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crimson_moon · 02-01-2008, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twistertiger

one of my kids has Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is bouncing off the walls and cant concentrate. he has a bunch of trouble with homework in school but is good in class because he cant organize either. my kid also has trouble writing because he has Dysgraphia. i need him to pay attention, calm down, and be able to write a lot but i don't know how to help him. what should i do?

My 7 year old son was diagnosed last year with ADHD and OCD.The doctor said that treating the first problem, ADHD, would help with the OCD, but if I still wasn't satisfied, to go ahead and seek treatment for the OCD as well. I have my son on Focalin XR. After the diagnosis, I struggled with the decision to medicate my child with a controlled substance. I did A LOT of research on every possible drug and it's effects, both short and long term, the benefits, etc. Focalin is one the mildest ones out there with the least side effects, so I decided to give that a try. Although I still struggled with the notion that I was "deliberately drugging my child", I also struggled with the fact that he's falling behind in school and could very possibly have to remain in the same grade if I did nothing at all. I certainly didn't want that. For the first 7-10 weeks of school, my son was failing every single class. Needless to say, we really struggled the rest of the year getting him caught up. He spent the majority of the year in small group classes for reading and math. At the end of the year, I noticed he was developing a "tick". He was starting to blink a lot more than usual. I already knew it was a side effect of the medicine, so I waited until HE said something about it, which he did, and I consulted with the doctor about taking him OFF of the medicine for the summer. Because Focalin is milder than most, it was completely possible. The tick went away. Just before school started back up this year, I put him back on it and he's done a fantastic job. And so far, no tick or other side effect. His teacher says he's doing great in class. He's an active participant and he's typically happy daily. He still, on occassion, has a temperamental outburst, but it can almost always be pin pointed back to some type of break in his day to day routine. I'm still doing research because I want to get him off of the stimulant. We still have lots of work to do but the key is to getting him to where he can control most of it himself. Behavior therapy comes highly recommended. My son is currently attending a once per week class at his school for anger management/behavior therapy with a child psychologist that works for the schools in our district. He still attends math and reading tutoring in small groups as well.