My child was diagnosed at 3 years old with adhd by a pediatrician and sensory processing disorder by an occupational therapist. At the time we were seeing sensory meltdowns that made us question if our child had Autism.
Now my child is in elementary school, and struggling with a 504 plan in place. Due to Covid we have seen a major uptick in sensory seeking behaviors, and some other new things that are concerning. We are participating in distance learning and now we can see first hand that our child really has a bigger problem than we realized when it comes to school work. Everything is a major battle, lying, meltdowns, mood swings, and more. Our child is unable to complete any tasks independently. A simple math problem is a thirty minute ordeal.
Should we go back to the pediatrician or go straight to a child psychologist (or psychiatrist) to have an in depth evaluation? (I guess what I am trying to get at ...is a pediatrician going to be able to effectively help us?)
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chasingfireflies
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My recommendation get to a psychiatrist asap.. they will change your life.
Can you tell.us your opinion about medication and thearpy?
There 2 tool had a huge difference for us.
Our son taking the correct type of medication, having the correct dose and making sure he takes it at the right time made is so he does not act impulsive and is able to sit and concentrate on school work.
Unfortunately school only gets harder and more demanding.
I hope you can find the right answers then get the best tools to help you.
You might want to to to a Neuro- Psychologist. They will spend the time and do many tests. They look at strenghts ans well as weakness. You need to know where your son is and what is getting in his way.
Hi. Psychiatrist rather than psychologist. As you know, Psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can prescribe and manage meds amd psychologist is not. For us, pediatric neurology has been extremely helpful, in large part it's because I (as a father) am able to easily get me head around the medicine and cause and effect with neurology as well as the "uniformity " of it. Psychiatry (and psychology) is so subjective that it's hard for me to connect the dots (like my wife has been known to say, "it's like trying to nail jello to the wall"). So there's my bias and the reason for it. Either way, specialists (psychiatrist or pediatric neurologist) are better equipped than a generalist (pediatrician). Good luck to you. Math is particularly hard for ADHD children. An adult friend who now knows he had undiagnosed ADHD as a child told me he saw math as colors. Hard for me to understand, but just him saying that made me seek help from a math tutor experienced with children with ADHD which was really helpful to my son. Be well.
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