Possible ADHD?

[Berniep]

Hi,
Hope you don't mind me joining you? my eldest son is aged 8 and has some learning problems he struggles to read he's still on the same level of reading book at school that he was on 2 years ago and still isn't making progress he also struggles with his writing and other academic things. Anyway he's been seeing a community GP because his teachers mentioned he can't sit still he's always fidgeting or getting up and wandering round the classroom at inappropriate times, plus he gets frustrated easily when he doesn't get his own way or when struggling with his school work, he also forget things easily i can tell him to do something and 5 mins later when i ask him why he's not done it he looks at me as though i've gone completely mad because he's forgotten i've said it. So the community GP has mentioned ADHD and would like to assess him for it, she said first she will send his school and me a questionnaire and then if the answers are what she expects he'll be refered to a specialist for more assessments, does anyone know what these further assessments will entail? has anyone out there got a child with ADHD? what is the medication like? the GP mentioned this. Any advice would be greatly appreiciated thanks in advance x

 

[niknaknat]

Hi there,
firstly medication will only be given in extreme cases of ADHD so try not worry about that. You will probablly be asked to attend a special clinic where they will want to see how your child reacts in certain situations..In my son's case they had him in a room with toys and books and just watched what he did, what he reacted to most, whether he was bothered by other people in the room. They also did physical tests which were more like an P.E class, seeing if he could follow a set path, or obstacle course, they did eye tests and also had a few informal meetings where the doctors tried to talk to him.
As your son is older than my son was when he was diagnosed, things could vary but it won't be dis-similar to the process we went through.
It could take months before you get a def yes or no...but once diagnosed they will give you and your son all the help and advice you will need to make things easier for him.
good luck xx

 

[lozzy21]

My brother has ADHD and attends mainstream school. At first he was a few years behing his age acidemicaly but when they got his medication sorted he cought up and is now in the higher class's in most of his lesons. Where as one of my workmates sons who refused to put him on medication is in a school for children with EBD , is functioning at the age of a 10 year old when he is 14 and cannot be left unsupervised. My advice would be that if they offer medication, go for it, it can seriously improve their behaviour giving them more of a chance to improve acidemicaly and makes you into a better mummy as you arnt stressed so much.

 

[Tinax]

my son was diagonised with ADHD when he was 9 he was put on ritalin and has been on it since, having the medication has improved him so much!
once he was diagonised he was refered to CAMHS, but i guess each area is diff xx

 

[amylw1]

my son is nearly 7 and i battled from age 2 that he had a problem. he is border ADHD and autism.

he gets very argumentative IF he catn get his own way, like you posted he fogets things and gets upset when you ask why he hasnt done it etc. the worst we have is sleep - half hr a night if lucky! so he has been put on melatonin which isnt liscened in the UK. he doesnt like change and its a military routiene daily.

has gets help from classroom assisstant once a week (not much but it helps). apart from this he is very bright on the reading/writing side of things, just gets bored very easily and then startsto cause problems.

 

[Berniep]

Thanks everyone your answers have given me more of a insight, the community GP did mention Camhs to me she said it would be them that assessed him, since posting my last post we have had a letter from his music teacher to say he messes around in his lessons and plays with the instruments when he's supposed to be sat listening and even when he has told he still does it again a few mins later, we are still waiting for the questionnaire to arrive so nothing has changed yet. Once again thanks for your replies x