10 YO Son with ADHD

[bmruso]

Hey everyone! I have a wonderful little boy (who is growing up too quickly) who was diagnosed with ADHD. He has a hard time focusing, very energetic, a great helper with me, enjoys cleaning, and also making a mess. I keep getting calls from school that he has either stuffed so many paper towels in the toilet it clogged or squirted soap all over the sink, or some kid told him to spit down the stairs. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing and what did you do about it. I’ve recently read about the positive reenforcement instead of always punishment. So we are just starting that. And doing chores to earn tv time. Thanks in advance. We really do not want to medicate so anything we can adjust at home would be awesome!

[anirush]

We had some of that when the boys were young pre-medication.

Both my boys have trouble with anger and aggression. In the middle of a meltdown they have dumped stuff in the middle of the floor, torn things up, not fun

[bmruso in reply to anirush]

So you ended up doing medication? Did that help? Did you go through the trial and error?

[anirush in reply to bmruso]

My older grandson did wonderfully for years on Focalin XR with slight adjustments to his doses as he grew. In middle school he has started having trouble with depression and anger. It has been trial and error lately finding something that did not set him off more.

My younger grandson has always had anger issues, major tantrums when he was 3-4, lots of problems in school. He is relatively stable right now but so many med changes over the years. I keep a journal so I will remember past reactions.

[Jamie82 in reply to bmruso]

It took me 3yr to finally treat my sons ADHD i was totally against it i finally gave in during kindergarten and now i wish i would of started sooner he went though alot no being on medicine and i blam myself for that niw he is so good and dose great in school

[bmruso in reply to Jamie82]

Thank you.

[Jamie82 in reply to bmruso]

Its a hard decision to make i wish you the best of luck

[bmruso in reply to Jamie82]

It is hard. But I wanna do what’s best for him.

[Jamie82 in reply to bmruso]

How old is he is he just having problems focusing or did he have behavioral issues too

[bmruso in reply to Jamie82]

He is 10. And he has behavioral issues too

[Jamie82 in reply to bmruso]

What state are you in

[bmruso in reply to Jamie82]

Ny. You?

[Jamie82 in reply to bmruso]

Iowa

[Jamie82]

I have been thouh hell and back with my little boy i actually just got done with a lawsuit from the last school he went to with a big Discrimination Act against them Elementary School is very hard he is now in a different school district and doing fabulous I believe it's all on the teachers and their attitude towards your son and the school district

[bmruso in reply to Jamie82]

I agree to that as well! So sorry you had to go through all of that!

[Tifftuck84 in reply to Jamie82]

Hey everyone! I have a wonderful little boy (who is growing up too quickly) who was diagnosed with ADHD. He has a hard time focusing, very energetic, a great helper with me, enjoys cleaning, and also making a mess. I keep getting calls from school that he has either stuffed so many paper towels in the toilet it clogged or squirted soap all over the sink, or some kid told him to spit down the stairs. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing and what did you do about it. I’ve recently read about the positive reenforcement instead of always punishment. So we are just starting that. And doing chores to earn tv time. Thanks in advance. We really do not want to How did you start the process of suing? I feel my son is being discriminated against. He will get expelled for reacting from a teacher's actions (ex: teacher will grab him or pull his shirt for trying to go to the time out space because she wasn't finished talking to him.) My son has been at this school since pre k hes now almost 10 and they are well aware of his disabilities and also his trigger point ( touching him is one of them). So they will suspend him for 2 days and after he returns after about 2 or 3 days they will suspend him again and the cycle continues. And while hes out they provides no school work so when he returns he's behind and gets frustrated. Not to mention they never offered the 504 plan to him until i brought it to their attention.

My son is diagnosed with ADHD bipolar and suffers from aggression.The medication he currently is taking is Strattera and Risperidone but will soon be taking off of the Risperidone because its decreasing his white blood cells. I've been going through this trail and error with him since he was diagnosed at 5.

[Jamie82 in reply to Tifftuck84]

It was a very long process I contacted the civil right from my state. I wish they had a school for children with ADHD it so stressful as a parent where are u located ?

[SheenaL]

I will say this: Don't knock it until you try it when it comes to meds. I was against them and still hate that my daughter (10) has to take them, but she has improved so much that I feel like I was cheating her by NOT putting her on them. She makes straight A's now and doesn't get bad reports from school. She is more friendly, helpful and sweet on her meds than without. She takes Concerta. I was told it was the safest med to take. She has been on it for about 2 years now. The doctors put her on Aderall when she was 4 (and was kicked out of her daycare) but it made her crazy hyper so I didn't agree to medication again until years later.

There are a few different doses for Concerta so I will keep my daughter on that for however long her body reacts well with it. I don't believe in all that trial and error, treating my daughter like a guinea pig. Either it helps, or I quit after this. I don't expect any medication to help her to its fullest. The rest is parenting correctly for her personality type.

I know what you go through because my daughter has a tendency being a hell cat, but she is so much more tame on her meds. The choice, of course, is totally up to you, but like in my experience, after I accepted the fact that she had issues and learning disabilities, and cried about her having to take meds, I put my pride aside and took care of my baby girl so she could have a better life.

The only issue I have is her appetite loss, but being that I take her to the doctor every 3 months for a check up and her doctor monitors her weight and any new or existing issues, things are perfectly fine. I don't have her take her meds on the weekends so she can eat as much as she wants and to be free to be crazy. If we are going somewhere important, however, I give her her dose that day on the weekend. Good luck to you and your family. God bless

[annett26]

Hello,

Reading your post I felt like reading about my son that’s 10.

Exactly the same situations.

My son knows all the rules and understands the consequences but he is so impulsive and curious so he makes bad choices often. He just have that urge to touch things , see how it works , what is inside of them. I get phone calls from school all the time. He gets write ups , think sheets and warnings at school. I don’t punish him at home for school behavior. I let the school deal with that. I know it’s very frustrating. We set small goals and he gets end of the week rewards and also gave your son plenty opportunities to show he can control himself and make better choices. I just had to accept the fact some things are beyond his control and sometimes he feels bad about himself. We decided to try medication because things started getting worse. We tried individual therapy, group therapy and structure at home .

He has 504 at school and I keep talking to teachers all the time.

I wish you all the best

[bmruso in reply to annett26]

I agree. It is very frustrating. Hyper, emotional, impulsive, and other days he will be a perfect little angel. I hate punishing him because I feel like every other week he’s grounded (either from me or his dad, we have joint custody). So it’s tough.

[ExplosivesMom]

I have a 9 year old who does the same kind of things. Recently he "flicked" food in the cafeteria and did it again after being told to stop. I find also that if something happens in class or when they are in lines, he is blamed for it even if he didn't start it. He often lies about such incidents, so we try to reinforce truth telling and to let things go that are minor. We repeatedly ask the school to reinforce him positively as any child needs encouragement. We send candy for rewards. It's a constant struggle. I'd love to hear more about other ideas for making school more positive.