Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old started ADHD meds in 2nd grade, and they were life changing. He was basically unable to sit through class and starting to suffer a lot of anxiety and depression in school. As he's matured, the meds have mattered less. At this point as a high school sophomore taking lots of AP classes and no longer taking meds.

This tells me your son didn't have adhd. It was just immaturity. Seems like you drugged him just to make life easier. I get it, but it doesn't seem like he has adhd. I have a 12 yr old DS, and he was pretty challenging at 7, too. But, he doesn't have adhd. He was just a boy full of energy and lots of things going around his head, like most 7 yr olds.

I don't understand people who tell complete strangers on the Internet that medical professionals diagnosed and provided care to the strangers' children incorrectly.

Your believing in so called experts so readily is the problem of today's society.

Grow a pair and raise tour kids. Don't just take "experts"' sales pitch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old started ADHD meds in 2nd grade, and they were life changing. He was basically unable to sit through class and starting to suffer a lot of anxiety and depression in school. As he's matured, the meds have mattered less. At this point as a high school sophomore taking lots of AP classes and no longer taking meds.

This tells me your son didn't have adhd. It was just immaturity. Seems like you drugged him just to make life easier. I get it, but it doesn't seem like he has adhd. I have a 12 yr old DS, and he was pretty challenging at 7, too. But, he doesn't have adhd. He was just a boy full of energy and lots of things going around his head, like most 7 yr olds.

I'm not PP, but where do you get off telling another parent and their doctors that you know their kid better than they do? And where do you get off equating depression and anxiety to "full of energy"?

One of the leading clinicians in the field of ADHD has said that depression is almost always present in an adult with undiagnosed ADHD. Teens and adults with undiagnosed ADHD are also at risk for substance abuse and suicide. Why don't you stop and think about that for a second before you tell a parent that their 2nd grader having depression and anxiety is nothing to worry about?

The PP admitted that her DS is no longer taking meds - "as he matured the meds have mattered less", ie, maturity lessened some of these "symptoms".

There is enough research that indicates that kids, especially young boys, are over diagnosed as ADHD/ADD. This is especially true of boys with later birthdays compared to their peers (hence, why some parents redshirt). My own DS has a summer birthday and had these behavioral issues, too. And yes, maturity lessened those issues.

My son has ADHD - there’s no doubt. We suspected very young. He’s different than a typical active boy - significant problems with impulse control and emotional regulation. Highly distractible- impairments with executive functions that are more than normal. It’s pretty global- IQ in the mid 140s thank God or I wonder if he would have learned to read.

Parent of the TJ kid here. We knew our kid likely had ADHD in early ES. And not because he was hyperactive— he really wasn’t. But impulse control issues. Homework always lost. Getting easily upset and angry. A lot of 2s in the citizenship grades on the report card, and a kid who often didn’t understand why he was in trouble.

I worried a lot about meds on a growing brain. Fortunately, he was in a small AAP classroom, and we were able to work with teachers to develop informal accommodations. We kept it pulled together until middle school, when changing classes, multiple teachers, homework from all over the place did him in. And Ds and Fs showed up on his report card. So, we went through several thousand dollars of educational testing. Got the formal diagnosis, and started the medication.

And it was night and day. He didn’t suddenly become an organized kid who remembered to turn homework in. That is where the EF tutor came in and he had to do the work. Meds didn’t put homework assignments in his planner, or sit down and get the homework done. But he said he felt better. Less like a motor was running inside himself. And we were shocked. He was less angry, less argumentative, and much less unhappy. He asked me why we had not treated him earlier becuase he felt so much better. And I felt like a terrible parent for putting him through years of feeling like something was wrong with him, when there was a solution.

TL;DR: don’t judge what you don’t know.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old started ADHD meds in 2nd grade, and they were life changing. He was basically unable to sit through class and starting to suffer a lot of anxiety and depression in school. As he's matured, the meds have mattered less. At this point as a high school sophomore taking lots of AP classes and no longer taking meds.

This tells me your son didn't have adhd. It was just immaturity. Seems like you drugged him just to make life easier. I get it, but it doesn't seem like he has adhd. I have a 12 yr old DS, and he was pretty challenging at 7, too. But, he doesn't have adhd. He was just a boy full of energy and lots of things going around his head, like most 7 yr olds.

I'm not PP, but where do you get off telling another parent and their doctors that you know their kid better than they do? And where do you get off equating depression and anxiety to "full of energy"?

One of the leading clinicians in the field of ADHD has said that depression is almost always present in an adult with undiagnosed ADHD. Teens and adults with undiagnosed ADHD are also at risk for substance abuse and suicide. Why don't you stop and think about that for a second before you tell a parent that their 2nd grader having depression and anxiety is nothing to worry about?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old started ADHD meds in 2nd grade, and they were life changing. He was basically unable to sit through class and starting to suffer a lot of anxiety and depression in school. As he's matured, the meds have mattered less. At this point as a high school sophomore taking lots of AP classes and no longer taking meds.

This tells me your son didn't have adhd. It was just immaturity. Seems like you drugged him just to make life easier. I get it, but it doesn't seem like he has adhd. I have a 12 yr old DS, and he was pretty challenging at 7, too. But, he doesn't have adhd. He was just a boy full of energy and lots of things going around his head, like most 7 yr olds.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old started ADHD meds in 2nd grade, and they were life changing. He was basically unable to sit through class and starting to suffer a lot of anxiety and depression in school. As he's matured, the meds have mattered less. At this point as a high school sophomore taking lots of AP classes and no longer taking meds.

This tells me your son didn't have adhd. It was just immaturity. Seems like you drugged him just to make life easier. I get it, but it doesn't seem like he has adhd. I have a 12 yr old DS, and he was pretty challenging at 7, too. But, he doesn't have adhd. He was just a boy full of energy and lots of things going around his head, like most 7 yr olds.

I don't understand people who tell complete strangers on the Internet that medical professionals diagnosed and provided care to the strangers' children incorrectly.

Anonymous wrote:My 15 year old started ADHD meds in 2nd grade, and they were life changing. He was basically unable to sit through class and starting to suffer a lot of anxiety and depression in school. As he's matured, the meds have mattered less. At this point as a high school sophomore taking lots of AP classes and no longer taking meds.

This tells me your son didn't have adhd. It was just immaturity. Seems like you drugged him just to make life easier. I get it, but it doesn't seem like he has adhd. I have a 12 yr old DS, and he was pretty challenging at 7, too. But, he doesn't have adhd. He was just a boy full of energy and lots of things going around his head, like most 7 yr olds.

Anonymous wrote:ADD is alarmingly overdiagnosed. 5% is the upper limit of valid diagnosis, but in actuality 33% of young boys are being diagnosed. That means for every 6 people on here who have been told their son has ADD, only one of them actually has the condituon. That is a potential of 5 boys being given amphetamines unnecessarily.

These parents are claiming their boys being on stimulants are a "Godsend", "miracle", and "life-changing". Well no sh*t captain obvious. Anyone taking a powerful amphetamine is going to see amazing results. Your results wont be so quick if you put thr hard work in as a parent and help guide yiur child through normal behavior challenges kids go through Of course now you have possibly permanantly altered your sons brain chemistry which carries long after exposure has ceased and this is assumingthry dont become addicts. Amphetimines should be a very last resort for those "real" 5% of actual ADD patients.

+1

This. Plus many ADHD kids are in SSRIs, which can have permanent sexual side effects.

Anonymous wrote:To the poster who has an executive functioning coach for their 15 year old, would you mind sharing their name? We're in Arlington and DD could benefit from this too! Thanks!

I’m the poster. We used educational connections for placement. Our first 2, on in 7th & one in 8th & 9th we’re awesome. When his tutor went back to teaching, we got a third tutor for 10th that was a bad fit. DS basically ignored her and did it the way that worked for him. We fired her and tried again through EC and got a real flake. Since DS has basically been managing without help for several months at that point and was doing well, we agree to stop With EF tutors as long as his grades were ok, etc. so far so good.

The EF tutors who were were awesome, because they taught him how to approach things, rather than doing it for him. For example, he learned to prioritize interesting projects last, after the boring math worksheet, because he could rabbit hole and waste a whole day on a project that should take 3 hours. He learned how to spread out work on large projects. He learned to pack work in to days when his extracurricular was not after school, so he could have a lighter night when he got home late. He figured out what work took less concentration and could be done at lunch or on the bus. Etc.

I would hesitate to recommend EC because we had mixed results, and the last two were missed. You can also check Wyzant. A lot of ZfCPS/ APS teachers are on there. And it’s cheaper, because you cut out the middle man. If we end up needing an EF coach again, I would probably start with Wyzant.

ADD is alarmingly overdiagnosed. 5% is the upper limit of valid diagnosis, but in actuality 33% of young boys are being diagnosed. That means for every 6 people on here who have been told their son has ADD, only one of them actually has the condituon. That is a potential of 5 boys being given amphetamines unnecessarily."

Your statistics are 100% wrong and not supported by medical studies (which, among other things, show with brain scans that ADHD brains do function differently.)

Also, long term meta studies show that people with ADHD who take stimulant's are LESS likely to become addicts; those that are not treated are MORE likely to become addicts.

So, yeah, you really don't know what you're talking about.

Anonymous wrote:ADD is alarmingly overdiagnosed. 5% is the upper limit of valid diagnosis, but in actuality 33% of young boys are being diagnosed. That means for every 6 people on here who have been told their son has ADD, only one of them actually has the condituon. That is a potential of 5 boys being given amphetamines unnecessarily.

These parents are claiming their boys being on stimulants are a "Godsend", "miracle", and "life-changing". Well no sh*t captain obvious. Anyone taking a powerful amphetamine is going to see amazing results. Your results wont be so quick if you put thr hard work in as a parent and help guide yiur child through normal behavior challenges kids go through Of course now you have possibly permanantly altered your sons brain chemistry which carries long after exposure has ceased and this is assumingthry dont become addicts. Amphetimines should be a very last resort for those "real" 5% of actual ADD patients.

I concur. If the diagnosis is so high maybe it's just normal development.

Lots of college kids take these at exam time, and no surprise! see huge improvements in their performance. For the record, I don't begrudge them doing this. It's not cheating, just an extension of leveling the playing field to
equal students who are better test takers. Plus their brains are pretty much fully developed by then.

Anonymous wrote:ADD is alarmingly overdiagnosed. 5% is the upper limit of valid diagnosis, but in actuality 33% of young boys are being diagnosed. That means for every 6 people on here who have been told their son has ADD, only one of them actually has the condituon. That is a potential of 5 boys being given amphetamines unnecessarily.

These parents are claiming their boys being on stimulants are a "Godsend", "miracle", and "life-changing". Well no sh*t captain obvious. Anyone taking a powerful amphetamine is going to see amazing results. Your results wont be so quick if you put thr hard work in as a parent and help guide yiur child through normal behavior challenges kids go through Of course now you have possibly permanantly altered your sons brain chemistry which carries long after exposure has ceased and this is assumingthry dont become addicts. Amphetimines should be a very last resort for those "real" 5% of actual ADD patients.

The problem I have with people like you is you've created an environment in which a large percentage of kids struggle, then you turn around and attack parents for trying to help their kids. The hard work is making fundamental changes to our education model but that hard work is out of the reach of most parents. I know at least one person who went and created her own school but I think we'd all agree that most of us aren't going to be able to do that. I know other parents who've pulled their kids out and are homeschooling, but again, many of us need to work to generate a paycheck.

Anonymous wrote:No ADHD with DS. I think boys are action oriented and they need to move around a lot. It's hard for them to sit in school all day. I think it's natural and not an illness that requires drugs. It's just the nature of boys.

My nephew doesn't have ADD. My niece does.

Anonymous wrote:No ADHD with DS. I think boys are action oriented and they need to move around a lot. It's hard for them to sit in school all day. I think it's natural and not an illness that requires drugs. It's just the nature of boys.

Action-oriented and moving around a lot isn't what lead us to an evaluation. I'm sure there are some kids where this is the case, but the hyperactivity component is completely absent in many people with ADHD.