ADHD

[Landrover]

Anyone on the forum with experience of a child with ADHD ? My son (8) is just being assessed for it through school and the NHS, we always just thought he was a fidget and couldn't sit still !.... But his concentration is terrible unless it's something that really interests him and then it's a struggle for him to remain focused on it, it was originally thought to be dispraxia but after numerous tests and vists to different people it wasn't that. Both myself and my wife didn't think it could be ADHD as he's a laid back lad, who's never had tantrums and isn't "naughty" which we naively thought we signs of ADHD, as he's getting older the concentration problems are getting more noticeable and I'm wondering if anyone has experience of this ? Thanks in advance !

 

[GrannyAching]

Hiya @Landrover, I was a special needs coordinator some years ago. If you want to PM me with any questions I will try and help. You mention how laid back he is, there is ADD - simply attention deficit disorder. These initials are descriptions that help people structure how to support you and your child. The important thing for any parent is not that your child is diagnosed as "BBB" but what that means the school and you can do, it's useless otherwise.

 

[Chasingmytail]

I thought my son had an issue he had to have blue tack to fiddle with in school its a well known issue with have this issue at this age I cant sit on the sofa with him. There is nothing wrong with him I do get a little fed up when I raised this that issues like ADHD and other issues kept getting mentioned.

Always worth getting hearing tests. I didnt find out that is was poor in one ear and recently found out that he had a massive wax build up in the other - strange that on the prev hearing test he struggled to hear but after sorting thats improved.

There is a sensory issue audio sensory disorder worth reading about. https://www.understood.org/en/learn...between-auditory-processing-disorder-and-adhd

My boy is now 10 and since starting school had terrible trouble concentrating which put him in the naughty corner and he was treated very badly by the school. Because he wasnt concentrating he lost what he was supposed to be listening then he got so lost and it got messy. Im annoyed with the school as surely they could see there was something there and not a naughty boy - these are professionals ans they go on enough courses to see all children are different. Boys are also slower than girls so dont compare the golden child. My boy also thrives in science and out door activites but hates being stuck in a classroom sat on the floor its totally unnatural and there are many USA studies to prove that education is female baised.

Be careful labelling him so young. I doubt its ADHD Ive seen that in other children and you can see a child that has this condition.

 

[renewablejohn]

What tests have the school already done. My wife is a qualified specialist who goes into schools doing these tests. Quite often its either a hearing or eye sight problem which aids can normally sort out or at least dramatically improve.
PM and I will pass it on to her.

 

[renewablejohn]

I thought my son had an issue he had to have blue tack to fiddle with in school its a well known issue with have this issue at this age I cant sit on the sofa with him. There is nothing wrong with him I do get a little fed up when I raised this that issues like ADHD and other issues kept getting mentioned.

Always worth getting hearing tests. I didnt find out that is was poor in one ear and recently found out that he had a massive wax build up in the other - strange that on the prev hearing test he struggled to hear but after sorting thats improved.

There is a sensory issue audio sensory disorder worth reading about. https://www.understood.org/en/learn...between-auditory-processing-disorder-and-adhd

My boy is now 10 and since starting school had terrible trouble concentrating which put him in the naughty corner and he was treated very badly by the school. Because he wasnt concentrating he lost what he was supposed to be listening then he got so lost and it got messy. Im annoyed with the school as surely they could see there was something there and not a naughty boy - these are professionals ans they go on enough courses to see all children are different. Boys are also slower than girls so dont compare the golden child. My boy also thrives in science and out door activites but hates being stuck in a classroom sat on the floor its totally unnatural and there are many USA studies to prove that education is female baised.

Be careful labelling him so young. I doubt its ADHD Ive seen that in other children and you can see a child that has this condition.

Dont get annoyed with the school they are not professionals in this field. Most local authorities used to employ specialist departments that went into schools and tested these "identified" children who seemed not to be coping. Teachers are great at identifying children that are not coping but finding the reason why there not coping is a totally different profession. Unfortunately with local authority cutbacks these specialist departments where the first to go my wife being one of them. However some schools recognised they could not manage without this specialist knowledge therefore my wife and others went self employed and now get paid directly by the schools. Only problem is not all schools can afford this level of service due to the cutbacks.

 

[Badshot]

My daughter's school tried to get her labelled ADHD, I told them they just weren't grabbing her attention an she was bored.
Turned out to be exactly that.
After being assessed twice for it they failed to get the diagnosis they wanted.

 

[Landrover]

Thanks for the replies, he has seen a occupational therapist when being tested for dispraxia, and thru school for AHAD and ADD and is undergoing ongoing assessment at school with visits from a specialist. He has had both hearing and eyesight tests as his hearing was a concern because he was quite slow to talk and still can be quite for lack of a better term slurred when speaking, especially when tired or excited ! Both myself and my wife have always said the world would be boring if everyone was the same and don't worry about his education as he is always hitting his educational targets at school, but being the youngest in his school year(his birthday is 30aug) and is nearly a year younger than some of his classmates he does really well, we just worry that as his education gets harder his concentration issues and difficulty sitting still are going to be more of a problem ! If I could afford to I would send both him and his sister to our local private school where they have small class sizes and would offer hopefully a better type of education for my son especially, I am not knocking state education but sometimes in larger schools pupils can get lost between the cracks ! I was lucky enough to have private education but those were the days when you could sell a couple of fat cattle and that would pay the fees ! Those days are gone now !

 

[Dry Rot]

I have been training animals for over half a century and how the mind works, whatever the species, fascinates me. So I am finding this an interesting thread. I have trained all the birds commonly used in falconry (peregrine, merlin, sparrowhawk, goshawk, lanner, etc), most of the breeds of working dogs, and I now train horses. I suspect I have autism and probably a few other isms because I get a mental block when my mind can't cope and stops working. I am particularly bad at mathematical problems, yet quite good at some mental arithmetic! Explain that one if you can! (I qualified as a surveyor. How's that for a life choice?).

Knowing my own deficiencies had helped me to understand various apparently insurmountable problems I encounter in training animals. The horse won't load. The hawk (or other animal) is obviously hungry, but won't eat. (Anyone had a 'stupid' lamb?). The dog will hunt for game, but avoids it and ignores it when it finds it. It is these problems that keep it interesting and why, after learning fluent 'dog' for years, I moved onto horses. I usually find books and conventional thinking don't help much. They work for the straight forward animal, but not all are straight forward. Thankfully, we humans are much the same.

I'm afraid I don't know much about human behavioural problems except that negativity doesn't seem to work very well. To try to get me over my problem with maths, I was put in the advanced class and punished if I didn't get it right. So I cheated and was punished again when I got caught! So I learnt that getting caught was not a good thing! Today, 60 years later, my mind freezes when it am confronted with a mathematical problem I just can't manage. Why am I good at mental arithmetic? Playing darts and a lot of blackjack at college could account for that!

So I understand when that horse won't load, the lamb won't suck, and the dog avoids doing what hundreds of years of selective breeding should make him do. It has taught me to be a lateral thinker! All I can say is if you have a slow learner, do make the learning fun with a large reward for the smallest success. Instinct can be a great motivator. But offering a Polo mint to the bad loader won't work when a bowl of feed inside the trailer every day for a month might. Having a different mind and looking at problems in another way can be a huge benefit to our species. I bet they thought the man who invented the wheel was a bit odd too!

 

[Macsky]

Is diet something you have considered looking into? There’s increasing interest in gut health and it’s effect on various behavioural issues. I don’t know much about it, but I would definitely consider cutting out as much processed food as possible, and especially sugar.

 

[traineefarmer]

I sincerely hope that your lad is OK and if he has a problem that you get the help and support he needs.

But. Beware of school diagnoses. They can request extra funding for every child with an SEN label. This is no bad thing, of course, but get a proper assessment for peace of mind that he is getting the support he needs.

The school that my wife previously worked at clocked up huge numbers of SEN kids when extra funding of several thousand pounds a year per child was available. When that was cut a couple of years ago, they got busy "reviewing" the SEN status of those children to reduce the administrative burden.

I'm sure the school's staff ultimately have our children's best interest at heart, but politicians do not.

 

[Chae1]

Up here the parents get extra money when child is diagnosed with adhd. My wife teaches primary 1 and says its awful how some parents behave when there child obviously doesn't have it but they want extra benefits.

 

[Chasingmytail]

A good rule of thumb is did they learn to walk and speak within the usual parameters. Obv born on time and no issues there. Both my boys learnt to talk and walk earlier than the norm so really that confirms there is little wrong on some spectrums. My youngest speaks well and uses good vocab so that takes out other issues. He just has an inability to listen and think which I put down to immaturity. I think he is very young for his age compared to the eldest. School doesnt suit him he hates sitting down for long periods unfortunately these types of children have been put under the 'naughty' banner by teachers. Its then a full circle of poor confidence, poor self esteem etc which loops back to the poor behaviour just endless repeating.

 

[Gomer Pyle]

my 6.5 year old son has aspergers and ADHD diagnosis

ever since a baby he has been a super alert hand full- has always presented as intelligent and energetic but became a nightmare when started primary 1 at age 5 as this was a structured learning environment and he just cannot sit still and never liked following guidance/ instructions

past 18 months have been a schooling nightmare - hes been self harming / hitting/ spitting/ running away from school

(since diagnosis almost a year ago we have been trialling ADHD medication)

following 3rd trial of medication we have been on much more of an even keel for the past 6 weeks and hes only had one serious incident in that time

the medication he gets on school days only is called Ritalin Long Acting and he has to have Prozac every day to ensure that his daily come down once the Ritalin has worked through his system is not too severe

happy to answer any queries by PM if wish as by this stage I consider myself quite well versed on the subject