ADHD over the years

[kondasa]

I am curious to hear the stories of those who have had children with ADHD and how it developed over the years. It is scary to think about the future, but I am interested to know how ADHD displayed itself throughout the years.

Right now I am looking at a six year old girl who has trouble looking people in the eye when she talks, who has impassivity issues around chewing or touching for comfort, and is an extremely creative mind...but to the "cooler kids" might seems like a bit of a space cadet. Not sure how that will manifest itself at age 10, so I am curious to hear your experiences.

[WendyKirkpatrick]

Hi. It's for this reason, I wrote, illustrated and self-published a book called "I have ADD and I'm Proud to Be Me." It's told from the child's perspective. He discovers there is something wrong with him and details his feelings every step of the way, at home, school, with friends, doctors, teachers, and so on, from HIS point of view. Parents and children need to talk to EACH OTHER about this BEFORE consulting experts so there is a level of trust in the family so all developmental, social, educational and health issues can be dealt with honestly as a family. The child will not be made to feel like an outsider, even in his or her own home this way. It's on Amazon.com and Createspace.com. I hope it helps. Wendy P.S. My ADHD son is going on 31 and he is not a Teaching Assistant, a Black Belt in TAI Kwon Do and has a nice girlfriend. There is always hope.

[Hidden]

As a single parent, my son age 12 now, had some of the same issues, it has deescalate and every now and then he will have meltdowns at school. My son ordeal started at age 4, he was diagnose with pervasive development disorder better known now as Autism. In per-school, he would crawl on other kids' lap and sit, he would cry, throw temper tantrums, difficulties transitioning, speech delay, flap his arms, bit on his hand whereby you see his teeth mark, kicked at adults, spit, never looked anybody in the eyes, prefer playing by himself , OCD behaviors and did not know any of his classmate names. ( he still has a little problem with that). At the same time, he had high intelligence, (still do). Each and everyday it was an ordeal sending him to school. Now eight years later, there are improvements, he will look you in the eyes, sometimes on his own, or with prompting by me , no more biting, spitting , kicking, every now and then he will have meltdowns at school, (bouts of crying). He has improved significantly with his speech and is much more sociable.

How, we started off with counseling, medications, then accountability, reassurance, limitations, and consequences.

[Momof4blessings in reply to Hidden]

Wow.... it's good for me to hear your story. 😊 Sounds so much like my daughter. At 6 years we got the autism diagnosis. It has been such a hard journey. She's 8 now and doing better, talking more. Still, there's issues.

[EJsMom]

My son will be in high school this fall. All of the elementary years were extremely difficult. A lot of angry outbursts. Constant talking. Unable to stay in his seat at school. Arguing with everyone about everything. He was aggressive and rude.

He could also be loving and kind as well. But if something set him off it was very hard to talk him down.

Over the middle school years my son’s behavior has improved. He still gets in trouble regularly at school, mostly for arguing with the staff. But he’s much more manageable now. He’s very smart but he failed all his classes in 8th grade. That’s something we have to focus on changing for high school.

Each age seems to come with its own challenges!

I echo Wendy’s comment that there is hope! I was exactly like my son when I was young. We didn’t call it adhd but I definitely fit the description. I also had ODD. I was extremely oppositional.

Fast forward a bunch of years. I did make it to college. I am a registered nurse now and doing very well.

I posted awhile ago a little bit about growing up with adhd. Search for ‘adhd as a child, now and adult’.

Or go to my profile if you’re interested.

[Nla1]

I only have a 6yr old but i CAN SAY that every year he gets better and better at simply understanding how to recognize when he is getting upset, excited etc. we have our work cut out for us but our little geniuses are worth the 1million conversations, arguments, nurturing and having their needs met so that they can Learn to manage their little neurological impulses and deficiencies. I am well aware that he is very intelligent and exceptional, but if I just mask it with medication without Constantly giving him the tools he needs to develop a better understanding of how he can control himself – he will not do as well in his life. We have a huge responsibility to give them everything we have in terms of patients and to believe in them. They are so smart our children but they just cannot self regulate. I have full faith that it will be OK. Too many success stories!!

Xo

[Pennywink]

Well, my son is only 6 & diagnosed early this year. But Inhave two adult cousins with ADHD/Tourette/OCD. Both are happily married. One has 3 kids and a successful career in finance. The other works for Apple (a company he is almost religiously devoted to.) Neither are on regular medication, but do feel the need from time to time.

I have two other adult friends also with ADHD (one of whom I was completely shocked to learn - she does not present at ALL.) Both are also happily married with kids, and also only take medication on occasion as needed.

So - of the few adults I know with an ADHD diagnosis, all are doing really well. Which definitely helps my fears for my boy’s future.

[5Flyingeagle]

I have a almost 8 year old daughter going to start 2nd grade in a couple of weeks. I am worried for her. She usually does pretty good in school. She did 3 years of preschool then on to elementary school. Kindergarten wasn't so good she got a lot of ear infections and a rash on her whole body still don't know what from. she missed almost half the school year. She doesn't want to ever go to school, but once she is there she seems to enjoy herself. She was mostly potty trained in Kindergarten so she wore a pull up until the second semester the school said she has to wear "big girl panties". At that time and still doesn't (but she is getting used to the fact) she doesn't like to be a big girl or be called a big girl. Luckily no accidents. 1st grade was a little better the teacher saw her issues and worked with me not like the Kindergarten teacher (I think she thought I was crazy and making it all up). Kianna (my daughter) started to take forever to do her work or not even do some of it. She never wants to to her homework at all. It seems like she starts different things but never finishes them. She started a mother's day project at school was given plenty of time but didn't finish it at school. She brought it home and worked on it a couple of times but still has not finished it. She is smart as a whip. I finally got her diagnosed just after 1st grade started she has ADHD both kinds, OCD, ODD, Anxiety-NOS and Sensory issues. She is a totally different child at school than she is at home. It usually starts the minute she gets in the car, sometimes it will wait till we get home the she just lets go of all the stress from keeping everything together all day. She is not on medication tho the doctors want to and the Psychologist fill in at school last year said she should be on medication for Anxiety and it might help. My husband doesn't want to put her on medication at all. I am torn. I believe she needs it for Anxiety and OCD but the drugs for them clash and the doctor said we would have to choose one. When she was younger she used to run away from me always, no matter where we go store, church, friends or just to check the mail. If we did a play date at someone else's house or birthday party she never wants to leave even now. The running away thing has gotten better I think she is more worried now that she will lose me. If she had it her way she would have me carry her most of the time and she would still be wearing diapers all day long. (still wears diapers at night and to poo) She has on occasion went to her potty to poo as well as pee. Something she will get through. She lets me have most of the tantrums and abusiveness because I am with her always. (except when she is in school though she wants me there every day for lunch but the school last year said I could only be there 3 days a week) Sorry for the long windedness I feel your pain. Good Luck.