If you medicated your child with delays and ADHD at 5

[Anonymous]

Was it effective? My son has some speech issues, pragmatically and is in low average for receptive/expressive. Fine motor and social delay and a behavior issue, which mainly stems from impulsivity. I am not sure if medicating is a good idea when we have those issues.

[Anonymous]

We tried, but didn't have much success until late 7/early 8.

[Anonymous]

His impulsivity is so bad we have to try

[Anonymous]

I'm saying we tried earlier - at 6 - but it just wasn't effective until later. Which I believe was your question.

[Anonymous]

Ah. Okay. Why wasn't it effective earlier?

[Anonymous]

American Association of Pediatrics recommends trying behavioral therapy first for children under 6, and only if it fails should you use medication. Have you tried behavioral therapy?

[Anonymous]

We are trying it. My child has comorbid delays and epilepsy so I'm not sure how much he is getting from behavioral therapy. General consensus is that he would need to be medicated to be available to participate in the therapy.

[Anonymous]

Medication will not help with language issues directly but it may help with the adhd so they can focus better.

[Anonymous]

Wow OP, I had to reread the post to make sure I didn't post this myself. Your son sounds exactly like my 5 1/2 year old. Same issues - impulsivity, ADHD, Behavior issues, language delays, fine motor delay. Not sure about epilepsy, but we are actually seeing a pediatric neurologist in about a month because I'm concerned he may be having absence seizures.

We tried medication briefly about 6 months ago. It didn't do anything for him. We are considering trying to again in the future, but I want to see how he does in Kindergarten first and to try behavioral therapy. I have been trying positive discipline for now. Giving him incentives seems to work.

I don't know how severe your son's ADHD is. Mine is significant in that he has a terrible time paying attention and staying on task. If it really starts to interfere with school, then we will go the medication route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP, I had to reread the post to make sure I didn't post this myself. Your son sounds exactly like my 5 1/2 year old. Same issues - impulsivity, ADHD, Behavior issues, language delays, fine motor delay. Not sure about epilepsy, but we are actually seeing a pediatric neurologist in about a month because I'm concerned he may be having absence seizures.

We tried medication briefly about 6 months ago. It didn't do anything for him. We are considering trying to again in the future, but I want to see how he does in Kindergarten first and to try behavioral therapy. I have been trying positive discipline for now. Giving him incentives seems to work.

I don't know how severe your son's ADHD is. Mine is significant in that he has a terrible time paying attention and staying on task. If it really starts to interfere with school, then we will go the medication route.

Its severe. He simply can't wait for us, anywhere. He hits and acts on literally every impulse he has, all the time. He knocks over towers, etc. He cannot stop himself. he runs in parking lots. Can I ask what medication you tried? His language is finally in average range on tests but there are still a lot of issues. The primary delays right now seem to be fine motor and behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:American Association of Pediatrics recommends trying behavioral therapy first for children under 6, and only if it fails should you use medication. Have you tried behavioral therapy?

NP. I think the main reason the AAP recommends behavioral therapy first is there would be mass pandemonium backlash if they came out with a statement that they recommended medication first. Can you imagine the media response if AAP came out with that statement?? The stories they would run on the Today Show or the View?? Of course they had to say to try therapy first. Also, if they issued that statement, lots of parents would bring their 3-5 year olds into the ped demanding meds - but lots of those kids either (1) do have some behavioral issues and not adhd; or (2) are developmentally normal but just hyper. So there's just no way the AAP could come out and say that meds are the first line defense at this age.

Having talked to therapists about our own son's severe adhd at this age, the feedback I got was that the behavioral therapy may help some kids at that age with behavioral issues. But with my son's diagnosed severe adhd, the therapy wouldn't help at all. Adhd at this age isn't really behavioral. The issue is his neurological inability to control his impulses. And you can't "therapy" that away at this age. You either put him on meds and then do therapy (so he's in control enough to register what he's learning) or you wait until he's a bit older (they said 6 or 7) when all kids have more control of their impulses and then try therapy.

So all of that is to say that there are some kids that, when diagnosed by a dev ped at age 5, will clearly and immediately benefit from being put on meds, and should skip the therapy step.

[Anonymous]

I would like some more insight as to why meds did not work if started earlier - OP here. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP, I had to reread the post to make sure I didn't post this myself. Your son sounds exactly like my 5 1/2 year old. Same issues - impulsivity, ADHD, Behavior issues, language delays, fine motor delay. Not sure about epilepsy, but we are actually seeing a pediatric neurologist in about a month because I'm concerned he may be having absence seizures.

We tried medication briefly about 6 months ago. It didn't do anything for him. We are considering trying to again in the future, but I want to see how he does in Kindergarten first and to try behavioral therapy. I have been trying positive discipline for now. Giving him incentives seems to work.

I don't know how severe your son's ADHD is. Mine is significant in that he has a terrible time paying attention and staying on task. If it really starts to interfere with school, then we will go the medication route.

Its severe. He simply can't wait for us, anywhere. He hits and acts on literally every impulse he has, all the time. He knocks over towers, etc. He cannot stop himself. he runs in parking lots. Can I ask what medication you tried? His language is finally in average range on tests but there are still a lot of issues. The primary delays right now seem to be fine motor and behavior.

We tried guanfacine first. It seemed to work for about a week- more calm and focused.. But then seemed to stop working by the next week. Also tried Metadate CD- no effect and then he started becoming very emotional so we stopped that. From what you describe it sounds like your sons ADHD is really severe - if I were in your shoes I would definitely consider medication- I think it takes time to figure out which one will work for your son- but from what you describe it does not sound to me that behavior therapy would be effective without first addressing his inability to control his body and impulses. I would suggest seeing a child psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician that can prescribe meds.

[Anonymous]

This is pp again with son who has similar issues- I did want to mention that my sons issues are significant enough that he will not be able to go to a regular kindergarten class. We are in another state- and there is a therapeutic school (paid for by public) that is specifically for kids with behavior issues. He did summer school there and seemed to do well. We'll see how he does in full day kindergarten. I thought I would mention that so you know that you are not alone in what you are dealing with. I'm sorry- it is so exhausting and hard. I hope you can find a medication that helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP, I had to reread the post to make sure I didn't post this myself. Your son sounds exactly like my 5 1/2 year old. Same issues - impulsivity, ADHD, Behavior issues, language delays, fine motor delay. Not sure about epilepsy, but we are actually seeing a pediatric neurologist in about a month because I'm concerned he may be having absence seizures.

We tried medication briefly about 6 months ago. It didn't do anything for him. We are considering trying to again in the future, but I want to see how he does in Kindergarten first and to try behavioral therapy. I have been trying positive discipline for now. Giving him incentives seems to work.

I don't know how severe your son's ADHD is. Mine is significant in that he has a terrible time paying attention and staying on task. If it really starts to interfere with school, then we will go the medication route.

Its severe. He simply can't wait for us, anywhere. He hits and acts on literally every impulse he has, all the time. He knocks over towers, etc. He cannot stop himself. he runs in parking lots. Can I ask what medication you tried? His language is finally in average range on tests but there are still a lot of issues. The primary delays right now seem to be fine motor and behavior.

We tried guanfacine first. It seemed to work for about a week- more calm and focused.. But then seemed to stop working by the next week. Also tried Metadate CD- no effect and then he started becoming very emotional so we stopped that. From what you describe it sounds like your sons ADHD is really severe - if I were in your shoes I would definitely consider medication- I think it takes time to figure out which one will work for your son- but from what you describe it does not sound to me that behavior therapy would be effective without first addressing his inability to control his body and impulses. I would suggest seeing a child psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician that can prescribe meds.

Thanks - we are working with a dev ped. Was there a reason you didn't try quillivant or Adderall/classic stimulant?