My son was diagnosed a couple months back. Our biggest challenge has been sorting through all the tools out there and trying to find what works for our son. He just turned four so we are trying to avoid medication at this point.

My 9 year old daughter was diagnosed at the end of February. Our biggest challenges thus far have been two fold. First trying to get her the help she needs in school. We have been extremely lucky that her main teacher has been very accomodating and patient with her from the beginning of school even before she was diagnosed. But she needs extra help in a couple of subjects and the school refuses to provide her help because she is still working “at grade level” even though her report card has shown that she requires additional help. Our second challenge is trying to figure out what part of her at home behavior is ADHD related and what part is just being a kid.

My son is 8 and was diagnosed about 2 months ago.  Biggest challenge for me is trying the techniques that the psychologist is telling me to use and not knowing what to let go as far as bad behavior and what to address and quite honestly how to address it appropriately .  Also trying to get the extended family (have been divorced for a little under 2 years) to cooperate with the “TOOLS” that the doctor is teaching me.

My twin boys were diagnosed in April and May of this year. Our biggest challenge has been navigating through the school system and with the daycare. The school does not want to cooperate with me. They have banned my kids from comming back to the school this year, and I am trying to find a school that will accomodate them. The daycare is now on the same bandwagon that the school was on, and it is very discriminatory what they said to me. Everything was fine until they found out about the diagnosis. I am currently looking for a lawyer to help me with this situation.  No IEP or 504 was given to my sons. They were singled out and made to be an outcast at the school. I was labeled a bad parent because I did not agree with what the principal was doing as far as my kids were concerned. Going to the board did not work either. I am now trying to find a lawyer that can help me and my boys get through this. They started their medication yesterday. We are going back to the doctor next week for another follow up and to get a referral for a psychologist to work with them. This has been stressful and overwelming, and I appreciate this web site. You just don’t know how helpful this is for people who are new with the diagnosis.

My 11 year old daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and PDD-NOS at the end of April of this year. We are still in the midst of learning everything about it. She is on Biphentin, which is only available up here in Canada. She seems to be doing well on it, but we are still having issues in the evening when the drug has worn off. I have to talk to the doctor about that in the next couple of days. She is also staying up later again, so another thing to talk to the dr about. Today was the last day of school, so we will see how things go, over the summer.

My six year old has been diagnosed PDD-NOS and ADHD.As we all know,it can take up to several years for the diagnosis,and WE have found that the hardest part as parents was OURSELVES,LOL.My husband and I believed that WE could change our son,Caden if we just tried a “little harder” to be better ,more consistent parents.Isn’t that just too funny? And then of course when his school kept telling us that he needed more discipline at home,my husband and I would just look at each other with our mouths open.To top it off,he was accepted into the gifted program in our district after a teacher noticed in kindergarten that he was reading better than most of the fifth graders and tested ten points above the cutoff for entrance.That just baffled everyone and made it even harder to get people to believe that there was something seriously wrong.Everyone thought because he was profoundly gifted ,that he should “know better”,so I am in a battle with the school system ,as well, and have requested additional evaluations and accomodations.they messed with the wrong momma bear when they told me,that he ‘was just gifted,leave it at that”.so ,now ,after watching Caden turn on and off lightswitches for years,and quirky things like lining up toys the same way time after time and bizarre phobias and complex whole body tics(stimming) my husband and I are trying(to no avail) to convince his behavioral therapist that Asperger’s or Tourette’s might just,a tiny bit, need to be reconsidered.Which means ,that we are going to have to be suupppper careful about the medications before we can even START behavior modification.Whew! You know something guys,our kids are so worth it!! And when you start attaining victory a little at a time,whether it be getting someone on your team in school or seeing a slight change in your child,you know that you ARE capable…that you WILL get through this,if only one day at a time.With our son,we find that he is a strict rule person,daily schedules down to one and two hour increments work really well because he does not want to break the rules.We also post a chart for bad behaviors that we would like to change,like cussing when angry or hitting.He gets a Skittle at the end of the day for every behavior NOT performed ,and gets to mark it off the board himself.At least it points out the fact that these behaviors are NOT acceptable and he IS learning that he can control them if he wants to earn that reward.We used to just focus so much on punishing and only seeing the bad stuff,that we never got any results.Now he actually catches himself halfway through the act and feels so good about himself when he realizes that he didn’t say F*&ING; S!@@T that day,LOL.Progress- not perfection,I always say!!!

Hi everyone…my lb is 6 and has very recently been diagnosed with ADHD.  Wow it’s been hard. He’s always been hyper and unable to concentrate, but we moved him to a new school this year and it has been so difficult. I’ve found dealing with the school the hardest part!  He started on Ritalin and developed a tic from it and was exceptionally hyper in the evenings. We’ve just changed his meds to Strattera…and so far he is better than he was on Ritalin. It’s taken us 6 months to actually decide to put him on meds…it’s really hard making the decision! Another challenge I’ve found is dealing with his extreme anxiety - which never used to be there. It seems there is anxiety only surrounding school…he was so confident and happy and I have a different child this year! I’m not sure I know how to handle the anxiety and sensitivity…bless him!

Our DD8 who is going in to 3rd grade and was just diagnosed a few weeks ago as ADHD inattentive type with impulsivity and also gifted. I have lots of questions to try to get answered over the coming months/years.

We haven’t started any medications since she is very small for her age (she isn’t even ON the curve) and stimulants may interfere with her growth.  So, we are waiting for an endocrinology work-up to see if there is any known reason for the short stature and determine what, if any, meds she can take.

We are getting ready to request an eval from the school for and IEP/504. Is there something that you found to be essential to put in the letter?  I know there are several issues, but what are your opinions about an IEP vs a 504?

We have had one appt with the psychologist who is going to be working with us on the behavior mod and psych therapy since she is at risk of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.

Anyone found any great resources/tips/charts for home for behavior, chores, routines, etc?  Anyone tried any protein powder to add to food that is palatable?  My DD isn’t a big eater and getting protein into her is a challenge. 

I’d be interested in finding support groups or parenting classes for me and my husband and other kids with ADHD; anyone live in Michigan, zip 48230 area?

Thanks for any tips you can offer!

My daughter is 8.  We went to the doctor last month and he said that most doctors would say that my daughter has ADHD and put her on medication, but he said he does not want to label her or put her on medication and to use the parenting techniques he suggested and come back in a month.  I have another two weeks until her appointment.  Over the last 6 months my daughters behavior, hyperness, impulsiveness and innatention have increased dramatically.  I am going to ask her doctor to refer her to a Pediatrician.  I have read a lot of information over the past few weeks!  It seems very overwhelming.  My daughter tries to refuse to go to school saying she is not feeling well.  I made her go anyway and a couple hours later the school called me and said that she was sick and asked me to pick her up.  This happened 2 weeks in a row.  She used to love school and now she hates it.  She gets teased at school because she is slower doing her work and finds it difficult to concentrate.  She was having outbursts 4-6 times a day at home and would refuse to do basic things like brush her hair saying “no I’m not going to do it.”  She cannot even stay focused for 5 minutes.  We have 7 people in our household and my daughter tries to consume all of my time; she would get upset if I went anywhere without her; even if I went to a meeting while she was at school.  I guess my biggest frustration right now is trying help her and trying to get my family to understand what needs to be done to help her.  I was divorced from her father 7 years ago; she visits him regularly and although he says he will do whatever I tell him to do to help her he is actually doing the exact opposite! I also don’t feel like I am getting help from her doctor fast enough; from what I read I don’t think that the parenting techniques; raising my expectations, getting her to talk about her feelings, consequences, and explaining everything to her is going to be enough.  I have also developed checklists for her to get through her routines, give her protein in the morning for breakfast, fruit, veggies and nuts for snacks, cut down on sugar, no preservatives, give whole grains, I got her music for bedtime, Melatonin, Fish oil, Flax, and I’m trying to teach her relaxation techniques.