HELP!!! My son's school is trying to lable him as ADHD...

Whether he is misdiagnosed or not, with natural solutions it ultimately doesn't matter cuz it fixes the problems (the root) and oftens far reaching, whereas the unnatural stuff dr's want to use never touch the root. i'm not against it, just think its good to learn about the natural solutions first and try them first.

So there 'are' natural things you can give him that work. If he has anger it suggests 'something' is off balance. Do a net search. Use keywords like natural formulas ADD (or ADHD). also do search for "orthomolecular" vitamins. Regular vitamins dont cross the brain barrier so no matter if u give him best vitamins in health food store, that or digestive problems, but they dont get to the brain.

Dont let them put him on drugs when he is probably nutritionally starved (not ur fault, it just happens to some people of the best of homes!), and dont let em put him on drugs when u can get natural solutions on the web. try vaxa.com. look into flax seed oil (9-12 grams daily) if he has anger issues maybe bipolar cuz omega 3s scientefically been tested to work as good as meds. And its good for tons of things, sure can't hurt! i like ur attitude, match it with research. these things can often be healed and even cured these days with natural treatments backed by science.

Take him off sugar. veggie protein is best. emotional healing or therapy can come later or in conjunction, but if hes all hyped up from sugar etc -therapy doesn't have as much an effect.

 

That can't be farther from the truth. Actually, it is beleived that the "root" (if there is such a thing) in ADHD is minimal brain dysfunction and understimulation of certain areas of the brain. Adderall and other ADD meds actually do treat the root by stimulation, to a NORMAL extent, the understimulated parts of the brain (this has been confirmed thousands of times with MRIs and PET Scans) so Adderall and other ADD drugs DO treat the "root."

 

Maggie, I understand some of what I said touched home with u and may challange ur beliefs on this. Let me say in no way am i trying to do this. And its why I pointed out i am not against allopathic meds. But if they treated the root the person would get cured or run a close second with healing. Tho they do "treat" the problem and make life much more pleasant and workable. I too have a family member with some problems, and much more serious. so i've done my research and much of what I have said is NEW. It does not challange what u are saying either, its just that these days it has been discovered that the brain CAN be healed and often cured with orthomolecular stuff. check out alternativementalhealth.com which can explain it better then me.

 

I'll agree there is more than one way to treat it. But this child does need something to help. I;ve done Fiengold with my oldest and it was a waste of time. Herb didn't help either. Neither did Homeopathy. I'm in a place where I have actually moved PAST "natural" treatments for most things, as I have seen too much suffering and lack of response, as well as a LOT of blaming pateints for doing normal things (like say, eating a piece of fruit, in the beleif that it aggravates "candida")

Yes, there is more than one way to treat ADHD. But from my medical training, and from experience, I've seen the best results from modern medicine. And I USED TO beleive in "natural treatments" for most things. Seen too much failure and self blame.

 

Well...
My oldman met with my sons school AGAIN yesterday. They are trying to figure out the best possible enviroment for him. I've been saying from day 1 STRUCTURE, but noone listens to me. Guess what brilliant idea they came up with yesterday??? STRUCTURE. I swear sometimes the school and my oldman make me feel as though I'm speaking to the wall. For months I've been telling my DH that we need to be more patient & understanding, at the same time we need to be firm & consistent with discipline. Yup, you guessed it, yesterday he tells me the same thing. Sometimes I think he just likes hearing himself speak. It always seems to sound better coming from him. Anyway, Justice came home with a note yesterday saying he had a GREAT DAY IN CLASS!!! I'm so proud of him & I just wanted to share that w/ everyone because you too helped make that happen! All of your knid words and advice is really helping. HUGS to all...

 

I am so glad he had a good day!!!! Drugs alone will never solve ADD. Behavioral and other strategies also have to be used, in conjunction with the meds (if needed) and private counseling. (Which is why I always see people who just throw a pill at their child every morning and then say "Meds don't work.") EVERY child needs indiviudalized help, but a child who is challenging needs even more.

Talk to the school about an IEP or a 504 plan, that way you and the school can work out modifications which work for him. I found the 504 plan best for my kids (as they had no actual learning disabilites) and I had to really get on the school to do them. "We don't do them much." they said. IMO, every child who needs Adderall, Ritalin or any other ADD med NEEDS a 504 Plan or an IEP. MAKE the school sit down with you and do a FORMAL 504, none of that "Oh we'll just talk about it and implement it, there is no reason to write it down." (Which is what they have been doing with my sister and her son for years, and she won't put her foot down and make them make it permanant.) Get everything in writing, the 5-4 meeting should be the teacher, the social worker, the principal, the Spec Ed teacher (if needed) and everything needs to be put on the forms, so that you won't be reinventing the wheel next year. The best thing we did was to get 504s for our ADD kids.

Good luck. I am so glad he had a great day!!!!

 

yeah, the little boy i baby sit for is on an IEP, and it really helps him... i would suggest that, because then your daughter's education CAN be flexible, but there will be the structure she needs...

good luck!

 

I was thinking asperger's as well.

Also sensory integration disorder is often misdiagnosed as adhd. It's so hard to tell because many of these disorders go hand in hand.

my boy has auditory processing disorder and suspected (but not yet diagnosed) asperger's. he has tons of sensory issues and has vocal and physical tics.

we will go the medical route only after we try the alternatives first. ( i say that with much respect to those like maggie who have tried everything themselves and finally chose the medicating route. we just need to try this way first. i hope you can understand where i'm coming from. i'm not knocking meds) Also, my son is not hyperactive, angry or aggressive, he is more daydreamy, in his own world.

i am very interested in chelating since it is my belief that his autism is mercury poisoning related. i was injected with thimeresol when i was 28 weeks pregnant with him.

I've noticed in reading about autistic and related disorders that many are being treated with seratonin related drugs (like zoloft and paxil, i think) with some success. Temple Grandin (a very famous autistic woman is treated with a minimal dose of a seratonin related drug.

I'd say do your own research regarding drugs and treatments for adhd and related disorders. talk to other parents who have adhd kids. you might be able to find a support group in your area and there are lots of yahoo groups for adhd parents both of the medicating and non medicating ideologies.

also, i hope the school can make the accomodations your son needs. good luck to you.

kathy

 

i gotta jump in here to talk about my own medication story. i'm not saying that you have to medicate your child...but don't be biased against it, either. first off, i am myself bipolar and meds basically keep me alive, or from harming myself or others. so i have that experience.
my daughter is now six years old. we've had trouble with her her whole life. she has always been overly energetic/aggressive, by which i mean she would do things like run up behind you and smack your butt (hard!) as you are walking along, or whack you on the head with something and keep right on playing like nothing happened. she bit for a long time, would smack other kids, got kicked out of six daycares (i have to work), would hurt animals...etc, etc. all of which was difficult to deal with on top of my own disorder. she went to pre-k and the teacher there said, "she is just NASTY" which was unprofessional to say the least. after that i was really afraid of kindergarten, we put her in and right from day one she had troubles with agressiveness. at least once a week there would be a note or a call saying, rory hit a kid on the head with a broom, rory bit, rory smacked a girl across the cheek. all along her teacher was GREAT, rooted for her, worked with me on behavioral strategies--they didn't work, but she tried!
i kept trying to find a psychiatrist for her. at first i thought she might be adhd but i began to face the fact that she displayed other symptoms. but child psychiatrists are rather hard to find. i found a therapist and all he wanted to do was try lame behavioral programs. (i should mention that i work in special education, with autistic children--i am totally accustomed to difficult children and behavioral programs!!!)
the clincher came the day that, without being provoked, rory tried to strangle another child. the principal called me and her professional demeanor was shaken. i didn't blame her, to have a six year old do that. i was VERY upset too! so i put the thumbscrews on myself and pronto located a psychiatrist and a therapist--a GOOD therapist this time.
her psychiatrist thinks she is probably bipolar based on the fact that i am and that in often comes out as agression in small children. but he doesn't want to commit to it right away and just says 'mood disorder NOS' (not otherwise specified), which is FINE she doesn't need a label anyway.
he put her on risperdal (which i take myself). i was leery of this--i think if a parent was not leery, was not afraid, did not stop to think, about a serious medication like this there is something seriously lacking in them as a parent--but i decided to try it. i was worried that she would actually hurt someone, i was worried that she would have no friends, i was worried that she would get put in the 'emotional disturbed' slot and stay there.
but the risperdal has been WONDERFUL. she is so much calmer, and it goes into everything. her toys aren't broken up so much. her handwriting is better. she doesn't scream for no reason. and of course, she isn't aggressive. she is making a lot of friends in the neighborhood, and her teacher gave her a glowing report card. i think one of the other things that decided me was remembering what i myself was like as a child--i asked myself, if the medication, the help, was offered to me then, how might it have changed my life? i had a hard childhood due to my disorder and problems arising from it--and that thought, along with the others, was enough to make me say, ok i will try it...

 

thats what i have. teachers and schools always hated me too, tryin to say i was a problem tryin to say i needed fixed. of course aspergers didnt hit med. books till the year i graduated.
you need to hold your ground. its not the schools decision on how your child is medicated, its not even your doctors decision, its somethin that you your husband and HIM need to decide upon. babylon sux theyre just tryin numb your kid. ritalin dont even work for ADD. so fuck em.

 

We have an IEP going, school started it up about a year ago because we started tallking to them early. We knew that there was something going on with our Daughter. At that time we didn't know about Asperger's but did realize that if she just started Kindergarten without them being onboard in some way with us her talents would end up being wasted. At that same time we got her into a psychologist for her as well as a neurologist.

Anyhow, the IEP is a good thing. The school & we are all onboard with this. They have people, I think Special Ed teachers, there who help Moonshadow work her way through the rough times & in fact they stay in the classroom most of the morning from what I can tell. I suspect that a 504 is less involved. Is that right?

 

Wayfaring Stranger,

I love hearing from adults who are aspie's!!! I feel hesitant to go the medical route with my boy because I really enjoy his unique point of view. He is absolutely magical! He can be thrilled by the sky reflected in water or by getting caught up in a dust devil (lots of people might like these things, but there is an unbridled joy when he expresses his excitement about something that fascinates him. I love seeing his face light up about such things) I just want to help his tics and echoing because these are the things that the other kids notice. I'm always terrified of him becoming the victim of bullying (and he has already) I am very tempted to homeschool him so he can be himself without having to fit in.

If we try public school one more year he will be in the special ed class part time and have an IEP. The special ed teacher is a very sweet lady with a learning disabled child of her own.

It's really great hearing from all of you with experience as mother's of LD, ADHD, Bi Polar and ASD kids or with first hand experience themselves. I get great comfort knowing I'm not the only one trying to make all these TOUGH decisions. When I became a parent I had no idea how difficult it would be. But I didn't know how beautiful it would be either. I am so glad there are places I can go where there are people who share similiar experiences. I hope more people will share their stories.

Kathy

 

A 504 is less involved, it is mainly for kids who need "special accomodations" but should not be in a Special Ed class or recieve Special Ed help.

 

ppbbbbtttt!!! sorry maggie, but you are out of line for trying to talk her into drugging her child into submission so soon. maybe it worked for you and yours, but AFTER you took the time to make sure it was the 'inevitable diagnosis' - she needs the time to make sure her son is not being misdiagnosed. schools do not know exactly what's wrong with the kids, they just know what kid is disrupting their classroom and that they'd like them to sit still.

the 'inevitable diagnosis' for my younger brother when he was failing the 3rd grade for the second time was that he was 'slow', but my mom stood her ground, had him tested, and he's got an incredible iq - way over the gifted cutoff of 130. just wasn't taught to read well nor could he understand his teacher's southern accent... therefore they were all for putting him in the dummy class.

my mom has been a varied exceptionalities teacher for over 20 years, she does not believe in medicating kids - there are lots of other things that can be tried first. and usually the alternatives to meds do work, but it takes TIME from the parents and the teachers, and sometimes people just don't want to take that time, they'd rather do it the easy way. sometimes, as in your case maggie, when you have exhausted all options then medication is called for. but you took your time - you didn't just run for the drugs.

my ex was a test child for ritalin when they first came out with it. he was also seeing a therapist all during his childhood. he was an absolute hellion in school, all the way through. yeah, drugging him made it easier for the adults in his life to control him, but honestly i think it set him up for failure in life, he never learned any self control and he still has NONE. he never learned any self-regulation skills because he had drugs to do that for him. as an adult, he still has a huge problems, i believe because he has never taken any personal responsiblity for his behavior - if he can't get his drugs then he's not in charge of how he acts.

of course add, adhd, edd, hyperactivity, whatever they want to call it this year, is hereditary. my 12 year old has had almost every teacher every year ask me if i'd put him on drugs to make it easier for them. every year i said no. it's been very hard, but finally, this past school year, he has been able to control HIMSELF. we've worked hard on that - cuz i don't want him growing up believing that he can only behave because of external modifyers. we have had to work on his social skills so he can interact with others appropriately, there are myriad books to help with that - we did exercises at home so he could master the fine art of walking in line to the cafeteria, sharing supplies in art class, etc. i couldn't rely on the school to help him with those things, that is really not what they are geared to teach - so we did it on our own. and it worked, for us.

the things that have made a big difference: diet - making good breakfasts and sending lunch, proper rest, schedule, discipline (not beatings, but knowing 'if you do this, this will happen'), structured classrooms, commitment, lots and lots of talking about each day's events and asking 'how did you handle that? did that work? why do you think so? what would work better?'. reading on my part, 'home work' of social exercises, and time, time, time. lots of school meetings, working WITH the teachers and approaching it as team work. and we joined the scouts - so we could practice the social interaction behaviors in a non-school setting. his scout leaders have been an awesome positive influence on his behavior (just a side note, skipping scouting activities was never a consequence - we always did it whether he 'deserved' it or not)

my son is very smart, but a wiggler and a daydreamer and he doesn't like to take orders much, especially if he thinks they are unfair. he has had a history of poor grades, but tests out very high. in fact (brag, brag, brag!!!) i got his sat scores yesterday and he tested out as PHS - post high school - in every subject except language, and he's on a 10.5 grade level for that - pretty good for a 7th grader i think.

i do believe drugs do work for some, but i am very hesitant to use them on my own kids because of all the side effects, physical and emotional. true, mental disorders ARE a chemical imbalance in the brain. prescriptions CAN help. but i believe that when you are trying to get a child to adulthood, teaching self regulation is very important, probably one of the most important things i need to give my boys to succeed in life.

the fact that Justice came home with a note saying he had a GREAT DAY IN CLASS!!! (yeah for you!) means that he can have another great day in class! and another and another... he CAN do it if everyone on the team, the child, parents and teacher work together. just one great day at a time, soon they will happen more often! once he hits adolescence, his behaviours will change (who knows if for the better? - lol) but a lot of times they will grow out of it. i believe that if he truly needed to be medicated, then there would be no chance of him ever having a great day - it just wouldn't be possible for him to get through a day, ever.

keep at it, a great day means you're on the right track

 

Gr8. you took that quote way out of context. I did advise her not only to follow her instincts, but to take her time. I never told her to just "run for the drugs." But I know denial when I see it,(been there...in fact the OP admited this may be what she is doing, nothing wrong with that, it is a normal part of being told something no one wants to hear.) taking one symptom of ADD and "naming" and self diagnosing a new disorder just to get away from ADD is a stalling tactic (did it myself!) I think the OP and I came to an understanding. A good one, too. I was well aware of and let her know that I do think it is her decision in the end. Please read the entire post, next time, or all the posts one poster makes, and not just an out of context comment.

And when a child DOES have ADHD and the meds are titrated properly children are NOT 'drugged into submission." (My add kid who is on Adderall is FAR from submissive in ANY way shape or form!) That is just a falacy of fear.

If you read ALL my posts on this thread, you would see my main point is that there is a hell of a lot MORE to treating and parenting a child with ADHD than just "running for the drugs." Therapy, parental acceptance and help, school accomodations (IEPs or 504 plans) ect are just as important. In fact, I have said in about 4 different places that drugs alone usually don't work. It is an effort which involves parental INVOLVEMENT.

Maybe you misread my intentions.

 

"God, I can't stand public schools. If every child doesn't conform they want to lable them as ADHD and stick them on Ritalin. My son, almost 9, is a very intelligent little boy."

What the hell are you talking about? You're child has ADHD because all you do is plop him in front of a fucking TV all day and let him do whatever the fuck he pleases because you're too busy doing whatever it is you hippies do in your communes.

Sorry, there's no such thing as ADHD, just really bad parenting

 

"Sorry, there's no such thing as ADHD, just really bad parenting"

hmmmm, i read that it was once thought that autism was caused by unloving mothers, they were told that they should just admit that they actually hate their kids.

a neurologist might have a different opinion on the topic though. ASP, LD, ADHD are neurological disorders. no one causes them by parenting, tv, or video games. but there are more than a few really misinformed people out there who feel that way.

proud2deviate, I liked a lot of what you had to say!

kathy

 

What your sons school is doing is against the law. Your physician should be the diagnoser, not a school provided doctor because that doctor obviously will tailor a diagnosis to best suit the school and will try to mandate meds-this is also illegal. I'm an advocate for kids with disabilities-if you need help pm me and i'll give you my work number. you should familarize yourself with ada laws so you know what your rights are and what the schools responsibilities are

 

I haven't read through all the responses so please disregard if this has already been mentioned.

Sometimes food allergies and food sensativities can mimic symptoms of ADD/ADHD. You might want to consider having him tested with and allergist before you decide to put him on medication for ADHD. My sister went through this with her son. The public school insisted on putting him on ritalin otherwise they were going to expel him from school. Some DR.'s agreed some didn't. One finally suggested seeing an allergist. He has a wheat allergy and is now on a wherat free diet with no more ADD/ADHD symptoms.