ADHD and medication

[SportsMama]

Hello, I have a 7 y.o. son with ADHD. He also has a genetic condition called Cri Du Chat. He wears bilateral hearing aids, he uses ASL but tries to be verbal as well. He has aggressive behaviors that are causing many problems in school, at parks, and on his sport teams/activities. We have been doing ABA therapy (non-Autistic diagnosis) for 16 months and it is not working. It is better now that it is finally in person. What are treatment options? What are the pros and cons of meds? Thank you.

[Onthemove1971]

Thanks for reaching out. Some tools that can help children with ADHD are: educational plan, therapy and medication. There are many.. many posts from previous discussions about all of these topics. As far as medication, they have been studied for many years and as long as you don't see harmful side effects they can be really life changing when they work. We were told medication should help with 60% of the unwanted behaviors related to ADHD. The other behaviors are helped with therapy and adjusted parenting.

The great thing about trying medication is depending on the type of medication, if you find it is not helping you just stop the medication.

There are stimulant medication you will know within about 1 hour if it is the right type, dose and timing. This type of medicine helps stops impulsive behavior (excessive talking, decreased the need to move around).

There are also non-stimulant medications that are also very helpful. They help with anger issues, focus and mood.

For us we could not function in the house or at school without medication and it has been very.. very helpful for our son.

I strongly encourage seeking help from a child psychiatrist, they specialize in medication.. it is required that this specialist discuss medications and helps manage medications.

Know that we are here for you any time. Many of us have been through this already.