how soon after starting your elementary-aged child on ADHD meds

[Anonymous]

did you see a positive change?

School is pushing us to do this after receiving neuropsych evaluation, but am reluctant to medicate DC. We have just started therapy and some other interventions and would like to move slowly. I also understand it can take some tweaking to get the right med and the right dose. OTOH, want DC to finish the few months of the school year behaving better and learning better.

If you started a child on AHDH meds in or between K and 4th grades, what changes did you see and how soon?

[Anonymous]

Have them first do a functional behavior assessment to see what can be worked on behaviorally without meds.

[Anonymous]

Public school or private school?

If public they really aren't supposed to say anything about medications.

[Anonymous]

private school.

what is a functional behavior assessment? who does this? school or psychologist? have already done a neuropsych evaluation but do not recall that being part of their list of tests.

thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:did you see a positive change?

School is pushing us to do this after receiving neuropsych evaluation, but am reluctant to medicate DC. We have just started therapy and some other interventions and would like to move slowly. I also understand it can take some tweaking to get the right med and the right dose. OTOH, want DC to finish the few months of the school year behaving better and learning better.

If you started a child on AHDH meds in or between K and 4th grades, what changes did you see and how soon?

We started medication for ADHD in 4th grade. The change was instantaneous. My DS wanted to go to school, was not as anxious, was able to learn. It didn't address all issues such as writing, executive functioning, etc.

[Anonymous]

2nd grade.......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school or private school?

If public they really aren't supposed to say anything about medications.

can they ask how they felll in the iep meeting?

[Anonymous]

We opted for a non stimulant that had a 4 week ramp up, somid say we saw improvement around the 6 week mark and it's not drastic but it is helpful.

[Anonymous]

Why are you so hesitant to try the meds? Trust me, 'behavioral' ideas/methods, psychologists, etc won't help as much as meds.
You went as far to have the neuropsych, why bother with that if you're not going to help your kid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:private school.

what is a functional behavior assessment? who does this? school or psychologist? have already done a neuropsych evaluation but do not recall that being part of their list of tests.

thanks.

Behavioral psychologists do this. Public schools usually bring in someone to do them. It's different than / separate from a neuropsych. I would imagine you'd have to pay for it at a private school.

This summary is from a parent advocacy center in Minnesota but explains the term and what it entails. http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/discipl.fba.jordan.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public school or private school?

If public they really aren't supposed to say anything about medications.

can they ask how they felll in the iep meeting?

OP is in private school -- no IEP meeting.

[Anonymous]

We saw instant change. One dose adjustment for optimal dosage.

[Anonymous]

Instant change also.

[Anonymous]

At the point we started medications, his major problems were at school, not home. I didn't notice a huge difference over the weekend-- the weekend went well, but that wasn't that unusual. The first school week, two different people approached me on their own to tell me what a great week child was having.

Without knowing how your kids problems manifest, it's hard to know if therapy will help. Anecdotally and based on my own experience, therapy and behavioral techniques can help with the organizational stuff. But if the issue is primarily impulse control, the meds are pretty necessary.

[Anonymous]

Instant change