ADHD QUESTIONS

[drinksoptional]

Some may or may not know my seven year old son was diagnosed with Aspergers syndrom ( autism) in april of this year which explained some of reason why he bahaves the way he does. Now i have been off work due wife health and son needing me home full time. My son ended up having to be removed from school last year after he was segragated,he was voilent disruptive an wasnt settling after we got daignosis education wanted to put him in a behavior school but we fought for a ASD (autism school) which at first he settled but within six weeks he was back to his usuall violen disruptive behavior although not entirly his fault anyway he got sent home once or twice then two weeks back he got sent home on a friday was suppose to return on monday we then got a phone call and told he was excluded for a five days a meeting was held on the tuesday which we did not attend and on the thursday got a letter saying he was excluded permitly from his asd school and was to attend with us a meeting at the behavior school on the friday which we refused to attend as we feelthe school wont meet his needs. ADHD has been suspected an is yet confirmed in writting by sons phycologist but it unoffiail a yes. I was reading the nhs site on adhd an have some concerns on the medication my son can be a full time handfull conctant fidgeting and impulsive behavior with no regards to conciequence to him or those around him an at school he is out of control we do not want to medicate him even though sometime a tranquliser come to mind but every day is a constant battle which to a point we can dealwith an control but at school its a diffrent story we have asked for home tution cause school is just too much for him the whole enviroment is too much and he just freaks out. we spend all day saying the same thing over and over.
I know a few memebr have said they have kids with simlar conditions an wonder thier feelings on meds etc

[bobbinsjob]

At last, soimething I can comment on that I have 1st hand experience. My 7yr old, Callum was diagnosed a few months back with ADHD and his behaviour sounded pretty much like your kid's. At one point he was lucky to be visiting a psychologist and not a surgeon after he punched his mum in the face

Since then he has been on 20mg of Equasym XL and we have seen a dramatic improvement. The SouthEast Posse will vouch how well behaved he was at the last picnic. 6 months ago, there would have been no chance of me taking him to the woods as he was uncontrollable, even to the point that "Wait till your Dad hears about this" was no longer any effect (And I'm an old school parent, not a yoghurt knitting leftie)

Thye doc says that there shouldn't be any issue with him becoming addicted to the meds and will stop them after 6 months or so to see if he reverts back to his old behaviour. He is not in any type of comatose state, infact he is extremely active, it's just that he can now control his temper and as before, knows the difference between right and wrong, but now actually understands the cosequences of his actions and thinks first.

This website has some useful information

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/adhd/adhdmedication.htm

Hope this is of some help and comfort, I know what you are going thru

[ddavidson]

My ex and best friend's eldest has Aspergers, autistic spectrum, di-george syndrome, dyspraxia, dyslexia, tetralogy of fallot. She is now 11 and is taking Equasiam which is the Ritalin equivalent. She is also on Circadin to help her sleep (otherwise she wouldn't at all).

She was never lucky enough to qualify for much help at school so much help and information was sought in order to understand and best cope with her condition. Calmness and routine are paramount, otherwise even now she will go off the rails and hit things, rip things, lose her very volatile temper. The best way we have had her calmest is purely with unchanging routine being very slowly introduced. This will be everything though, getting dressed, taking meds, eating meals, even down to doing homework. Another thing is to remove as many potential breakables as possible from your living areas and try your very best to allow flare ups to wash over you and encourage the calming phase.

I wish you the very best of luck, even though I'm no longer with my ex, we are the best of friends, and I do help out as much as possible.

[drinksoptional]

In the house he wont tantrum like he used to it seemed to have stopped 8 months back but it took us lot of work to get that sorted without help from those who are experst.We got him calm orginised obedient and been a normal kid to a point When we returned him to school we told them what works and what doesnt an they ignored us and said " we are trianed we know what we are doing" i agued the point there methods would not work like charts n stickers etc but they wouldnt listen even after first time he kicked off the school was not our choice it was educations we said it wasnt suitable but they knew better an it failed we believe on purpose cause they want him in the behavoir school, education think its delibert behavior and at one point said underlying autism?????

His needs were not met an this set him back to this unco-operative badly kid again who is again stuck at home demonised by education he was only in from 9-12pm. we are awaiting the phycologist report after filling out questioniars and assements hopefully then we will get help i believe medication is wrong but if it helps him control his temper at school then thats fine he will make friends an be happy thats what more important education wise its a load poo what they teach he has learned more at home than at school anyway he reads aperback books now yet last year he could read a sentence i spent time teaching him hoe to read while he was off an try as parents do teach him about the world. he was born not breathing so we think maybe thats why. It has nearly broke us up the stress but we just remind ourselfs why.

[Krusher]

Hi Drinks

My son Sam was suspected of having ADHD some 7-8 years ago and displayed much the same behaviors that you have described. Although that said he was never put on any form of drugs or therapy at the time. He too has been through countless schools for being the "naughty boy". One thing that we did do was change his diet, cutting out things like breadcrumbs, tomato ketchup and sweets with shiny sugary coutings. I know it doesnt sound much but it made an enourmous difference to his behavior, the E numbers in this stuff is really bad news for a kid suffering with these conditions. He is now 13 yrs old and practically leads a totally normal life and back in mainstream school......

Good luck with everything mate.......

[drinksoptional]

doesnt get sweets as we stopped that when he was younger ok get the odd sweet but we monitor an he only eats half if that an leave it for later out of habit, no fizzy juice he get fruit and that doesnt like tomatoe sauce but i know what you getting at i belive there is a certian ingedient that triggers him cause sometime at home he can be awake past 4 am an still get up at 8 am. Its mostly at school he kicks off . we resitting him agian which is not nice means we have to 5 minute bed for the slightest thing after few days he is a good as gold and controlable again and acts like a usual know it all cheeky seven year old like he should be.

As you all already know it can be ground hog day or ground hog week

[hipplew]

Hi, i'm Fiona, Howards wife.

We have a son with Aspergers and we suspect some adhd but really don't want the diagnosis of that due to high possibility of professionals wanting to prescribe medications. At present our son is at mainstream school, as he was when we lived in Aberdeenshire where lack of services was a problem. We have since moved back to England where there are various services to accommodate him in his spare time. At present our son has been prescribed Melatonin to aid him to get a restful sleep, but due to poor reports of other medications and their effects we have refused point blank to use him as a guinea pig,(unknown long term effects on brain development). As tiring and hard work that he is he does have his own unique personality which is intelligent and amusing. Have you done the Early Bird Plus course which gives help and advice and also HELP programme which gives out a good parent manual and has a lot of info regarding education. Both done by NAS Scotland who are based in Glasgow (109 Hope street). If you want to send a private message I can give you what website addresses I have. Also there is some solicitor in Glasgow that helps parents regarding education, just can't think of name at this time.

Hope some of this information helps you, both Howard and I know where you are coming from and what you are going through.

Fiona

[Roo]

Hi
My son has ADHD and didn't get diagnosed till he was 13 years old, it took many years to find out what was actually wrong with my son I started the ball rolling when he was 4 years old.. and at 13 years old he was Diagnosed with it..
And I did have them( the specialist ) put my Son on the medication and it helped him a great deal, he was like a different person , its just a Shame that he wont take his medication now, he is 24, I know with any medication there are risks, but when my son was on the medication, he was a lot calmer, you could actually have a conversation with him, with out him turning violent, he was never in trouble with the Police, and has been since he has been off the medication, he doesn't see the dangers and now since he doesn't live with me, to be honest I chucked him out the house , because I got so fed up with him smashing up my place because of his violent temper and he is 6ft and a strong lad....

Anyway at the end of the day it has to be you as parents who make the final choice whether to put your son on the medication, or not, BUT if I could get my son back on his tablets and him take em then I would for sure, as he is a lot nicer and calmer on them ..

Once you do get the official diagnose for your Son's ADHD, you should get him ''statemented''( you will have to fight for this) which should help him get the extra help he needs with school work and if he goes to Collage and also if you didn't know you can get extra child benefit too, which they don't tell you either...

Good Luck to you all as a family, its not easy

Cheers Roo

Btw ...


Found this for you http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/adhd/adhdmedication.htm & http://www.helpforadd.com/educational-rights/

[drinksoptional]

We had a course but it was in falkirk at 9.am we live in glasgow an son was only doing half days nd they dont have slots for us locally, it been a long process, if im not bout he is dangerouse an has in past attacked his mum i could show you a vidoe that would those who dont know cry where he trashed his room after screaming for two days and swearing when i was away his gran was there an a disability socailworker he was caslm as you like smashing his room chucking stuuf outside an even picked up a tv before been stopped the way i see it is he will get bigger and stronger an i wont be around so meds to calm him is an option the help and support parents get is shocking education is a farce and is again in hands of a lawyer. wedo not want to med him but for his own good its a possibilty

[Roo]

I am sure you will see a great improvement once they sort out the correct dosage for your Son, I know I did with mine..
All the best
Roo..

[headbanging]

Our eldest is 14 and has been on Concerta Xl since he was about 8. You can see the difference between being on it, and of it.

The quacks tell us that it is not a long term solution, and that the medication may have some side effects. It does effect his appetite, but otherwise its fine. They also say that we need to give him a 'medication holiday', as being continually on it, is no good for him.

So during school holidays we take him of it, if we can put up with the problems it will cause.

The quacks wanted to do an experiment, to see if it was still working. We sent him for a week into school, on no meds. By the end of the week, he had a detention every day, and had been kicked out of class. Does it work? I think it does.

[drinksoptional]

thanks guys n gals this is giving us alot to work and compare with. we trying to get an early birds course near home and at the moment he is out of school. The school they offering uses restrain techniques and behavior stragtergies but we unhappy with the inspector report of a weak curriculium and we have not had a copy of manging childrens behavior of the education department either as he was assualted before by a behavior teacher.

We thinking wait till an offiacial report come out before we let him be moved to this schoolas this was the reason he was moved because he has adhd according to the education phycologist yet it hasn been confirmed so there has been some cloak n dagger been going on.

End of the day been at home is better than been a risk at school an we are given him an education at home at moment just me going insane been at home on stanby waiting for a school to phone.

[dave1966]

Hi.

I dont know what its like for you all to be going through all that,but I just want to say,that Im wishing you ALL the
best.

[drinksoptional]

imagine if the cookie monster from seasme street and animal from the muppets had an child and they told it there was no cookie in the world

[drinksoptional]

Update

we got confiration of adhd today and had meeting with education at same time.well wife did i was with son. They sent wife awya with some leafets an stuff about meds etc. Education after some heavy crapover last fewmonths have finally offered us something suitable an in his best intrest. The behavior school has full lock down only key fobs to enter or leave , they use the restrain technique of an arm and leg each an hold them on the floor till the child calms down regardless of how long. Each child has their own profile an learn a etc to thier needs , the classis mixture of asd an adhd and they come and go an change depending on each child. The phycoligist an wife got into education andrilled into them the meds will help with adhd but will not cure the autism an may bring the autism out more. They wont phone to collect him if he kicks off only if he sick or hurts himself an he is 5 days a week an 9-to 330 which is great if the med help calm him down he may be able to return to a mainstream school.the teachers are all trianed and dont do the consquence crp or that other stupid rubbish they work with the parents an have a diary an incident book any way that the basic run down there is alot more but this is a big result an hopefully he back in school at start of the year.

The information an hepl each of you have gvae us has really helped an we know you understand the frustrating and stress it can cause we now an a diffrent direction and hopefully this time next year he will be in a school with friends an living as normal a life a child his age deserve an i hopefully wil be back at work after all these years