A Child with ADHD

 We always knew that our son had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) even before he went into school. Once he started kindergarten, it was downhill from there. He was overly rambunctious in class which resulted in him having to be moved to half days. It was a constant battle with the school. 

We were finally able to get him to see the doctor about it. (That is a whole other problem, seeing a regular doctor who is not specializing in children with ADHD). So we went to his pediatrician. She basically said, 'here choose a medicine you want to put him on.' I went with my mum and we looked at each other and chose Adderall because we have heard of that before. 

The first week was looking good, then he began to struggle. So we called the doctor and told her what was going on, she raised him to the next dosage. Alright maybe it just was not enough for him, he has a very fast metabolism. Tried the second dosage, he seemed to be getting a bit worse. We called her back. (Us still trusting she knew what she was doing). She raised it again, so from 5 to 10 to 15 mg for my 5 year old. He got worse to the point where he basically had a psychotic break. He was in class throwing chairs and jumping on everything. I had to pick him up. When I got there, my heart broke, he was completely out of it, had no idea who I was and just was running around jumping on tables and acting crazy. I had no idea where to turn at this rate so we took him to a mental health urgent care center. Where there the doctor was like NO! he should NOT have been raised up twice. After the first episode and it getting worse again, she should have known that he had an adverse reaction to it. We sat in the room and he pushed the chairs up against the door and the table and was jumping on them, throwing a water bottle everywhere. The doctor and I just sat there waiting. In the films, you see the people who restrain someone who is a danger to themselves or others? Yea, they couldn't get into the room. My son was out of control due to the medication. 

We took him off of it, kept him home a few days then he went on something else. The new medication was seemingly working well. He took it for a few months and slightly we had to increase and provide a booster dosage. But he was still unable to go to Kindergarten full days. We finally were able to get set up with a psychologist who worked with ADHD and ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). Thank the heavens for this man, we have been seeing him for almost a year. We did learn that he does not give young children Adderall for that reason. Good to know now!

Some information about ADHD and ODD here. 

Some books to help: Book on ADHD, Book on ODD, Book for ADHD/ODD and ADHD Workbook for Kids

We have worked through different medications and things to get our son to be able to focus in school. Mainly our focus was school. We don't mind him running around crazy at home with his sister and dogs because he is a kid. He has been in 1st grade at his new school for about 5 weeks so far and has been doing phenomenal. 

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND having your child, even if they struggle a bit or have any of the symptoms of ADHD/ADD/ODD or another learning disability to consult a psychologist or someone who actually specializes in it to determine if your child could benefit from a 504 plan or IEP. and NEVER let anyone tell you that a 504 plan or IEP is not the best thing for your child. They are designed to help your child succeed in school and help them overcome any obstacles. If you are fighting with the school about either, I would definitely talk to the doctors and have them write a note requesting they be tested by the school or get 504-IEP in place. Some schools will drag their feet and sadly we learned the hard way.

If you want to get into more detail about his old school, the teacher was fired for not teaching. That was the first half of the year. We were just told he was a bit behind. We figured it was just the half days affecting him. Come to find out, the new teacher (who bless her heart) told us he was so far behind. She told us where he needed help and what we could do, sent home extra activities for him to work on. I home schooled my son in public school because the system failed him. we FINALLY had an IEP in place, the LAST TWO DAYS of school. So frustrating!

He was out of boundaries at the school so they basically kicked him out and we went to our home school. He has been doing so amazing in that school. He has 4 teachers. Regular, special ed, speech and a reading teacher. The school did testing the third day of school and determined both my kids needed reading help and had emailed me to consent to the help. I did not have to fight the school for help. I think my son had it rushed since he has an IEP but our daughter, she didn't have any concerns from anyone besides failing her test and they determined she would benefit from it. The fact I did not have to fight for my children to get help was a huge relief. 

We are in constant contact with the teachers. AND I may be different asking his teachers what they think he would benefit from, any changes or things they see, because not only do I care about my son's education, I also care about his classmates education. I do not want him to hinder their education at all. So I am asking if they think something else might work better and what we can work on at home.