Minors with ADHD

[Kosmik]

Thanks for this thread. I've learned more about ADHD in the past few hours (podcasts, web and, of course, mybb) than the info that I received my son's teacher this morning. She "diagnosed" him as "very active, disruptive" and "cannot concentrate" and went to recommend Ritalin. She told me to go to the GP today and get a script Nothing was said about an assessment or therapy. How is allowed by schools!

Anyway, nuf' about that. We will seek professional help. Thanks again.

Not a f***. If there is a concern, the SCHOOL will go through a internal process first and the should call the parents to discuss it. They will then suggest going an investigative route. Its quite a process as many things must be eliminated first ie: hearing issues etc before even coming close to anything chemical.

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Thanks for this thread. I've learned more about ADHD in the past few hours (podcasts, web and, of course, mybb) than the info that I received my son's teacher this morning. She "diagnosed" him as "very active, disruptive" and "cannot concentrate" and went to recommend Ritalin. She told me to go to the GP today and get a script Nothing was said about an assessment or therapy. How is allowed by schools!

Anyway, nuf' about that. We will seek professional help. Thanks again.

She's in no position to make a medical diagnosis...

 

[Kosmik]

so my parents refused to believe I had ADHD because it was an In thing at the time as well. I mean i was smart and I did well at school.

Thats quite a common perception. Smart kids can still suffer. My son respectively is decently intelligent BUT he struggles to focus or maintain focus without disruption. His dose allows him to concentrate more, not make him unresponsive or quiet or dull. If that happens to a child, the dosage and diagnosis is very wrong.

Also medical intervention is a cocktail. Its not one fits all and needs monitoring and progress by ALL the parties: parents, school and doctor, IN THAT ORDER. Do NOT take for granted what a school says.

You will very easily see a adhd child when doing homework.

 

[Lupus]

so my parents refused to believe I had ADHD because it was an In thing at the time as well. I mean i was smart and I did well at school.

Eventually in my mid 30's I decided to get Ritalin for myself. the difference that made in my life has been insane. if I had the clarity that comes with Ritalin when i was in high school I would have performed 15 times better academically and most likely made much better choices with my life direction.

by the way my mother was a teacher for the "helpklas" so kids with ADHD on Ritalin that is why she was so against it.

go get a proper assessment. and then go get a second and a third opinion.
and there are many different brands of Ritalin, and all work differently. I went though trail and error with the help of my GP where I tried a month's worth of it at a time and kept track of a few things she told me to look out for to figure what worked best for me. i am lucky its the generic and the cheapest one.

remember those who do not need Ritalin at all will experience it as a massive stimulant, and will be more energetic and more disruptive than ever.
some who have other issues Ritalin will turn them off. the child will be zombie like and simply go though the motions without any emotional attachment. this could also happen with too high a dose.

if your kid takes it and for the first day or two say they feel no different you are in the right area. day 3 to 5 the clarity starts, and after a week of routine use the benefits become clear.

This is what I found at 40. But with Concerta, the clarity does help, but eventually it stabilizes, but you'll still have the focus

 

[B-1]

Thanks for this thread. I've learned more about ADHD in the past few hours (podcasts, web and, of course, mybb) than the info that I received my son's teacher this morning. She "diagnosed" him as "very active, disruptive" and "cannot concentrate" and went to recommend Ritalin. She told me to go to the GP today and get a script Nothing was said about an assessment or therapy. How is allowed by schools!

Anyway, nuf' about that. We will seek professional help. Thanks again.

Lazy teacher that can't keep the kids engaged so she wants them zombies.

Get a medical diagnosis as well as an intelligence assessment and seek advice based on the results. You may need to put your kid in a more challenging environment so they are not bored to death.

 

[The_Mowgs]

Thanks for this thread. I've learned more about ADHD in the past few hours (podcasts, web and, of course, mybb) than the info that I received my son's teacher this morning. She "diagnosed" him as "very active, disruptive" and "cannot concentrate" and went to recommend Ritalin. She told me to go to the GP today and get a script Nothing was said about an assessment or therapy. How is allowed by schools!

Anyway, nuf' about that. We will seek professional help. Thanks again.

Is this a school in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town?

 

[redspark]

so my parents refused to believe I had ADHD because it was an In thing at the time as well. I mean i was smart and I did well at school.

Eventually in my mid 30's I decided to get Ritalin for myself. the difference that made in my life has been insane. if I had the clarity that comes with Ritalin when i was in high school I would have performed 15 times better academically and most likely made much better choices with my life direction.

by the way my mother was a teacher for the "helpklas" so kids with ADHD on Ritalin that is why she was so against it.

go get a proper assessment. and then go get a second and a third opinion.
and there are many different brands of Ritalin, and all work differently. I went though trail and error with the help of my GP where I tried a month's worth of it at a time and kept track of a few things she told me to look out for to figure what worked best for me. i am lucky its the generic and the cheapest one.

remember those who do not need Ritalin at all will experience it as a massive stimulant, and will be more energetic and more disruptive than ever.
some who have other issues Ritalin will turn them off. the child will be zombie like and simply go though the motions without any emotional attachment. this could also happen with too high a dose.

if your kid takes it and for the first day or two say they feel no different you are in the right area. day 3 to 5 the clarity starts, and after a week of routine use the benefits become clear.

Much appreciated Baxteen. This is very helpful. I will provide feedback in the next few weeks.

 

[ISP cash cow]

Definitely get a professionals opinion or two or three, rather than taking the schools "opinion".

In my opinion, with the overcrowding in schools, and young boys being boys. the teachers sometimes can lose the classroom due to an overexcited child. however they are just energetic but the teacher does not have the time or will to work with those kids and so would rather prefer them to be robotic and controllable.

My son in primary school many years ago was diagnosed with ADD and the school wanted to put him on Ritalin. My wife and I decided we were not going to go that route and hats off to my wife she worked hard with my son. He was highly intelligent but just did not have the focus to complete tasks or finish his work in school or do homework etc. With hard work and effort we (mostly the wife) eventually got him into a routine and by midway through high school he was able to focus and started doing well. he cruised his degree at Varsity and is now currently working on his PHD.

Then in a second situation my niece was also struggling with ADD but no matter how much work my sister tried to help her with, she could not do it and so she eventually had to go onto Concerta (I was strongly against it after what we had been through with my son). However the difference with my niece, was that you could actually see a physical and mental improvement for my niece and it did work.

TL,DR: Ritalin and Concerta works for certain individuals but try other options first before resorting to it as an off the cuff fix, and if you do resort to it - make sure it is a professional child psychologist/psychiatrist that is helping with the dosage and the follow ups.

 

[Ciferion]

Thanks for this thread. I've learned more about ADHD in the past few hours (podcasts, web and, of course, mybb) than the info that I received my son's teacher this morning. She "diagnosed" him as "very active, disruptive" and "cannot concentrate" and went to recommend Ritalin. She told me to go to the GP today and get a script Nothing was said about an assessment or therapy. How is allowed by schools!

Anyway, nuf' about that. We will seek professional help. Thanks again.

No teacher has the authority to diagnose or prescribe any medication to any child. Who the hell does she think she is? Please stay away from Ritalin it has nasty side effects that are long lasting.

 

[The_MAC]

So the topic recently came up with my middle son, 6 year old.

He's full of energy, and has a big personality, very active and passionate.

What I do appreciate about our school is that we have opted to start some play therapy, it's a non intrusive way of assessing physical (to some point) and psychological issues.

We will then take it from there.

What prompted this was some disruptive behaviour is class, which can be confused with too much energy, and by default ADHD, that's the common knee-jerk "diagnosis".

I am a true believer in "Training the parents, and Rehabilitating the Child" I.e. start at home, fix things that we are doing wrong, after all, children react and learn to what we do and say.

If, after all the assessments and interventions we still don't see improvement, then we might consider medication, but that it most certainly not plan A.

 

[redspark]

Lazy teacher that can't keep the kids engaged so she wants them zombies.

Get a medical diagnosis as well as an intelligence assessment and seek advice based on the results. You may need to put your kid in a more challenging environment so they are not bored to death.

Thanks B-1. He does get bored very quickly and will want to move to the next activity unless it is minecraft, bed wars, Uno, art, roblox or youtube.

 

[redspark]

Is this a school in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town?

Northern KZN

 

[Stinkbeaver]

Thanks for this thread. I've learned more about ADHD in the past few hours (podcasts, web and, of course, mybb) than the info that I received my son's teacher this morning. She "diagnosed" him as "very active, disruptive" and "cannot concentrate" and went to recommend Ritalin. She told me to go to the GP today and get a script Nothing was said about an assessment or therapy. How is allowed by schools!

Anyway, nuf' about that. We will seek professional help. Thanks again.

While I haven't gone through some of the responses yet, Does the school that your son attend have Social Workers? if so the first thing your should do is request a meeting with the principal, Social worker and teacher in question and ask why the teacher reached such a conclusion. This will serve to cover you should you wish to challenge the assertion that your child has ADHD.

Some schools will close ranks or even force you to move your child, While its true you can sue, This should be the last resort as it will expose your son to even more medical/social tests than maybe necessary together with associated costs. Any action should be in the best interest of your son and shouldn't be blinded by the excessive need to prove how wrong the teacher is. Your can also get medical advice if your are concerned about your son.

 

[Tomtomtom]

The way to think about it is that school is child prison, and teachers are guards. From their perspective the main concern is that their prisoners stay calm and under control.

Not even real adult prisons get to drug their prisoners against their will. So it's quite a gift to teachers when parents say, ja sure, we'll give our kid Ritalin, methylphenidate, also known as legal cocaine, to "help him".

Note that how the child is "helped" is only judged in terms of the school, i.e. "doing well" from the teacher's perspective. This is not obviously not the same thing as thriving as a human, which is not judged by a teacher and can only happen when you're finally released from child prison anyway.

Also there's not much value in deferring to "outside" non-school professionals, because all these industries are in loose collaboration. The best case for any of these service providers is that they are able to find some reasonably defensible "problems" with your child that can be made to sound serious enough to demand several years of follow-up, if only to monitor. Because that's their income stream.

Your best bet is to close ranks as a family, don't defer to the school's authority more than absolutely necessary, don't rattle your child's confidence by investigating their defects, let them express their energy in purely self-directed ways wherever they can (*not* more adullt-directed extra-murals), and have some sympathy for what an awful waste of time and infringement on freedom school is for so many kids.

 

[redspark]

While I haven't gone through some of the responses yet, Does the school that your son attend have Social Workers? if so the first thing your should do is request a meeting with the principal, Social worker and teacher in question and ask why the teacher reached such a conclusion. This will serve to cover you should you wish to challenge the assertion that your child has ADHD.

Some schools will close ranks or even force you to move your child, While its true you can sue, This should be the last resort as it will expose your son to even more medical/social tests than maybe necessary together with associated costs. Any action should be in the best interest of your son and shouldn't be blinded by the excessive need to prove how wrong the teacher is. Your can also get medical advice if your are concerned about your son.

Thanks Stinkbeaver. There are no social workers. We will first seek medical advice and then tackle teacher/school issue next.

 

[RobZ]

i fully agree with @Baxteen - similar story

I was diagnosed with ADD ( in the 70's before ADHD was a thing) quite early. It was hover stopped when i reached puberty ( thinking at the time was that you learned to cope by then) marks went from top student to class dunce!! i scraped through matric...
fast forward to 35 yr=ears old. I had read that ADD is a lifelong condition and my GP agreed to prescribe ritalin to see if it had an effect ... OMG
info ( earned my Engineering Masters at the young age of 50)
The best explanation on why a stimulant (ritalin) helps with an add/adhd problem goes as follows:
the brain is a super complex highway ( anaolgy ) on-ramps and off-ramps everywhere.
everybody has a traffic cop doing duty to ensure that the correct cars get to the correct destinations.
in ADD/ADHD the traffic cop falls asleep! and chaos ensues....
The stimulant "wakes-up" the traffic cop...

for me personally : i feel no different taking ritalin, but it has a profound effect on my production / output for that day.
We performed an experiment, my wife randomly emptied the capsule of ritalin in the morning for a while. i.e. i was taking a Placebo - what differed on those days was that with me working equally hard, my output for the placebo days was a fraction of the actual ritalin days. but during the day i could not tell the difference.

Finally my advice to @jdido87 :

1. Absolutely Only allow your child to be given Ritalin if a professional has performed a proper evaluation.
   
   
2. Don't be tempted by Homeopathic remedies and diet changes : for an over-active kid that is NOT adhd this will work, but for ADHD kids - your are making it worse!!! ( putting traffic cop into a deeper sleep)
   
   
3. The teacher was out of line by suggesting you go to your GP for a script .... BUT
   1. Remember The Teacher sees your kid's behaviour in relation to how the other kids are behaving, If she has been teaching for a while, this evaluation is also then based on personal experience with kids that extends over many many classes of kids.
   2. No Teacher enjoys telling the Parents of a child that their kid is different ect. so be aware that it is NOT that the teacher is lazy... if fact as previously mentioned a stimulant prescribed to a non-adhd kid will usually result in a much more disruptive influence in the class.
   3. Finally - if your child is diagnosed with ADD/ ADHD don't forget to THANK the teacher...
      
4. On the Plus Side, There is a significant correlation between ADHD and higher IQ

Sorry for the novel Length reply, But it is ( no surprise) something I am passionate about.

 

[Lupus]

The way to think about it is that school is child prison, and teachers are guards. From their perspective the main concern is that their prisoners stay calm and under control.

Not even real adult prisons get to drug their prisoners against their will. So it's quite a gift to teachers when parents say, ja sure, we'll give our kid Ritalin, methylphenidate, also known as legal cocaine, to "help him".

Note that how the child is "helped" is only judged in terms of the school, i.e. "doing well" from the teacher's perspective. This is not obviously not the same thing as thriving as a human, which is not judged by a teacher and can only happen when you're finally released from child prison anyway.

Also there's not much value in deferring to "outside" non-school professionals, because all these industries are in loose collaboration. The best case for any of these service providers is that they are able to find some reasonably defensible "problems" with your child that can be made to sound serious enough to demand several years of follow-up, if only to monitor. Because that's their income stream.

Your best bet is to close ranks as a family, don't defer to the school's authority more than absolutely necessary, don't rattle your child's confidence by investigating their defects, let them express their energy in purely self-directed ways wherever they can (*not* more adullt-directed extra-murals), and have some sympathy for what an awful waste of time and infringement on freedom school is for so many kids.

You do know that isn't what ADHD meds do right? It doesn't create zombified kids at all, in fact you show little to no understanding of what ADHD is.
Your advice is terrible and the person should defer to a medical practitioner.

 

[Lupus]

While I haven't gone through some of the responses yet, Does the school that your son attend have Social Workers? if so the first thing your should do is request a meeting with the principal, Social worker and teacher in question and ask why the teacher reached such a conclusion. This will serve to cover you should you wish to challenge the assertion that your child has ADHD.

Some schools will close ranks or even force you to move your child, While its true you can sue, This should be the last resort as it will expose your son to even more medical/social tests than maybe necessary together with associated costs. Any action should be in the best interest of your son and shouldn't be blinded by the excessive need to prove how wrong the teacher is. Your can also get medical advice if your are concerned about your son.

Why challenge it? I mean if they go and actually have the child assessed to see if they do or don't have it.
Why do people not want to help out when it's a mental disorder? Would you prefer the child suffer?

 

[Lupus]

Lazy teacher that can't keep the kids engaged so she wants them zombies.

Get a medical diagnosis as well as an intelligence assessment and seek advice based on the results. You may need to put your kid in a more challenging environment so they are not bored to death.

ADHD meds do not create zombie children. Seriously wish people would stop this asinine logic. There are also different types of ADHD, not all have hyperactive kids, not all make the child seem bored.

 

[Stinkbeaver]

Why challenge it? I mean if they go and actually have the child assessed to see if they do or don't have it.
Why do people not want to help out when it's a mental disorder? Would you prefer the child suffer?

Never under estimate the importance of comprehension or reading to understand, I specifically mentioned the words "should you wish" as this may indeed be a possible outcome if OP decides to get a medical opinion which finds the the teachers was wrong and therefore prejudiced their son.

And no one said they should not seek professional help, read my post slowly this time so that you do miss the essence of my post.