Medication for ADD child

[Anonymous]

I am pretty sure that medication will be on the table once we complete the full evaluation with the specialists for my 7 year old DD. I am 70% OK with this but still have 30% reservations. DD hyperfocuses on certain things (science, math, art) and can not focus at all on things like reading, language, worksheets which make up 90% of her school work. She can pick something new up pretty quickly but then stalls out when they have to repeat doing it a zillion times.

Reasons to medicate
DD is extremely bright but she spends all her energy at school trying to remember or figure out what the instructions are that the teacher just gave. She feels very bad that her mind wanders and can't seem to force herself to pay attention if something isn't interesting to her. She is a good writer and has a good vocabulary/analytical skills but is always the last child to finish and often doesn't finish her work. She feels very bad about this and is embarrassed. I do not want her to develop poor self esteem and stop caring about school. If a pill can fix this, then she can be confident in her schoolwork and move on to more challenging things.

Reasons not to medicate
I feel like this is medicating a square peg child to fit into a round hole. She can learn, has a brilliant mind, and excels at many things..just not the verbal instructions, worksheets, and reading comprehension activities that make up so much of school. Altering her mind through pharmaceuticals to make her fit into the mode of instruction on one hand seems very wrong.

I am nervous that there are not long term studies on the effect of medication. I am nervous about finding an overly aggressive practioner that would get into cocktails ie medicate for ADD and if the child becomes withdrawn as a side effect adding another medication on top of this.

I am also nervous that this may affect areas where she hyperfocuses. She gets great joy from doing certain things, is highly creative, and this is an important part of her personality. If the medication evens everything out by definition she lose some of her hyperfocus tendencies which are not necessarily a bad thing to have.

I'm sure others have gone through this decision making process and was just wondering how you weighed the options.

[Anonymous]

There are over 60 years of use of the medications, so try not to worry about the long term effects. The other things you mention bear consideration, but hyperfocus is not a positive attribute. It means focusing on things to a degree that precludes a person from easily disengaging in order to do other things. It is not the same as being highly motivated to do something interesting.

[Anonymous]

The reason we chose to medicate is that DD was feeling like a failure because she could not do things like read directions, read, do any multi-direction type project. It was affecting her peer relationships because she struggled to not be in people's space or make inappropriate comments. Once we gave her medications and spent two years in a social group she was able to blossom into a fairly confident child. Did all the issues go away, no, but we have days when the medicine is accidentally forgotten and it is my daughter that tells me please don't let me forget again.

Also keep in mind it takes a bit to figure out which medicine actually works, we have tried 4 of them seen different benefits and drawbacks. You are not asking, nor will you be getting a magic pill. You are getting an option that can help in a range of circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Why not try a different school first. There are a lot of schools that don't use worksheet. That don't expect kids to sit at desks. That really take into account how kids learn best.

We were exactly where you were, but our DD was 5. Just diagnosed. A different school with smaller classes and a more of a 'whole child' focus made enough of a difference that (along with other behavioral interventions at home) she is learning well, and medication doesn't seem necessary.

[Anonymous]

YOur DD sounds a lot like mine. She received her DX at age 9 and started meds soon after, with overall great results. I am happy to report that the meds haven't changed her slightly offbeat, square peg personality -- she still loves art and creative projects, science, etc. She can still focus for long periods of time on creative projects -- in fact, she finishes more of them so gets more satisfaction out of them.

The main difference is that now she feels like the smart person she truly is. She also does better socially because she's less likely to act out of impulse and get in others' space/overwhelm them.

There have also been some sleep issues that we are working on -- she has always been a night owl and the meds seem to make it harder for her to get to sleep.

[Anonymous]

14:35 PP here. I would also urge you to get a full neuropsych workup as your DD may be GTLD, and it's important to address her GT needs as well as her LD ones! She will still need to be challenged and maybe even more so, once she can reliably access more challenging material.