I'm new here...Hello, my son is now 9 and was diagnosed with ADHD 2.5 years ago. He was started on multimodal treatment, including medicine, and has been doing well. His father never agreed with giving the medication but gave it anyways until this summer. Now he has stopped giving it to him at all. We had a plan to restart the medicine just before school but his dad never restarted it. We are going to court about this and other issues, and I was hoping there would be some information/help/support from families who have been through this. I would love to speak with a legal advocate if that exists.
After being on this medicine for two years and making wonderful improvements, his father has invented side effects for him that just don't exist. Our son has gone to regular medication recheck appointments and has never complained of any side effects. I suggested we research other medications to try that may not have these side effects he complains of, but he refused. I suggested we seek counseling/behavioral therapy for the side effects he complains about, but he refuses. I'm giving the medicine when our son is with me (week with father, week with mother) but I feel concerned about intermittent use of the medicine and our son losing ground at school. I feel very blessed that his teacher and school counselor are watching out for him, but I believe he needs to be on the medicine full time. He was last year and he was improving so well his reading IEP was discontinued and he met his reading goal in April. Thank you for your help.