Counseling/Therapy For ADHD

My son had an IEP plan at school. Built into it was planned times each week to meet with both the school counselor and the school social worker. We never had him to a psychiatrist. He saw a doctor who specializes in adhd. Schools have a lot of resources. It might be good to check into that before seeing separate doctors.

It might be time to consider a different medication. My son started on Ritalin (nightmare)
Adderall (worked for a short time but he couldn't sleep)
Adderall extended release (used for several years)
Vyvance (can we have a big AMEN ) this was our miracle drug.

A huge thing for us was structure structure and more structure mixed with a pretty regular routine.

Our son sees a behavioral therapist, in addition to taking medication. That combination has the best track record in treating ADHD. He hasn't needed independent counseling, but does go with us to discuss his behavioral challenges and ways to overcome them.

If you need information for your arsenal, track down the session on the latest research into ADHD at last year's CHADD conference near San Francisco. I would bet an audio recording or written transcript is available (you can always call CHADD, too, for help in tracking it down). The respected researchers there shared their findings into the most effective treatment options and verified that therapy and medication combined comes out tops.

We started off with therapy before beginning medication, so in our case it was the therapist who referred us to the psychiatrist.

This may sound as though it comes from left field but look into Tae Kwon Do for you son. There is something with the brain/body connection and the movement of both sides of the body that helps the brain energies and coordination. It helps a lot of kids with ADD and ADHD.

Absolutely. You ever hand a kid a pill so he could function better without counseling at the same time. It is very important part of the whole thing.

I don't understand why the dad would have to be taken to court to pay half of the bill, don't you have insurance on your child? He should be on your insurance or you should use his child support to cover the costs of treatment.

Why doesn't his child support cover it and why doesn't this child have insurance. If he is covered by insurance then therapy should be covered and his co-pay should be very very low. Our co-pay was only about $25 each visit.

So even if dad does have to pay half you are still responsible for the entire bill then you have to get your money back from dad. The doc will not keep seeing kiddo if dad does not pay. So this won't work. No matter what the court order says YOU have to pay the bill then go after dad to pay you back.

I got a lot of this with my child care center. I had one mom refuse to take her child home because I was owed a full weeks child care. She argued with me that she didn't have to pay me and that "I" had to chase down the dead beat dad to get "my" money. As far as "I" was concerned "I" didn't have any sort of agreement with anyone but this mom. She was responsible for the bill, no one else signed any paperwork with me, no one else brought that child in, no one else was responsible except the mom bringing the child.

I nearly had to call the police to have her removed from my property. She absolutely believed "I" had to accept her child even though money was owed. I did not.

Same with you. If hubby doesn't pay his part it won't matter what is on the court order, you are the responsible party. So if he doesn't pay you have to pay the full bill then get your money from dad.

I hope you and dad can work this out and that the financial part will work out too. It's hard when you have problems like this.

Yes - my son sees a counselor for his ADHD and ODD. We started out with one and he was good but didn't click with my son. He actually recommended we change to another counselor in the practice. She was been great. She has really worked with him on coping techniques. It has been worth it. And yes - it was recommended by his psychiatrist. Well worth it in my opinion.