHD. I do not believe he is but I thought someone out there could help me. My son is very hyper but can pay attention very well,he is always busy and goes 90 to nothing. Goes to bed at 8:30 and will wake up before everybode, even on the weekends when the stay up late he is still the first one up. Always has energy, never slows down all day, talks to him self, is always moving and can not sit still. I do believe he is overly active but I am not sure about ADHD. If you can help me PLEASE do so so I can figure out what to do. Thank you for your time
Michelle
You can have ADHD, which is actually a broad term for several things (its a blanket term I learned), without having the Attention Deficit. Attn Deficit is just a symptom, but you don't necessarily have to suffer from it to have ADHD. So I'm glad for your son on that. As for the rest, he could definitly have ADHD minus the attn deficit.
Again ADHD is a blanket term. He can just have the AD or the H or both, but its still ADHD
I have a 8 yr old son who the DR wants to diagnose with ADHD. I do not believe he is but I thought someone out there could help me. My son is very hyper but can pay attention very well,he is always busy and goes 90 to nothing. Goes to bed at 8:30 and will wake up before everybode, even on the weekends when the stay up late he is still the first one up. Always has energy, never slows down all day, talks to him self, is always moving and can not sit still. I do believe he is overly active but I am not sure about ADHD. If you can help me PLEASE do so so I can figure out what to do. Thank you for your time
Michelle
Would this be your primary Dr. or a specialist? My neice was diagnosed with ADHD and they had to go through extensive testing with a psychiatrist before they would give her that diagnosis. My nephew ( different family) on the other hand was just given meds by his primary Dr. He said testing was very expensive and usually out of pocket so he just recommended they try out a couple of different meds to see if anything worked.
I am not opposed to giving kids meds for these disorders but I would definitely like to know for sure they have it before I started medicating.
My nephew has ADD and my sister has ADHD. We all have the same doctor. He doesn't have many kids with this disorder for many reasons but he NEVER makes the diagnosis alone. He sends them to specialists and makes his assessments as well. Neither of my family members are on drugs (they were found to not work and cause horrible effects in one including physical abuse towards others and the other just never tried them)
None the less, they both take supplements with omega 3's and zinc among other things. Both were severely deficient in zinc!
I have seen two children who were horrible cases of ADHD AND ADD turn around a great deal. They both still have some problems but the difference it has made.
this isn't me, just what I learned from a doctor that ADD is in fact ADHD without the hyperactivity, but people call it ADD, which isn't actually a correct term. Supposedly its still ADHD, but people who aren't hyper don't like including the H so they leave it out to make sure people know they aren't hyper, even tho they "technically" do have ADHD as well.
Again thats just what a professional told me.
To be honest, until then I was calling it ADD, too. I guess it doesn't matter from a layman's point of view.
I will tell you what my ped told me at my 6yos well-child visit.
First, my 6yo has sensory integration issues (sensory-seeking, meaning he likes to give his body lots of physical input by doing things like jumping, moving, etc., plus he gets too close to people and is overly physical - hugs a LOT, will climb right up on your lap, gets in your space, in your face, etc...). At school, because this behavior obviously is not acceptable, the OT has him doing things like wearing a weight belt, he has a chewie to gnaw on, etc... At home, we can have him run around, go do something physical when he starts to get too much in everyone's personal space. This is a child who, when he is calm, can play legos for an hour, or read through magazines quietly.
I asked my dr about ADHD b/c the counselor at school offered to refer him for evaluation. My ped asked if he is learning - if he is accomplishing academically what he is supposed to be doing in Kindergarten. He is. She told me, as long as its not impacting his academic learning, then she would be reluctant to diagnose ADHD. She said some kids are very high energy but the energy is not interfering with their ability to focus if they are learning. She said its hard for the schools to accommodate high energy kids but kids who keep maintaining high marks are obviously able to learn.
My one caveat to add to this and she did not say but I am keeping an eye on is that some very smart kids (not trying to toot any horns but he is very bright according to his teachers) get by with undiagnosed ADHD because they are so smart, but around 4th grade, they crash. The work just becomes too difficult and complex to work around.
So, I would ask myself in your shoes, how is school going? How are other activities going?
Like I said, if a child is really smart, he might be doing well in school but still struggling with ADHD. I guess that is something you as a parent have to think about and decide for yourself.
I am very leery about ADHD diagnosis. Some school districts have 30-50% of the children being medicated for it. ADHD is often over diagnosed and sometimes other things are over looked.
I have a few family members who are in the medical profession. When seeing our daughter as a toddler, they all decided that she had ADHD. I said she was high IQ and because of that, was easily over stimulated by loud toys, tv, ect. One sister said she would need to be medicated before she started school and that she needed to be evaluated. I said I would be homeschooling so classroom disruption was not going to be an issue. She make a remark about neglect and how “someone” would eventually see the “problem” and call child services on us. That was it. I had to do SOMETHING. (Kids like this also often have over sensitivities to certain things and react physically. Mine were, and still are, buzzing or any high pitched sounds, or repeatitive noises or movements. As a kid they would drive me crazy and I would move uncomfortably if the fan was buzzing, someone bouncing their leg or foot, tapping their pencil. I would keep looking from one thing to the next just wishing everyone could sit still and be quiet so I could do my work.)
SO after a TON of research, I began the transformation. I sorted through her toys. She was weeded down to just a small bin of toys. Those toys where to push a button and it plays music, talk to you, ect.--OUT. Toys, even if they claimed to be educational, were taken away. She was left with building blocks, potato head, puzzles, books, plastic animals and dinosaurs, ect. In went a small shelf system where each item was carefully organized. The first thing she did was thank me for making her room nice. From that moment on, everything stayed organized and we would put things away before nap and before bed because having many toys on the floor is often over stimulating for minds running a mile a minute (thus pulling toys out to the living room one by one to escape it). She did not enjoy "cleaning" her room but the words "organize" and "decorate" along with fewer toys made it no longer a task and she enjoyed it.
We wrote out a routine and she slept, ate, played, read, cleaned, bathed all at the same time of day, every day. We spent $100 on craft items so she would be forced to use her motor skills, slow down, and focus to achieve her finished goal. Her TV was cut to less than two hours a day..and that included us watching our own shows with her in the room. We expanded her veggie and fruit variety. We had time (music time, ect) where she could dance and run until she spent her energy as well as other activities that burnt her energy, especially in winter. We spent time teaching her when she needed down time, we could see it however she seemed to just speed up so that helped her tremendously.
Four months later, my sister was over and our daughter was sitting with us on the couch. After awhile I encouraged her to go play with her cousin and she calmly sighed and said she wanted to sit with us. I told her she came to play with her and should go. She walked out of the room to her room and quietly joined her in play, which was all opposite of the daughter of four months prior. She was mellow the entire time, and was actually sitting still on the couch. My sister said she didn’t know what I did but she had done a complete 360. We don't hear that talk anymore and when I have a rough day they will say, they'll out grow it, remember DD?
She is indeed quite advanced and often children who are ahead are misdiagnosised with ADHD. What those children really benefit with are brain challenges that exercise and wear out those muscles that make them go a million miles a second. Maybe you could have his IQ tested too just to see if that might be contributing to the extra energy. If so, you and his teacher could work together in providing material that keeps him slowed down while others do their work.
I just personally feel teaching my child how to handle ones energy by putting it into areas of interest and how to control their urges is a much better tool than telling them they need a pill to make it work for them. Some kids, but not 50, 30, 25, or even 10% of all kids truly need it. It all about finding the balance for each kid individually. The hard part is the fact that our society puts an emphasis on sameness and a thumbs down on individualism with our children.
I would suggest evaluating everything first and then seek out your own evaluator, someone who is less weighted toward the physician. Oftentimes they are given kickbacks for setting up a certain percent of patients within key groups with certain drugs (I also learned that doctors are required to do so many c-sections a year and if they are behind on their quota will push them on patients at the end of the year so I am always in search of multiple possibilities) The evaluates and doctors build a reputation together that is aside of you and your family that sometimes you feel your are left looking in from the outside. Remember, this is your child and you will do what is best for them regardless. Good luck.
I really don't believe in ADHD. I believe in kids that don't get enough exercise and outdoor activity so that they can run out their wiggles. Of course educational toys and videos and games are fun, but they don't expend energy. Kids are supposed to be out being hyperactive so that by the time they get home, they're too tired to do anything but sit in one place and focus on something.
Try exercise and non-processed foods. You don't need a pill to make your child normal.
I really don't believe in ADHD. I believe in kids that don't get enough exercise and outdoor activity so that they can run out their wiggles. Of course educational toys and videos and games are fun, but they don't expend energy. Kids are supposed to be out being hyperactive so that by the time they get home, they're too tired to do anything but sit in one place and focus on something.
Try exercise and non-processed foods. You don't need a pill to make your child normal.
You got no clue what your talking about, man lol.. No offense
I work for a Pediatric's office and there are other types of testing to do before just putting your child on meds. Please ask for those first. (Vanderbilt and IEP testing at the school) See an eye doctor.If there is trouble in school - then give it a shot. My son is on it and he is 6 but he is doing much better in school. Good Luck!
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