Possible ADHD, Meeting with Therapist for First Time. What to Ask?

[Anonymous]

DD is 6 and after a couple of years of focus issues and the nonstop need to move our pediatrician set us up with a family counselor. DD is a great kid but can be absolutely wild, unable to focus and constantly fidgets and moves all the time. Watching her makes it clear that she is unable to control this. We've been frustrated for a very long time and we're open to counseling--maybe something to help her focus and something to help us be better (and more patient with her). We also need to focus on her weight as she eats a ton but is very skinny, maybe from all the moving.

We've never seen a counselor before so we're not sure what to expect or what we should ask. Any suggestions?

thanks.

[Anonymous]

"Which psychiatrist should I see to get my child on important life-changing drugs as soon as possible?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Which psychiatrist should I see to get my child on important life-changing drugs as soon as possible?"

At 6? Shouldn't we at least try other things first? We are not opposed if it necessary. I wonder if this means behavior modification is not worth it? I'm lost.

[Anonymous]

No, drugs are a miracle. Although everyone's different, so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Which psychiatrist should I see to get my child on important life-changing drugs as soon as possible?"

At 6? Shouldn't we at least try other things first? We are not opposed if it necessary. I wonder if this means behavior modification is not worth it? I'm lost.

OP I would try ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING before resorting to drugs.

[Anonymous]

Drugs were small miracles in our household.

I don't understand why you are going to a family therapist? You need someone who can diagnose and treat ADHD. Psychologist or psychiatrist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drugs were small miracles in our household.

I don't understand why you are going to a family therapist? You need someone who can diagnose and treat ADHD. Psychologist or psychiatrist.

OP here. Just a wrong word choice by a newbie. Sorry about that. She's a pediatric psychologist with a focus in this area.

[Anonymous]

I think I would say everything you said in your original post, and say "how would you support our daughter and our family?" What do you do, what types of behaviorial training do you do, what is the role of ADHD medication (if she is actually diagnosed with ADHD - until she is diagnosed, you can't medicate because it could be something else)

[Anonymous]

What testing will you do to decide if it's ADHD/rule out other possible things?

[Anonymous]

I have a 6 year old with ADHD. We did therapy for about 8 months, and then decided to add a small dose of meds. I wouldn't call them a miracle, but the effect is noticeable -- we did not tell the school we were putting child on meds, and received several unsolicited comments within the first few weeks about child's improved behavior. For us, the big deciding factor was that child had terrible bladder control problems. The meds have basically cured that. I came into this very inclined to do anything/everything before using meds at this young age--and I still think that's wise--but honestly I'm not sure the therapy does much. He just goes in there and plays with toys. For those that think that therapy helps at this age, I'd really like to know what specifically your therapist is doing. We did some work with impulse control, practicing breathing, etc, but he's pretty unreceptive to this. For older kids, I think it can be really helpful to learn coping and self-accommodation techniques, but with 6 year olds, I'm not sure that they're old enough or have enough self-insight to learn these things. Again, I'd love to hear from someone that think that their therapy has been really helpful for that age, and please tell me specifically how so I can ask for that.

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP. I think therapy will be a waste of money. I had my child work with a therapist for 5 months at the same age and it was useless.

[Anonymous]

This is helpful and giving us some good ideas for what to ask and what to look out for, both in the short term and the long term. I appreciate the help.

[Anonymous]

It took 6 months of therapy before we saw any real results, and we are still working on things. The therapist has helped us work with the school on child's behalf.

[Anonymous]

I also have a 6 year old with similar issues. We are also seeing a psychologist and I am really not sure it is helping. I have similar concerns as PP, that a six year old can not get much out of talking. Its been 2 months so I plan to give it more time but I am not convinced .

I am equally confused on how to help my son as well. We have a prescription for meds from the pediatrician based on school forms, but Not planning to start them unless things get worse. Also debating doing more testing, although my gut feel is that the ADD diagnosis is correct.

[Anonymous]

ADHD affects a person's central nervous system. Perhaps if your child has a mild case of it, therapy could help. The only thing that helped my son was medication. I honestly don't think he even had the attention span to focus on the therapist before medication.