Reply to ADD/ ADHD girls

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "ADD/ ADHD girls"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]I have a daughter who just turned 7 who was has always been very emotional, but bright and funny.   She started having considerable problems in school in first grade with attention, and I ended up having neuro-psych testing performed at Stixrud at the urging of the school guidance counselor - she thought it would give me great snapshot of how my daughter learns, and it did.  My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD (inattentive/impulsive), and they were able to provide a number of recommendations including therapy.  I also took my daughter to a child psychiatrist when I wasn't able to find a therapist (I called 6 and none were taking patients, and I really wanted a second opinion), but it turned out to be lucky for me, because the psychiatrist also suspected auditory processing issues.  Several more months of testing later, I had yet another diagnosis.  It was absolutely heartbreaking for me - not the stigma, but finally understanding the enormous challenges my child faced daily with her conditions, how hard she had to work to keep it all together (I was not present for the Stixrud tests, but I sat in on the speech pathology tests and it took all my effort not to cry as I heard my daughter struggling to remember instructions, having to have her attention refocused by the tester time and time again).  We started medication - it has helped tremendously with attention (how do I know it works?  The school psychologist was kind enough to do observations - with and without medications and he thought there was a 20% improvement in her ability to focus in class with medication).  This summer my daughter went to Lab School, and I foolishly let her have a break from medication, and I cringed when I read the reports from the school which detailed my child's inability to focus during tutoring and her pouting, tears, and frustration - much of that could have been mitigated with medication.

I am not trying to advocate for medication - it is not a magic pill at all, but has helped with an area where I know my child has a real weakness.  In our case, extensive speech therapy has also helped my daughter as well as changing schools (language immersion is great, but not if your child has ADHD/language issues).  But I do think a parent owes it to a child to get as much information as we can to help the child navigate life's challenges.  Testing is a long process - we waited 6 weeks for an appointment at Stixrud, and a couple of months for the psychologist's reports.  Speech and language testing also took several months.  ADHD is often co-morbid with many other conditions - anxiety, sensory issues, and language issues.  If your child had a physical illness, you would take her to a doctor and get a diagnosis and treatment asap - even if your child doesn't have ADHD, she may have sensory issues, and her behavior negatively impacts her at school (not to mention how difficult it must be for the other kids to concentrate while she is being disciplined again and again or how frustrating for the teacher).  Just this poster's humble opinion, but as the person who knows your daughter best, if you suspect something may be wrong, you owe it to her to find out what it might be.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics