"Life with AD/HD" thread

[kerry-anne]

I am so going to google that, nikki lol. Yes they do get consumed on certain things. My 8 year olds is anything mechanical and my 6 year old is dinosaurs and insects (but he's terrified of spiders).
Oh it really is great when they have a good week at school, I flinch every time my phone rings invade it the school telling me to get there and sort one of them out because they can't cope.
I'm glad your boys doing well and has caught up, I'm hoping mine can too but it's doubtful as there's only 7 weeks left of school before they finish for the summer holidays. When he foes back in September it going to be a nightmare as he will be in a different class with a different teacher. I don't know about yours but my boys don't cope with change at all.

 

[Munter2009]

I have ADHD and so does my brother, my sister and my 7 year old son. None of us are/were medicated. My mom changed our diets to only organic, no processed foods or food colorings. Worked wonders. I don't know exact details because my son has it but not bad so we don't do anything for it. If your interested im sure you can find more info on the internet. Also, I and my siblings don't do anything for our ADHD now.

 

[nikki1]

I am so going to google that, nikki lol. Yes they do get consumed on certain things. My 8 year olds is anything mechanical and my 6 year old is dinosaurs and insects (but he's terrified of spiders).
Oh it really is great when they have a good week at school, I flinch every time my phone rings invade it the school telling me to get there and sort one of them out because they can't cope.
I'm glad your boys doing well and has caught up, I'm hoping mine can too but it's doubtful as there's only 7 weeks left of school before they finish for the summer holidays. When he foes back in September it going to be a nightmare as he will be in a different class with a different teacher. I don't know about yours but my boys don't cope with change at all.

Oh, yes! Every day is a new day, for good or for ill! And I so know what you mean about the calls from school...except I work at his school! For me, it's the principal coming into my class. The most recent one was when DS crawled under the table in his reading group and refused to come out even for the principal...and he was taunting the man! I had the choice of either letting the principal drag him out by his feet or having the principal cover my class while I dealt with it. Sigh...

Yeah, my boy doesn't cope well with change, either. Substitute teacher days are a nightmare, even with me just down the hall. The crazy thing is that we're a VERY small school, so he already knows all the subs...one was even his Sunday school teacher. You'd think it'd help him cope, but no way! I'm hoping next year's transition will be okay, as he knows the 4th grade teacher pretty well, and the lady has ADD kids and husband. She's more sympathetic than most.

As far as keeping up, it's an uphill battle. DS likes math, so he caught up pretty quickly. Reading, though, is another story. It requires too much sitting still and concentrating, so he puts all available energy into avoiding it, and Heaven knows he's got a lot of energy to devote to it! He's making great gains, but he's still pretty far behind. If only I could get him to go laser-focus on reading, but it ain't gonna happen.

Good luck during summer break. What do your kids like to do during the summer? I'd love to know what helps occupy other peoples' kids!

 

[kerry-anne]

Handy in a way that you work at his school. The calls I usually get are because he is being violent towards school staff. They have removed his shoes at times until I get there to deal with him but I give the school their dues, they only call me as a last resort. He can't go on school outings unless I go along with them as they won't take responsibility of him outside of school.
I'm having the same problem with frank use reading, he can't keep still long enough to really concentrate.
During the school holidays we go into London a lot to the museums. The boys especially like the natural history museum and the science museum. We go to the beach and zoo. It all varies on what their mood is on the day but the majority of the time they want to stay at home! They love all our pets and find them calming. In one of those people that believe animals are a great thing for people with disabilities, my boys find them calming. Here's a picture of them with our baby guinea pigs

 

[nikki1]

LOVE guinea pigs! When I lived closer to work I had a pair in my class. Sad I can't have them at home due to allergies. Animals really are a good influence on children.

Removing shoes...Now THAT'S a great idea. I may have to try that at home.

I enjoy being at school with my children. I joke that it's because I like having spies everywhere, but really it just helps me to be proactive about things. It can get kind of embarrassing sometimes, though. Students like to come to me to tattle, and I always have to refer them back to the adult on duty. I figure they don't run to everyone else's mommy! And it's a pain when DS is really obnoxious to one of my work friends.

Sounds like you have a fun summer planned. The zoo is always a great option. We don't have a natural history museum nearby, but we've been thinking about a trip to the Pacific Science Center in Seattle--it's all hands-on, so if we could all survive the car trip it'd be great fun. That's a really big "if", though!! Sometimes we drive to Tacoma and just ride the free commuter train for a while. Keeps everyone happy at no cost! We also have swimming lessons and Cub Scout day camp. In between...I don't know. We live on an acre and a half, 2/3 of which is a brushy, forested hillside leading down to a creek. Turn him loose with a net and a box and see what he comes home with. Snakes, salamanders, frogs...

 

[kerry-anne]

I live guinea pigs too, ours are still babies so living indoors. I was hoping to put them outside soon but typical British weather means its still too cold and wet! It's usually nice and warm this time of year but we are still waiting...
It's impossible to drive to the London museums, we have to go by train so that can be great fun (not!) and I don't know if yours do the same but my boys speak their mind so if a goth or a person with facial piercing a etc get in the train they announce it to the world that there's a strange person on the train. Can be very embarrassing!
I live in a very built up area and there's not a huge amount of things kids can do around here, anything good to do is miles away and can get pretty expensive.

 

[AlezaJ]

I have ADD. When I was of school age I preferred to be around adults. I was very uncomfortable with people my own age. My comfort zone was with the elderly, still is. It took until I was nearly out of high school to be comfortable with my peers. All of my friends were the silly outgoing people, someone had to keep the conversation going and I didn't know how. I hope this helps to understand your son better. Of course his comfort zones are most likely different than my own.

Sounds like the Vanderbilt Assessments are very similar to the Conner Scale.
And LOL @ your daughter's answer when she was asked if she sees things others don't see. Sounds like she'll be fine!!  However, her school needs to keep the bullying in check! That's unacceptable. I would worry about her self-esteem as she goes through puberty. So far my son doesn't get bullied or bully anybody. His teacher says he's very popular but he's a clown sometimes (I'm not surprised!). And I've noticed he never asks to have a play date with anyone his own age..not sure if that has anything to do with ADD or not. One of the moms from karate very often tries to make a date for us to get together but my son cannot stand this woman's son so I keep making excuses. He prefers older boys to hang out with. He's the youngest of 4..my other kids are 25, 22 & 17 so I'm not sure if he's just used to being around older people or he's simply unsocial! Very complex issues.  Anyway, it sounds like your daughter might be frustrated. How old is she? Is she taking medication?

 

[AlezaJ]

@Ewesheep My brother blames others and other things for all of his problems. He always claims he did nothing wrong. Which of your daughters disorders causes this?? Hes 13 and we are really struggling with this.

 

[mlaff]

We had a gastro appointment for my daughter last wed. She left the room to go to the bathroom and I started begging her nurse for help. I told her how when I called 5 months ago the hospital wasn't accepting new psych patients and how I am at my breaking point. I spilled a years worth of terror into the 3 minutes my daughter was in the bathroom. Her Dr. Is the head of the gastro unit and told me he was going to personally talk to the head of psych to get her seen. Now I just wait for the call. Lately she has been changing her moods quicker than I can blink. She was good this morning and then suddenly flipped and hated everyone. She came home and told me she got into trouble her last day of school because a boy spit on her so she spit back. Ew!!!! Of all things really? I told her that she should have done something else besides spit. She finally stood up for herself which was amazing. This boy had terrorized her the past two years. Oh, how I wish she would have punched him instead of spit on him. I know it sounds bad, but this kid is relentless and the school doesn't step in, even after telling them I have told her to stick up for herself. He called her a b**** on the bus, told everyone she bites and scratches like a dog, pushes her pencils off her desk, and yells at her. Every time I've said something it's "we will check into it, but he is typically a good kid."

 

[mlaff]

Thank god school is out for the summer