I have a 13 year old with ADHD and he has been on medication for a couple years now. We have had trials of a couple of different medications before settling on vyvanse which is helping to manage his symptoms a little. However , he still struggles with organizational skills at school and home, remembering to do and turn in homework and staying on task . He has major challenges with socialization and is being tagged in school and nobody wanting to be his friend no matter how hard he tried. We have changed him to different schools and that didn’t help and it’s beginning to cause him some anxiety. Our mornings are the most challenging, waking up and working with time to get ready for school. This is also causing a lot of pressure in the mornings and making us not having a good start of the day.
I am skeptical to keep trying different medications because of side effects and I believe starting therapy sessions will be helpful. We have tried a few therapy sessions with two different therapists but I honestly did not see any help from them. I would really appreciate any insight on what therapy sessions entails as there are different types. Also any experiences with therapy sessions. This will also help me to know what to look out for while searching for a good therapist.
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Ivory3
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The medication should be helping with all of those things....Cognitive Behavioral Therapy can help with self awareness and give him the skills to handle everything you mentioned above. It works wonders.
ABA therapy really help my 13 year old with slowing down, following a mental checklist for checking schoolwork, coping with emotions schoolwork brings up, etc. She also has Autism though and so ABA is covered by our insurance. Her ABA therapist literally sits by her on her remote day while she does schoolwork and prompts her accordingly. Besides that, the PEERS program had therapists all over the country trained in an excellent evidenced-based social skills group. My daughter did that over a year ago and it helped her socialization. I highly recommend it.
ABA is behavioral therapy based on the idea of you adjust the antecedent or consequence of a behavior you can increase wanted behaviors and decrease unwanted behaviors.
Hi Ivory. A few ideas for you. For the social challenges, does your child struggle with social skills? If so, perhaps try a social skills group in your area? Or if your child has good social skills but is struggling with social anxiety, then a CBT therapist might be a good choice. Group therapy is often a good option for social challenges. Also, you could contact the school and see what types of supports they may have in helping him feel more comfortable and connected at school.
For the organization piece, you may look into an educational therapist or ADHD coach who works with adolescents.
Thank you. As far as social skills, I think the problem is more of people being put off by his impulsivity and some socially unacceptable / not age appropriate behaviors ( which he obviously doesn’t see) . This makes him feel “ people don’t like him and don’t want him around them or be his friends “
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