Where Do I Start - Warsaw,IN

My son has ADHD and the first place we started was with his pediatrician. The pediatrician referred us to an agency that does testing for ADHD and recommendations for medications. The pediatrician will usually want a recommendation from a teacher. If he is violent, though, you may want to get him into behavioral counseling, as well. Are you in the Charleston area? If so, you can call Family Service of Kanawha Valley, they can get him in on a grant. The medication doesn't fix everything, but it helps them to calm down, so you can work on the other behaviors.

My youngest son was diagnosed with ADHD. A lot of what you have just said sounds like what I was going thru way back when (he was diagnosed at 4 and is now 12). It was very stressful for me when they first suggested getting tested but I knew it had to be done. You need to make sure you can do everything in your power to help them be successful...that is how I had to look at it. He was on meds from age 5 until last year. He is finally managable without medication (still a HUGE handful :).
I would start with your Family Practice or Pediatrician. They will be able to refer you to a Psycologist or Psychiatrist. My son went to a Psychiatrist every 2 months once they stabalized his meds. Sometimes you will be able to find a Family Practice Dr to prescribe the needed medications however I don't think you will have much luck with that when your son is so young.
I hope this helps! Let me know if I can help any other way.
S.

A good friend of mine son had similar situations as you expressed. He went through a lot of physical and speech and hearing therapy before the age 5.

When he entered preschool at 5, his teachers noticed behaviors like you described, she too was sent to a neurologist. I hear they wont diagnosis a child with add or adhd until that age.

My friend has a sense of relief now that she's aware of his situation and knows effective measures of handling his behavior.

Please do not rule out the possibility of autism. My son acted that way when he was younger. He didn't talk til he was 5 or 6 and is still violent. I may be wrong. But I would have everything checked out.

He can be checked at this age. I would start with a child psychiatrist or a child psycologist. You will fill out an evaluation form and the teacher will fill out the same form, then they will give you a perscription for what ever tests they need done to be certain. Just out of curriosity...if you give him something like an antihistimine or other medication that is supposed to cause drousiness...does he get more hyper? If so, that's a big red flag...a drug will have the opposite reaction of the mood that you're already in...if you're hyper and you take something that is supposed to bring you down...it will actually make you more hyper...that's why most kids that are ADD or ADHD start out on Ritalin...it's an upper...a stimulant...and it brings them down.

My 9 yr old stepson has been diagnosed with ADHD 4 yrs ago. They have had him on ritilin, strattera, concerta, metadate, focalin, depakote, risperdal, clonidine, adderall and keppra. Some of these med's are for bipolar and schizophrenia. I do believe he is ADHD but not the others. Take him to his regualar doctor and ask them who should he see. They should do a brain wave test, if not, go elsewhere.
My stepson does not act they way he does at home. He has rules here and at home, he has none. She lets him by with everything. At first, he thought he was doing that here also. We set him rules, like my 2 sons has the same rules to follow too. We havent seen him in over a year. But I just wanted to let you know that it what we went thru. (the mother also used a mental hospital threat to get him to stop telling us why he has bruises) (she has abused him and we cant get him out of the home because she tells him to say it was us and she has refused us any visitation because of this)
There is a website with people talking about themselves, their husbands, wives, kids, grandkids, etc being add/adhd.
http://www.adhdnews.com is the website. All you need to do is register. The people there are nice and will give you advice as to where you need to start and help you can for your child and you.
sorry this is so long and my problems with my stepson and his mother added in. Its a long story. I just feel sorry for my son having to go thru this because his mother just wanted a SSI check for him being adhd.

Have you had him evaluated by the schools yet? In IN you can request a free evaluation through the Early Childhood Development program through the public schools. Think of it as First Steps for kids ages 3-5. I had my son evaluated when he was 3.5 and it turns out that he has developemental delays in social/emotional skills. It's way too early to test for ADD... most experts agree that it can't really be diagnosed until age 6 or 7. If he qualifies for the ECD program than he'll recieve therapy/services free through the school.... this may mean an hour or so a week where you bring him to a therapist, or it may mean he gets to attend the Early Childhood Preschool that operates at your local school. I took him to speech last year (age 3) twice a week. This year (age 4) he attends preschool at the local elementary 4 afternoons a week. I've seen a huge improvement in his behavior. The teachers are specifically trained to work with kids with special needs (all developmental issues like Downs, austism, physcical handicaps, etc are in the class) and the classes are small. There are 6 kids with 2 teachers. He'll be in the program again next year because he turns 5 in July. That's very close to the kindergarten cut-off date and he won't be mature enough so we're giving him another year in the program.

Call your local school for more information. Not alot of people know about it. :(

-D.

Well physicians are quicker to say that the child had ADD/ADHD. Where a psychologist will probably look at more of the picture to see if there are any triggers for his behavior. I don't know about a neurologist. I have not heard of people taking a child to a neurologist to be checked for ADD/ADHD.

My son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 7. I first started with his pediatrician. They gave me a questionnaire to fill out regarding behaviors and attention. They gave me a second questionnaire to give to his teacher to fill out. These are then sent back to the doctor for his review. Then an appointment was made for my son and I to talk to the doctor. The teacher and I gave the same answers and he was diagnosed with ADHD. He was put on Adderol extended tablets. This seemed to really help with his attention. The two side effects are sleeplessness and decrease in appetite. He had neither of these and did very well. It was also nice because I did not have to send medication to school. He took one pill in the morning every day and that was it. He is 15 now and has outgrown the problem, which sometimes happens. Hopefully that will happen in your case. Good luck.

I am a mother of a 9yr old girl a 6yr old boy and a 1yr old boy. My 6yr old has been diagnosed as ADHD.He was diagnosed at the age of 2.My best advice to you is to start with a psychologist,therapist,and his doctor.The Dr.should be able to get you the names of local Dr.s in your area.I hope this helps you. If there is anything else I could help you with please let me know.

go to the family doctor and have the doc refer you to a psychologist. yes, they can be tested. did you try a multi-vitamin? sometimes if they are lacking in vitamins b and magnesuim, they will not listen. good luck!