ADD for a straight A 10th grader?

Parent Cafe
101

<p>^^^Shrinkrap can you elaborate . </p>

<p>I fear this is not within the TOS, as it is a pretty big cut and paste, but I really can’t say it better. </p>

<p>"The Great Smoky Mountain study examined the prevalence of serious emotional and behavioral disturbances, including ADHD, in children in the western region of North Carolina [42]. In the study, trained interviewers applied DSM criteria, including the requirement for impaired functioning, to a representative sample of 1,422 children. From these data, the researchers estimated that about 6.2% of children in the community met the criteria for ADHD (a greater number exhibited one or more ADHD symptoms but fell short of the diagnosis). The study then looked at rates of stimulant use and found that 7.3% of children in the study had received stimulants at some time during the 4 year study period. At first glance it might therefore appear that slightly more children received stimulants than met the DSM criteria for ADHD; in fact, over 57% of those who received medication did not meet the criteria.</p>

<p>Two factors explain the Great Smoky Mountain study’s findings. First, not all of the children who warranted an ADHD diagnosis had received stimulants; 72.2% of the children who warranted an ADHD diagnosis received stimulants and only 22.8% of children who warranted an ADHD-NOS diagnosis received stimulants. Second, 4.5% of children who did not warrant an ADHD diagnosis nevertheless received stimulants. While 4.5% is a small percentage, it is 4.5% of all the children in the study who did not have ADHD, which is a large number. In terms of absolute numbers, the study found that more children without ADHD received stimulants than did children with ADHD. The study concluded that in the community (as compared to a rigorous research trial), a significant proportion of children with ADHD do not receive stimulants and a significant number of children without ADHD are prescribed stimulants.</p>

<p>It is widely recognized that ADHD is over-diagnosed in some affluent communities, where “local expectations” are such that stimulants are just one more tool to promote performance in “the Academic Olympics” [43]. Because we, the authors of this document, assumed that children living in poverty might be more likely to be judged unruly and therefore be prescribed drugs like Ritalin, we came to the workshop expecting to learn that ADHD is also over-diagnosed in poorer children. We discovered that the issue is a bit more complex. It is true that, in the US, access to mental health services generally decreases with lower economic status. Even though many poor children qualify for publicly-funded programs, such as Medicaid, and therefore for care that compares well with the care offered to economically advantaged children, poor families often under-utilize the services to which they are entitled [34,44-46]. (The exception may be children in foster care, who are almost all eligible for Medicaid, but whose utilization rates are higher than other Medicaid-enrolled children [47]). Add to this complexity that children in poor or wealthy families may well be subject to different “local normative expectations,” and we can see how rates of diagnosis might vary by economic status. "</p>

102

<p>We spent several years dithering about whether our DD was ADHD when she was very young. Since there is no test, and noone can really say whether a student is ADHD or not, we elected to simply try the medication and see it helped. the resuts were nothing short of miraculous. The one piece that parents miss is that there is a down side to NOT taking the meds. Stress - anxiety - frustration - negative labeling and “kidding” from others - internalizing negative scripts about herself. Sometimes, I think parents try too hard to keep kids off them, and miss this piece. </p>

<p>We used a psychiatrist, who changed her meds five times in the eight years that she took them - i would never trust anyone except a psychiatrist to do this correctly. In 9th, she decided on her own not to take them anymore. We didn’t pressure her, so she stopped for three years. She had some rocky times, but we felt it needed to be her decision. </p>

<p>She elected to restart before starting college. Her reasoning was that her learned coping strategies worked in high school, but she was not sure they would be adequate for college. Surprise - she has received the best grades of her life, and is extremely happy and well adjusted. I think this is due to the meds PLUS using every single strategy I every suggested or anyone else did. Perhaps at some point she will elect to test going off them, but for now “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”</p>

103

<p>

</p>

<p>That was in our worries for a long time, and that was why we had been resisting the desire to take her to see a doctor. Yes we hope she does well academically, but we sat down and thought about it - she doesn’t have to be a straight A student. She doesn’t have to get into an ivy. she is still a child. and so on, and so forth. we constantly thought about those. The decision to finally take this seriously was made after D. asked for help herself, and that was consistent with what our concern over her attention problem. </p>

<p>I agree with several of the comments above, including Hunt, Irishdoctor, etc. I constantly think maybe she is doing too much. She is now in marching band. Last year she got into All State band. She is an important member of her school band. If you have a child in marching band, you know what I’m talking about - the band takes tremendous amount of time - not comparing it to a football player or some serious athletes. At first, it was in agreement that she would not do band this year. But the state band gave her ecstasy and she said she would do well in school and do band again so she’d be eligible for state band audition. H. supported her. (H. was a band kid himself when he was in high school.) She enjoys band. The problem is she comes back home at 9:30 after band practice and still have a lot of homework to do. </p>

<p>So is it a good thing to give up challenging class, so she can do band and free from too much pressure in academics? I even thought about that and suggested it. She objected it violently. She thinks she can do band and APs. </p>

<p>I still think that’s part of the problem. But it’ll take a professional person to convince her and my husband, or convince me otherwise. </p>

<p>Oh well, we are still waiting to be evaluated. just came here to grumble some. Thanks all for listening and for all your comments.</p>

104

<p>There are many causes of attentional issues. They can result from depression, anxiety, physical illnesses, age appropriate behavior and many other factors. I would recommend an evaluation by a very experienced psychologist that does ALL of the testing and interviews extensively the child and family members. You may want to select someone who also provides therapy, if needed, so you won’t need to retell the entire story.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

105

<p>Sounds as though she simply has too much on her plate. Whether she has an intrinsic reason for the pressure of getting straight A’s or subtle “hints” and demands from parents for the need to get A’s, she’s hit the wall of trying to balance everything on her plate. </p>

<p>Many students want to blame their inability to keep up with expectations on ADD rather then admit that they just can’t always meet such high expectations. It’s a way to take the blame off of their ability and blame it on something else. They think if they take the magic “ADD smart pill”, everything is going to get easier. </p>

<p>There are so many reasons for being distracted during the day—puberty, lack of sleep, too many demands during the day, normal teenage social issues, eating schedules, noise, allergies, etc. Too many people seek out an ADD diagnosis so they can get that Ritalin prescription. I’m not saying this is the case here, but it is in too many cases. Everyone is looking for the magic pill. Kids are very good at learning which symptoms to convey to doctors to get that prescription–ask any college student.</p>

106

<p>My daughter sounds very much like your daughter. She was diagnosed with ADD after first grade. Her teacher called a meeting, showed us her findings. We contacted her pediatrician, who referred us to a psychologist for testing. The results of that testing were startling and she was put on medication. </p>

<p>My advice to any parent is to have their child fully tested. Pediatricians are great people, and they definitely have your kids’ best interests at heart, but they simply don’t have time to do all of the advanced testing that can pinpoint the exact nature of your daughter’s issues. </p>

<p>The truth is, there are a lot of things that can cause loss of focus. Anxiety and depression are two big ones. Simply putting your daughter on a stimulant will not address those issues. </p>

<p>If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me.</p>

107

<p>Part of growing up is learning that you can’t do everything you want. That something always has to give and you may have to give up something you like. Just because you are quote unquote gifted doesn’t mean you don’t have to sometimes sacrifice.</p>

<p>Why are we so quick to do meds instead of looking at lifestyle choices? Just because she is awesome at three instruments doesn’t mean she needs to play all three. </p>

<p>And perhaps her mind wanders because there are rare times when she isn’t doing something “important” or for a competition, for a grade or whatever. </p>

<p>Sometimes letting your mind wander is a goooood thing. It’s freeing, it’s actually good for you and maybe some of these over acheiviers don’t get that.</p>

<p>Has she ever meditated, just walked to walk, does she do yoga? </p>

<p>Before I would drug my kid, I would look at the entire package, set boundaries, and limits, and if she can’t do it all unless she’s medicated, gee, maybe that the problem.</p>

<p>I googled an ADHD test online, and it would have very easy for me to figure out what answers they were looking for. Also did one for as pie and for add…very easy to game the tests. Teens can self diagnosis themselves into an ailment. I have seen it.</p>

<p>Again, see if she is getting sleep, proper nutrition, shes not anemic, she is exercising, etx.</p>

<p>And tell her something has to give. If I were going to pay for drugs, I would absolutely insist on life changes. And I would insist she make, gosh, some choices. That’s life.</p>

<p>My husband cant golf and play soccer. My daughter couldn’t write her novel and enter art contests. Just because she wants to do it all doesn’t mean she can or should, gifted or not.</p>

108

<p>^I don’t think OP is even considering meds for her D at this point. I believe the issue was whether to test for ADD or not. Conversation regarding drugs is putting cart before horse, imo. </p>

<p>BTW, Proper testing involves SEVERAL tests and can take HOURS to complete. Things such as IQ and processing speed are tested among several other things. It’s not one little questionnaire, although that is what a Pediatrician may give in his/her office. That is not sufficient. An experienced Psychiatrist who specializes in testing should do it.</p>

109

<p>Got the packet. The questionnaire is just like the link that compmom gave. </p>

<p>The email from the pediatrician says that she often send my challenging cases of ADHD to a pediatric neurologist who uses a testing tool called “The Quotient” test to help support the diagnosis of ADHD, or to a neuropsychologist who identifies ADHD through similar testing.</p>

110

<p>@spectrum2, so your son has been taking meds for a while now? How does that work?</p>

111

<p>My bad, Seahorse, meds are being considered by OP before results are in.</p>

112

<p>Why not look at life style? Why not look at choses daughter is making? Her decisions? Her wanting to do it all?</p>

<p>And find out if her concentration issues are from any number of very plausible causes, exhaustion, diet, spinning a thousand plates</p>

<p>Wouldn’t it be better if she could be helped in that fashion first, finding tools besides drugs?</p>

<p>She may indeed have add or ADHD, but it appears like he op and daughter feel it would answer all her problems without having to make real life choices.</p>

113

<p>Spend the dough to get a very high quality eval for the kid and do it RIGHT NOW!!! Also, get a psych specialist to do the eval rather than a general pediatrician. It is pretty tricky to nail down LDs precisely. So if you are going to deal with your concerns, then deal with it fully and completely. </p>

<p>Once you get the results back, then you’ll know if the kid has symptoms/condition or not. And then you can decide what, if anything, to do about it.</p>

<p>My oldest kid had some significant learning issues that started to hit hard in middle school. Once we had the eval, we were then able to figure out what to do (which has changed and evolved somewhat over the years). Without an HQ eval, we would not have been able to make any good decisions about what to do. Listening to posters on an online forum express their opinions about whether your kid does/does not have ADD or should/should not be on meds is not helping your kid. Fyi, I started out virulently anti-med and thinking all the ADD stuff was BS. Now, I’m convinced ADD is significantly under-diagnosed and under-treated, and that the meds (while they have their risks and concerns) are a god-send. </p>

<p>Based on my first experience, I had my other younger kids eval-ed too even though they generally were doing pretty well in school. Turns out one was also mild ADD; the other was just a teenager.</p>

<p>The reason to do the eval now is this. If your kid does have ADD, you’ll need to work pretty quickly (with a HS soph) to get it figured out and do something about it. For example, your kid may qualify for and need some accomodations for ACT/SAT testing. You’ll have zero chance of getting those (which are hard to get) unless you have a well documented history of the kid’s diagnosis and treatment (beginning right now). If you wait until junior year, it is too late. My first kid never would have made it into college without those accomodations.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

114

<p>

</p>

<p>and accommodations if any are granted as written into the IEP documented are needed for the testing services.</p>

115

<p>Seahorserock, OP states in her initial post that attention issues were apparent in her daughter back in elementary school, when presumably her plate was not so full as it is now. I don’t know why you would object to the girl being evaluated for possible ADHD and LD’s. No one is suggesting that she be medicated, just that she be tested by an experienced professional, one who may indeed suggest a lighter schedule. It’s always the posters with no experience with an ADHD child who have the strongest opinions on this subject.</p>

116

<p>Accomodations can be obtained through an IEP or a 504 Plan. </p>

<p>Diffence between the two:</p>

<p>[What</a> is the difference between an IEP and a 504 Plan?](<a href=“http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/articles?52]What”>What is the difference between an IEP and a 504 Plan? | DO-IT)</p>

117

<p>^^Yes sorry, I forget about the 504s (since my son has had an IEP since first grade but not for ADD or ADHD).</p>

118

<p>When we took our D. to CTY summer camp, we found out there were big number of kids there taking ADD pills. Many of her CTY friends are taking ADD meds. Also we went to another gifted camp last summer and found out the number of ADD kids is overwhelming!</p>

119

<p>helpsilteplait: He has been taking a low dose of adderall since his Junior year. He is now a Freshman in college. He hasn’t complained about the way it makes him feel. It isn’t a cure all but it is one tool that has helped him to be more successful. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions.</p>

120

<p>Your daughter is communicating to you that something is not right and she wants help. The only thing she can tell you is what she has heard of, but depression or other emotional issues can also be at play here. Take her seriously, she wants help, and make an appointment with a psychologist with whom she can talk. The shrink will evalutate more than just ADD–and make recommendations–1) wheather formal testing is requirred, or 2) if psychotherapy (talking therapy) is warranted. If the doc thinks ADD is a possibility, formal testing may or may not be necessary. Finally, if your daughter has a diagnosis, depression, or ADD, or any number of other issues, the school must accommodate the disability. They will do what is necessary, ie extra time on tests, or no penalty for late work, etc. Good luck!</p>