ADD/ADHD Process

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I went to the gp today and have a referral to a paed, plus a mental health plan so I can get 6 subsidised visits to a child psychologist. What can I expect and should I tell the school now or wait until we have a diagnosis or not?

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You will probably have to get information from the teacher for the assessment, either a questionnaire or referral form or something for the psychologist anyway... But if you are not sure whether the teacher is helping, might be best to wait until you've spoken with the psych /paed and see what they want from the school - if anything. That way, if the teacher does give information, it unbiased by your opinion or concerns, and the teacher is just responding to their own thoughts on the issue. If you had more confidence in the teacher that would be a different matter and you might like to discuss it first.

Quick update. I spoke to the psychologist today and she will meet with us next month. Following that myself and DS2's teacher will have a questionnaire to complete and she will also do he WISC-IV test and the WYATT test before considering a diagnosis. Can anyone tell me what to expect for those tests?

Hugs H must have come as a bit of a shock. The choice to use Ritalin or not is a huge decision, I hope you find something else that works first for you all.

I have a feeling we will have similar discussions with DS1 teacher once he starts school. He has attention issues and always has, we have been working with Speech Path and OT for 3 years on the attention to detail and lack of listening etc.

Traveller - the WISC (wechsler intelligence scale for children) is a cognitive assessment, so will assess his underlying intellectual abilities, across verbal, nonverbal, working memory and visual processing areas. It's an IQ test. But it's more complicated than just getting a single IQ score like you see on TV.

The WIAT (wechsler individual achievement test) is an assessment of academic skills. Reading, maths, written language and oral language. As they have been developed by the same people they can be compared to each other and used to assess whether the are learning difficulties as well as cognitive difficulties contributing to his difficulties at school.

It's good to get a battery of assessments like this. The psychologist will do it individually with him and separate from the classroom, so it is 1:1 and that can change behaviour etc, but does mean its the best conditions to get the best scores possible.

Then they will write a report combining all the information and make a call on what they think is happening, as well as provide recommendations. Every psych does thus differently though, so it depends on who you have as to what that will look like.

Happy to chat and advise more if you want to PM me.

Thanks myturn, I may pm you tonight c

A question for those of you who have your child on Ritalin.

How long did you hold onto the prescription before filling it? Did you start and stop and if you started and continue, what difference's has it made for your child..positive and negative.

myturn, what has been your experience with kids who take Ritalin?

My dd2 is on ritalin.

I had the script in my bag for a few months. Only filled it because it was getting trashed in there.
I then had the meds in the top of my pantry for 10-12 months before she started them. When she started I had her on 1/4 of the prescribed dose. Rather than a full one twice a day we started on a half one in the mornings. Then a full one. It was when her teacher asked that I think about the arvo one we started it. She could see the decline in the afternoons. She's now on long acting & we haven't looked back.

Dd doesn't take them on weekends or through holidays, but I'm wondering if she should start. She does come down from them & then needs to get used to them back in her system.
While she's adjusting she is quite irritable, picks skin around her fingers & toes & is overly emotional, but once she adjusts again, she's fine.

We won't be stopping them any time soon.

The kids I have seen... To be truely honest... Some have done really well on it, and some it's made little difference, and some it has made them really really lethargic and almost doped up.... But that's usually the ones whose parents muck around with the medication to suit themselves!

The kids who seem to benefit are the ones who really just cannot control their impulses and are constantly on the move.

Remember that just because you give it a try doesn't meant you have to stay on it forever... It needs a few weeks to really see if it is making a difference... And in my ideal world I'd prefer that doctors actually asked for some baseline data before the child starts on it, and then collect more data a few weeks down the track.

Like... Hoe many times the teacher has to redirect the child or something like that... But it's really hard to collect that data, so sometimes it just needs to be a more subjective impression. I probably wouldn't tell the teacher when the meds have started either... So they don't know what's happening and can give an independent review after a few weeks.

My DD has done really well on Ritalin. It has made a huge difference, and I have not noticed any negative effects to date. She is on 10mg a day. I believe this is a low dose.

When I started dd I did let her teacher know. But her teacher chose not to let her assistant know. That way she also had a completely unbiased oppinion.

It took 3 days on the half dose in the morning for the assistant to say something to the teacher. That's how fast they noticed a difference.

Hi all, I have been following this thread with interest. I suspect we have an undiagnosed family member with ADHD - female so it has not been picked up with the "typical" hyperactive pattern that is more commonly recognized in boys. She is that bit older, so harder to plug into free/funded services so we're trying to scrape some savings together to get some assessments done, more with a view of getting OT for self-organisation, etc. (Actually am also wondering if she has a touch of aspergers in the mix as well as there have been social difficulties all the way through, but that's a whole other thread).

DH most definitely has the ADHD thing going on, and (finally) is developing some self-awareness around it. One thing that we found helped enormously with him was a fatty acid supplement called Efalex. There was a period when he had to do intensive classroom-style learning for 9 months including some pretty intensive maths/physics/chemistry stuff, and he credits his success entirely to the Efalex. It took a few weeks for the effects to kick in, and it costs a bomb to take the adult dose, but in his case it was very effective.

I just thought I would mention this for the benefit of the mummas who are undecided about stimulant therapy. It's not an all or nothing proposition. You may feel more comfortable trialling some nutritional supports before committing to something like Ritalin. The effects may not be obvious over a couple of days, but over weeks or months become quite noticeable. There are also some interesting neuro-feedback treatments that have been used for 15 or 20 years that are not widely known about, but some people have found very effective as well. If you try something you can give yourself a timeframe to review the results & then either continue or move onto another therapy. :)

Thanks everyone, this is all very sound and helpful advice.
I really appreciate how upfront you all are.

DS1 is currently on slow release ritalin.
We tried fish oil, a naturopath who put him on a special diet with others sups ect. We tried that for 6months before we tried ritalin. He started on 1/ 2 a pill a day and slowly increased.

Like others you could def tell when it had worn off. We ended up changing to slow release as we like its the one dose and this way he doesnt have to have any at school. Other kids caught on he was having meds and would tease him.

We havent increased his meds in a long time,we had teachers who wanted it uped. But as his parents and his paed agreed we were right, but given his age he is going through hormonal changes and teens will be teens. He is bound to get tired and snappy,just like us.
I think a big part is people need to remember that meds or no meds kids are still going to be kids to a point. Dont expect them to be perfect,I say this as we have had teachers demand we up his meds as he wasnt just doing what he was told like a robot he wasnt being what they thought a child on meds should be....she wanted perfect behavior all the time.

Familyof3 - thats why I'm happy with the ritalin. Dd is still dd. She is still anxious, she still looses her cool & goes over the top when she does. She's just more focused & is learning at school.
Her self control has improved, but my only worry was her learning. She's learning. That's all that matters to me. And when people give their unwanted oppinions (as they do!), that's all I say.

Totally understand clover. Thats what we feel, he is able to calm enough to learn while still keeping who he is.

We are going down the nutritional nutrients path at the moment. We have seen a Naturopath, she did kinesiology on DS2. Her findings were very interesting. It showed he had a leaky gut, so food particles leak into his blood stream causing him to be fidgety. A few other things she mentioned as well, I was with her for 2hrs so we had a very long chat and discussion about a plan.

We currently have him on Probiotic, Blackmores P.P.M.P and also apple cider vinegar. We are only a week into taking these supplements.

I purchased him a marble maze that keeps his hands busy during 'sit down time' and help him focus on the teacher.

He is also booked in to see and OT in a couple of weeks. We have him on a Care Plan so he gets 6 consults rebateable from Medicare. When I talked to the OT on the phone, I got a great feeling about her and approach.

See how we go.

I highly recommend reading "Gut and Psychology Syndrome". It will help explain the leaky gut for you and how to fix it :D

We have been seeing an OT who has been great with tips. She has tested him also and does not believe he is ADHD and a little on the Auditory spectrum, so I am relieved we didn't go down the Ritalin path for our DS2 and investigated further.

He is a fidgeter and the Naturopathy has been helping immensely.

I have come back here specifically to tell you about a product the OT suggested. She sees kids with ADHD with parents that will not medicate. The product is calming clothing for kids. A range of Tshirst and singlets and tops. She had one child in particular who she said is clearly ADHD, the parents bought the clothing and are amazed at the change. The words from the Mum was that the Teachers are now actually smiling at her at school pick and asked her if she had started Ritalin.

It may compliment the Ritalin if you have your DS's or DD's on the medication.