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[quote=Anonymous]ADHD is a spectrum disorder so two kids with ADHD can have varying degrees in behavior, especially since there are three main types of ADHD - ADHD Inattentive, ADHD Hyperactive, and ADHD Combined (both inattentive and hyperactive).

My son and daughter are ADHD Inattentive.  They do not have any sleep problems.  They fall a sleep like clockwork and are such deep sleepers, I don't think the fire alarm in the house would wake them up.  The one issue that they have in common that I don't see in my two children without ADHD is a lack of appetite.  They had eating issues before medication (especially not wanting to eat breakfast).  ADHD medication just makes eating even more challenging to them but we have worked our way around the problem with supplemental drinks such as Boost/Ensure as well as finding the right meds and dosage that the reaction isn't too bad.  Our pediatrician is the prescribing doctor and he helped us with the recommendation for Boost/Ensure as well as regular med check appointments.

Before medicating for ADHD, I would go back to your pediatrician to discuss the sleep issues.  Maybe your child should undergo a sleep study to find out how often he is really waking up at night (I would bet he is waking up more than you know - you only know of the times he wakes you up) as well as the root cause for his inability to sleep through the night.  A treatment plan for the sleep issues then could be formulated to address that need and then you would know how that affects the ADHD symptoms.  Any tired child would have difficulty concentrating.  An ADHD child could have comorbid sleep issues.  It would be hard to know what your son is dealing with without the further testing.

In the meanwhile, the ADHD symptoms should be addressed through some type of educational plan (If public - and IEP/504 plan).  Special Education is just good teaching practices and often would help any child.  Did the testing results given any recommendations for any instructional interventions or accommodations to help your child?  I would implement these first before starting meds.  You child may not need meds if he receives instructional interventions and accommodations.  These may be enough to help with the ADHD.  If you are shooting for an IEP or 504, the school also needs to see the problems and if a child is medicated the symptoms may not be as apparent.  Meds should always be a last resort because they do have some bad side effects and can become less effective with time.[/quote]

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