Adhd - Springfield, OR

We were having my son tested for Autism and discovered he had something like, Sensory overload. It cause him to slouch constantly, hold his head, he prefers to be upside down, sits on his feet, etc. The teacher suggested we buy an inflatable cushion for him to sit on when he is doing homework or needs to concentrate. I've noticed that this allows him to constantly move like he prefers but keeps him seated and he focuses longer.

I am very that my 7 year old had a wonderful 1st grade teacher that gave him great one on one attention!
Children with ADHD seem to get bored really easy with homework and schoolwork, so the only thing we did it switch between different subject when he got bored, and it works for him.
Also he has never been on any medication, so it's wonderful for him!
Good luck

Have you considered that maybe your boys don't really have ADHD? I know that the things that we eat completely inbalance us. Regular foods in the stores are full of toxins, poisions, and mind-altering/mood-altering additives. A good majority of the food additives cause cancer, heart-diesease, high blood pressure, ADHD, a tons of other problems. The more they make quicker and easier foods for us to prepare, the more harmful substances they have to add to preserve them. It isn't a concidence that more people are sick now than ever before. If you don't believe me, try doing some research. Kevin Trudeau has a book called "Natural Cures "they" Don't want you to know about." I have personally dealt with doctors that base their findings on what the mothers say (my example was a I thought my daughter had a continually ear infection and after several doses of antibiotics, she was sent to a ear specialist who said her ears looked clear and perfect). If you go the doctor and say I think my son has ADHD, what kind of tests do they perform? Its not like cancer where they can actually test and prove it. Doctors get incentives for handing out perscriptions. ADHD was not a real thing until very recently. We can argue and say that kids back then are not as educated and half of them can't spell basic words (like my mom and mother-in-law) but in all fairness schools let the kids float by. We live in a city and day-in-age where the district is strict and really cracking down on kids, and for good reason. Compare what you had to know in kindergarden to what your sons had to know.Did you think laying off sugars and sweets and juices would help? If you read the labels of sugar-free products there is a "drug" in substitute called aspartamine. It is an artifical sweetener that anti-ADHD experts believe is the root cause. Look it up! Have you also seen little boys in a classroom compared to little girls? They can't sit still, they can't pay attention, and they are everywhere. I think it's normal. If you have a son who is say a Gemini or Aries especially, they are naturally WAY more energetic and full of spunk compared to a Taurus child. I DON'T mean to offend you in any way, I just want you to see the other side of the coin. Let me know what you think! I also want to add that my oldest daughter is a capicorn and they are very intelligent creatures. She will literally go nuts bugging her little sister, jumping around the house, following me, getting in my face until I give her something to do on paper. She is a kindergardener so she will practice letters, make cards for b-days and holidays, craft projects, whatever I can to keep her mind stimulated. Its almost like reverse ADHD. My suggestion would be to try organic foods, try a tofu cookbook (I make mean dishes and trick my neighbors who are closed-minded but LOVE my meals and desserts) get your sons off meds if they are on any, pay attention to the ingredients of what you by, and do a ton of research! Its not gonna hurt anything. And to the mom that thinks she has ADHD, my mind constantly races about everything as well. I have three kids and am always on the go-go. I also run my husbands business and have my business also. I get so uptight and stressed out at times, and I am always late for everything! But I also have to de-stress, work-out, meditate, go out with my husband alone, cook healthy foods, and remember that we are moms who take on entirely too much! But our families are happy and they are our reason for doing what we do, and we do the best we can. And we don't need to keep up with the Jonses cause the Jonsses have a host of secret problems there selfs.

Patience. I have a 14 year old who was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 5. It has been a long battle and it is still going on. Make sure their teachers know so they can give them the attention they need. I just found out this year that I have adult ADD and it made it easier for me to relate to what he is going through. My mind races constantly with a million things at once. That makes it hard to concentrate on something as an adult, so imagine what it is like for a child. So like I said at first, Patience. Email me if you would like to talk about it more.
KarenP

I would like to respond to the other moms who object to medication. I have a 7-year-old son with ADHD, and I have a mental illness as well. We each take daily medication.

ADHD is an illness, not just a label. When properly diagnosed, it can be treated with behavioral therapy and often with medication. Now, if my son had a different illness, asthma for example, it would be unethical for me to withhold necessary medication, but I am encouraged every day to "get my kid off the drugs" because he has a mental disorder and not a physical one. Once you have a diagnosis of ADHD and have ruled out things like food allergies, thyroid problems and other mental disorders, then YOU, YOUR BOYS' FATHER, YOUR PEDIATRICIAN and YOUR SONS' MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL (not their teachers and not other moms) can decide the best course of treatment, which may or may not include medication.

Now then, that having been said, I have some tips on studying with a boy with ADHD. Routine is very important to my son. He knows that he has a break when he comes home from school, then he starts on his homework. He prefers to stand and move around when he studies, so we accomodate that (I'm looking for a drawing table that I can make into a standing workstation for him). If he gets frustrated, we take a break or switch to another subject for a while, then come back to it when he feels better.

I can't help you with school age ADHD my son is only 4 1/2 so I was hopeing that you might be able to help me now since your boys have already passed this stage..

A.

Structure is very important. Homework done in the same place every night at the same time. Pencils in the same place. events (bedtime, bath time) at the same time. Seems like it is not that big of a deal but it is. Food and liquid intake could also help believe or not. some of us are effected by too much cheese or bread. you just have to find what that thing is (if any). Don' forget lots of love and kisses and you have to be there every moment making sure they are on their schedule until they are on their schedule. My oldest caught on my middle child has not.
Good luck
M.

hi adelle,

i'm married to a man who has ADD. his family didn't think he'd go far, but he has graduated with honors from a master's program and counsels children.

he has been taking various medications to help control the depression and lack of motivation (he has Eeyore style ADD). recently he wanted to stop taking the stimulant part and we discovered ATTEND (http://www.vaxa.com/636.cfm). i have been amazed at the difference in him.

he no longer needs Concerta and is able to concentrate more than ever. plus, he is more 'up'. if you're struggling with the medicine issue, there are other options that include diet changes and things like ATTEND. i liked ATTEND best because it has a 1yr guarantee. so we can try it for 12m and decide if it works, or get our money back.

other things that help my husband's wheels not 'spin' are: structure, structure, structure!

hope this helps

R.

A. HELLO
I AM AN ADULT WITH ADHD. SCHOOL WAS HARD FOR ME STUDYING WAS HARD. MATH WAS MY HARDEST SUBJECT. I WAS DIAGNOSED WHEN I WAS SIX AS JUST HYPERACTIVE. BUT IT WASNT UNTIL I GOT INTO THE FIFTH AND SIXTH GRADES THAT MY PARENTS RECOGNIZED IT AND HAD ME GO BACK AND SEE THE PHYSCOLOGIST AND WAS RE-TESTED AND GIVEN THE DIAGNOSIS OF ADHD. MY MOM WAS REALLY PATIENT WITH ME AND HELPED ME ESTABLISH A ROUTINE FOR STUDYING AND HOMEWORK. I STILL TO THIS DAY USE LISTS, NOT FOR EVERYTHING BUT IT KEEPS ME ON TRACK. I USE THE SAME ROUTINE WITH MY CHILDREN WHO ARE 14 AND 10. I DRANK COFFEE FOR YEARS BEFORE TAKING MEDICATION AND THEN STARTED RITALIN FROM THE 6TH GRADE UNTIL I GRADUATED HIGHSCHOOL. I THANKED MY PARENTS FOR DOING THAT BECAUSE IF THEY HADNT TAKEN THE TIME AND DID WHAT THEY FELT WAS RIGHT FOR ME. I BELIEVE I WOULD HAVE STRUGGLED AND NOT DONE AS WELL AS I DID DO IN SCHOOL. I CARRIED A HIGH B TO A LOW A WHILE IN HIGHSCHOOL AND EVEN TOOK SOME COLLEGE PREP CLASSSES WHILE IN HIGHSCHOOL. BASICALLY IT A PERSONALL DECISION REGARDING MEDS .HERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF MY ROUTINE THAT I CAN REMEMBER: EACH KID IS DIFFERENT AND WHAT WOULD WORK FOR ONE WONT FOR THE OTHER. I WORK IN THE DAYCARE/PRESCHOOL FIELD AND OH MY GOODNESS DOES THAT STATEMENT RING TRUE. OKAY HERE IT GOES:
COME HOME FROM SCHOOL GET A SNACK RELAX FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES.
GET HOMEWORK OUT FOR EACH SUBJECT AND PUT IT WHERE I DID MY HOMEWORK. GENERALLY KITCHEN TABLE. MY MOM WAS ALWAYS AROUND IF I NEEDED HELP. I SHE COULDNT I HAD SOMEONE ELSE THAT I COULD ASK. STARTED ONE SUBJECT AND FINISHED IT. ( I HAD A TENDENCY TO BOUNCE AROUND BETWEEN SUBJECTS) THEN STARTED THE NEXT. WHEN I WAS DONE MADE SURE IT GOT BACK TO EACH FOLDER AND THEN IN MY BACK PACK.
IN BETWEEN I WOULD TAKE A FEW BREAKS BAOUT 10-15 MINUTES AND THEN STARTED BACK. AS I GOT OLDER AND GOT THE ROUTINE DOWN, I TOOK THE ROUTINE OVER AND IT WORKED.
I AM NOW 36 YEARS OLD. I STILL GO INTO THE ADHD SPIN I CLL IT WHERE YOUR BRAIN IS GOING FASTRER THAN YOU ARE. ITS LIKE A BUNCH OF NOISE OR IDEAS RUNNING IN MY HEAD. I HAVE TO LITERALLY STOP AND RE GROUP,COLLECT MY THOUGHTS AND START AGAIN. I AM STILL A LOUD PERSON WHO TALKS ALOT. AND I HAVE MY DAYS WHEN I THINK IT WILL NEVER STOP. BUT IT IS WHO I A M AND I HAVE LERNED HOW TO ADAPT AND GO WITH THE FLOW. MY ENERGY LEVEL IS HIGH ON A REGULAR BASIS. I LIKE TO READ AND DRAW AND WRITE, AND TEACH CHILDREN. YOUR KIDS WILL FIND THERE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS AND LEARN HOW TO SCALE DOWN SOMETHINGS AND STRENGHTEN OTHERS. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING. MY HUSBAND AND I HAVE KEPT AN EYE ON OUR CHILDREN. AND OUR OLDEST WAS ON RITALIN FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS, AND THEN DIDNT NEED TO BE ON IT. HE GREW UP AND CHANHGED HIS DIET A BIT. BUT I BELIEVE THAT TIME FRAME THAT HE WAS ON MEDS HELPED HIM SLOW DOWN AND GET A HANDLE ON IT, AND WE CAUGHT IT EARLY AS WELL. 1RDE TO 3GRDE WAS THE TIME FRAME THAT HE WAS ON IT. HOPE THAT THIS HELPS I TRIED TO GIVE A A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT I EXPERIENCED. HOPE IT MAKES SENSE.

Acutally, my son has ADD. I can honestly say that with his pediatrician, teacher and myself. He has been very successful. He's now getting A's and B's in school and takes his medication every morning. When they get home from school let them wind down and allow them to have a nurishing snack before they get back to getting there homework and reading done.

I am ADD and so is my husband. I have one child with ADHD and one with ADD. My youngest doesn't have it so far. Many people are against medication but I think that to not medicate your child is cruel. My husband and I were not medicated until we were adults and I wish I had the medicine as a kid. I would have done better in school. Think of medication as a tool or aid for your child. If you child needed glasses would you deny them to the child? Of course not so why deny medicine that aids the child to focus. Also ADD doesn't disappear when you get older as most people think. It is a mental illness. You can however learn to control it better as you grow older. As far as study habits for school I found that giving them a quiet place to do homework works. I have a place in each of their rooms that they can study at with the door closed. Also I let them have a snack and a ten minute break before they start their homework after school. Good luck for I know things can be a circus and kids with ADD/ADHD can be alot of work.

hi my name is T. i have 3kids that have adhd i feel for you
there are all kinds of meds out there to help but i feel that with my son witch he has it really bad that with his meds and lost of strucher in his life he dose well and when hes in school we put him on a 504 witch ever school should have what it dose is it gives him the time and help he needs to stay on task in school ..also most foods will set them off like most of all the dies in candy and other foods..i have been dealing with adhd ever since my son was 2yrs and now he is 14yrs and he is doing well and he is very smart for his aged ...what ever you do dont let the drs drug them up and always keep him bussie ...i know its hard but there are so much help for it now and if your like me your feel like this will never end with sleepless nights and not finding the right help if you live in eugen oregon cdrc is a good help and his dr and if that dosnt help then you can go to www.adhd.com mite help you ..i wish you all and if you need more help feel free to e-mail me at ____@____.com ...what ever you do dont give up cuse there is the right help for you out there momat

Hi A.,
My son is 9 and has ADD, I fought with the schools up until he was in 3rd grade about it and once I realized it was true then I fought with myself and husband about whether to medicate him or not. I have medicated him and now he loves going to school, loves learning, and after school homework is not a issue. We started young with you come home and do homework, so now he is able to focus he just does it himself, no more fighting with him to do it or to pay attention to what he is doing.
Not every feels meds are a good thing and since I want my son to learn to cope both ways,come the weekends he is off of them completely as during the summers he gets a break also, so he can learn to handle what he has without meds cause one day he will have a choice on his meds. We go to the docs regularly for med checks, my son is very active in if it is working or not.
I hope this helps and good luck, remember structure is everything.
S.

Although I cannot offer much advice about having children with ADHD (my son is 2 1/2, so too early to tell), I can tell you what has worked for me. I have ADHD. I did not know until I was 19 years old that I had ADHD,but learned how to cope long before that. I tried meds once I was diagnosed, but quit takign them because I didn't want to become dependant on them. One of my biggest problems was reading. I could read aloud, not silently. At first, I would get whatever book I was supposed to be reading for school...and and audio tape of it (cd in today's world). I would play the tape and sit with my book and follow along. I would find myself reading the same line over and over without realizing it...so i got a bookmark or piece of paper and as I finished reading a line, I covered it up so I couldn't read it again (instead of uncovering a line to read like a lot of people do). It really helped to have things reinforced doubley...what i mean is listen and read or have something physicall to do...such as count beans. Another thing that helped was to tap my foot or twitch my leg or play with my hair. I am sure your boys do some repetitious activity like this that really annoys you, but if you let it go and allow them to do it without fuss, I think it will greatly help their attention span.

Having ADHD is kind of like this...I used to work in a pizza place (my first job)If i was at the counter taking an order, I could hear the person accross from me ordering food, the people behind me talking about what they were making, the people at the end of the oven talking about what was coming out, everyone's conversation in the dining room, the television in the dining room, the music in the dining room, the talk from the back room, the dishes and things being moved about, the radio from the back room...and it was not white noise. I heard each and every word that was said, but could not process it as fast as it came in. Consequently I was constantly distracted by wherever the newest noise was coming from or wherever any motion caught my eye.

If you are trying to help them with homework, try tapping the paper with your finger or a pencil wherever you are trying to show them something. The movement of your finger will keep their attention to what you are trying to show them without distracting them terribly...and if they don't like it, they will tell you to stop. Another thing to try is 15 minute sessions. The brain remembers best the first and last thing to happen when studying/listening/whatever. The more "sessions" the better. So...have them study for 15 minutes and then get up to get a drink, walk around the room, go outside for 5 minutes of fresh air, then right back to work for a nother 15 min. They may object and say that it takes forever for them to get their homework done, but you can always tell them to try it for a week or two and if it doesn't seem to be helping you can always drop it. Odds are they may find that it works well...they key is to try to find things to keep them "busy" without drawing their attention away from what they are doing or in the case of the book/cd idea that they have 2 things to do at once. People with ADHD are great multitaskers! In fact, sometime function best that way.

Good luck to you. Feel free to message me with any questions.

The school district that my son is in has a thing called pm school, if a child fails to turn in homework they recieve pm school...3:30-5:30, this worked great with my son, because he knew if he got pm school, he was gonna come home and not be able to participate in any of the fun activities he likes so much. As for studying, homework, ect.... My sons know that after school they get a snack and then get homework done, nothen else happens until homework is done. No sports, no video games, no TV, no friends, NOTHEN. This schdule works well with us. So far so good both my sons carry a A-B average.

The only thing I can stress is routine! I have a 6 yr old son with ADHD and I have found that the first few weekds of school was a nightmare he wouldnt do his work he would cry and cry. So when he would write his spelling words he would write them messy and fast so he could get up and play so I started sending that paper back to school with him for his teacher to see and she would make little notes on the paper and send it back home saying "mom he can do better than this" and I would show my son what his teacher wrote. It didnt take long before he would start trying harder so he could please his teacher and me.. so then his teacher would write more positive things on his study sheets instead of negative and every positive note she sent home I would hang up on the wall in his study room (dining room). He loves it and it motivates him to do his best so he can get more papers on the wall then his brothers and sisters can! or you can try the sticker chart too I have done that with him in the past (this didnt work that well for him he prefers me hanging his study papers on the wall) but different things work better for different kids!
I really helps to keep in close contact with the teacher they are a great source of information too. I talk to my sons teachers almost daily and they have helped me immensly on dealing with my child ( I only have 1 child with ADHD to deal with and they may have to deal with 5 or 6 daily) they are really good at giving little "hints" to help you deal with problems. I hope this helps a little
C.