Conners form and differences regarding medicine

[mydogsamuel05]

My 8 year old son was diagnosed with AD/HD and also ODD. He was also borderline for a learning disability and showed characteristics of dyslexia. He has been evaluated at school and we have an IEP and plan of action in place. He was retained last year and is receiving special services for reading (he is in first grade and they pull him to read with third graders who read on a second grade level because he is above the students in the class at the present time due to retention). He is at the top of class and doing great. He is receiving behavior therapy for ODD. The teachers see no sign of the ADD at school therefore I want to hold off on medicine, the problem is his dad disagrees. I don't know what to do also does anyone understand the way the Conners 3 forms are scored?

[Onthemove1971]

Mydogsamuel05- welcome to the group, it sounds like you guys are off to a great start. Most children with ADHD need a supportive school environment, thearpy, and supportive parents that understand how to use structured punishment plan ( different than Neuro-typical kids. The other much needed tool.is medication. Most often it takes a trail of different medications to find what works best and many times parents wait ( because they think the child is just misbehaving or having a bad day) until things get really bad.

For us we knew our son was trying and trying and he was tired of always be in trouble or not liked by his peers. So we started young and have never looked back. Most parents who wait say the regret waiting.

Hope this helps..

I will look into the Conners scoring, what did you want to know?

Take care,

[Cjkchamp]

Since he wants meds and you want to wait I would like to recommend you guys consider broad spectrum micronutrients as an option. They were recommended by my son’s psychiatrist. There are two companies, Hardy Nutritionals and True Hope.

[Elijah1]

He may be clinically 'symptomatic' with ADHD features but the key question is whether the symptoms are causing a functional impairment (negative effect on daily functioning). If the latter is not present with the present intervention and his performance is reasonably efficient, then ask whether medication is needed.

[Pennywink]

It's pretty common for parents to initially disagree on medication, so you may need to work to find some middle ground.

I would first look if the behavior therapy is helping with the ODD on it's own. It's not uncommon for kids with ADHD to not get much out of therapy if they aren't also on medication. The problem isn't necessarily not knowing what to do or what they learned at therapy, but not being able to remember or apply that knowledge when needed. Medication helps with this. So if the therapy is helping a lot, you may not need medication at this time. But if it isn't really helping outside of the therapists office, I would consider a medication trial.

When I wanted to try medication but my husband did not, we agreed to a short medication trial. We'd give it 30 days, and if it didn't help our child (ie not just make things easier for us), we let it go.

[Beainthenow11]

Therapy for children this young, in my experience, is centered on and around Parents, their behavior and their handling of the situations so as to reinforce positive behaviors and ignore negative behaviors, enforce “consequences” as natural as can be found for negative behaviors. I would love to do micro nutrients but have done enough research to understand my son will not benefit bc he is sensory food avoidant, causing him to not consume the proper calories and macro nutrients to absorb and benefit from micros.

(Just something to consider bc Micro’s are expensive. ) I think other nutritional changes may be beneficial for you if you’re in the same boat as my family but I have heard good things about Micro’s. Stimulate Meds can be great, when/ if they work, when/ if you find the right one and combo but depending on the child, those can be big IF’s. My son has been diagnosed since six and we’ve gone through a ton of different meds and their efficacy is evident but regardless of long/ short acting, his system runs through them quickly. There can be rebounding effects that make behaviors worse too. They’re are so many studies about them and no long term damage is done other than stunted growth in rare cases and doctors monitor them. They’re not a cure all and can take a really long time to find the best suitable dosage. There are other meds you may want to look into, another classification, Intuiv aka Guanficine, has shown a lot of promise in my son’s regime and it’s not a stimulant but is used to calm the children’s nervous system (with ADHD their little nervous system is in overdrive) but these are all questions better handled by Pediatric Psychiatrists. Pediatrician’s just don’t have the Pharmacological or Neurological background for these complex kids.

All I can say is submerse yourself in research, get professional opinions and work together.

My husband, when we were married, didn’t understand the A typical aspect, didn’t want to believe it. I convinced him to take a class for parents with other parents who have A typical children at a Non profit here, Easter Seals, it was a huge turning point for him, our family and his relationship with our son. I’m so grateful to him for trying and putting himself out there bc it changed his perspective completely, and gave me the partner I longed to have, not overnight but it was pivotal. We have decided not to stay married but we are still a family in every sense of the word. We work together and put all our energy into the kids and I am able to finally practice self care as the chronic stresses we faced wore on our health.

You won’t always agree but keep studying bc you will end up knowing more than many doctors bc you HAVE to as the doctors don’t know everything. If you find one that says they do, run the other direction.

It’s a long road, take it a step at a time. This is a chronic dynamic neurological issue that has no easy answers. GOOD LUCK. I am always her as are the rest of us on this journey. Remember, you’re the parents and you know you children better than anyone.

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Beainthenow11]

I love your message, I just wanted to add that the Podcast "Parenting ADHD" by Carol Williams has really been amazing and it has so many back episodes that have really changed how I see ADHD, I wish I could of had these Podcast and this blog when our son was first diagnosed to help us survive.

Big hugs to you both!

[Beainthenow11 in reply to Onthemove1971]

I love that Podcast!