I am glad to find this group. My son was diagnosed with ASD in 2013 and with ADHD in January 2020 through a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and a plethora of visual processing deficits. He was prescribed GuanFacine 1mg and had no significant difference in his ability to execute the school work, after feeling exhausted from the virtual classroom. He was not decreasing his skin picking and other stimming behavior on the medication, so I informed the MD that I am discontinuing it.
Vision therapy has helped his physical coordination significantly and also his eye tracking for reading text on paper. He is able to enjoy physical activity with a lot more confidence. I highly recommend vision therapy for those who find traditional prescription glasses not helping.
Recently with staying home more with him and trying to work on a compensation plan, I notice more of his ADHD symptoms, including easily distracted, being oppositional to revision and lying about doing work that he did not complete. We instill time-in, deep breathing and stepping away to calm down, but I see this as just a band-aid method.
Are there families here whose child has both conditions, ASD and combined ADHD, who have seen improved social skills and executive function skills with having their child on medication? Much appreciated.
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If you do not mind, rather than answering your question (since I cannot), I'd like to ask you some. Can you say more about how the visual processing deficits present and what visual therapy "looks" like? My wife has recently been concerned with something similar since my son has never "grown out of" his lack of coordination. Which specialist pinpointed that diagnosis and which specialists monitor or provide the therapy? Thank you much. I wish you and your son well.
My son has ongoing coordination issues and defers to sitting crooked in his chair. He was also delayed in riding a two wheeler. When his glasses prescription jumped from +1.25 to +3.25 in one year, I searched for intervention. His initial evaluation was 6 pages worth of visual deficits including frequent skipping letters, binoculars in coordination, impaired depth perception etcThe exercises are customized. My son started with needing a patch to block one eye at a time as he started the training so the weaker eye needed to step up. Gradually the exercises increased to have different tools to encourage both eyes to work simultaneously and VR video games were added. Daily exercises are required for at least 15 minutes. Insurance does not cover this service. It was out of pocket
Thank you for the information. We are in the process of setting up an evaluation. Definite coordination issues but excellent reader, etc. As with most things with ADHD, no two kids are the same. Really appreciate your input. I will share it with my wife.
My daughter has both and after seeking the care of a pediatric psychiatrist, she was prescribed Focalin - Game. Changer.
She is a so confident and attentive on the medicine and it’s very noticeable when it wears off. So we do a “booster” after lunch and she lasts until dinner time.
She’s always been skinny so the loss of appetite was a concern. She is also on resperidone which increases her appetite considerably while inhibiting impulsive outbursts…it’s a great balance of the two meds -they work great together.
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