Worried He Might Have Adhd

First of all you need to talk to his doctor. They will have you fill out a questionair reguarding his behaviar (?). Then you should take him to a therapist which should observe him playing and do some small testings because he is so young, to see if he has ADHD or if something else is going on. I have ADD and so I remember going through all that when I was younger and my daughter and nephew went through it as well. Turns out my nephew has ADHD and my daughter is just hyper. Good luck with what ever you decide to do.
M.

J.,
My son is ADHD--only he didn't display the signs that you mentioned about your son. My son was just extrememly hyper. Your son may have ADHD, but then he could also have ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder). Go to the following website chadd.org and under the heading "Understanding ADHD" you'll see another heading for "Co-existing Conditions". Look for ADHD & Co-existing Conditions: Disruptive Behavior Disorders. The article talks about ODD and also CD (Conduct Disorder).
Does your son go to pre-school, Pre-K or daycare? If so, what have the teachers said about him?
If you are interested, send me your email address and I have the Vanderbilt Assessment Forms for both parent and teacher that I can send you. This is the assessment form that physicians use in GA. You can print it out, send one for his teachers to fill out and you and your husband fill out the parent form. Then make an appt. with your pediatrician and let him score it.
I have so much more that I can say about the topic. I'm more than willing talk to you via email or phone, if you are interested.
Hope to hear from you! Good Luck!

Hello.. When My son was in first grade.. school tried to say he had adhd.. well after much testing and rigamarole.. found him negative for that. But .. he was extremely INTELLIGENT>> and so.. BORED! I have still had some issues w/ him.. but as said already here.. he needs to be tested... also.. any positive interests he may have.. please __ encourage him.. reading.. puzzles... even some video games are challenges.. sports etc.. hope this waz some help to you and Good Luck! ( I personally do not believe in Meds for children but.. if necessary and they do some good.. well then..

I had asked our pediatrician about what age they can diagnos ADD or ADHD, since it runs in my family. I was told that they usually won't even diagnos it until a child is about 6 or 7 if not older. Lots of kids just have lack of discipline or lack of physical activity. Just don't be too quick to jump to ADHD or ADD. Sometimes the treatments is worse than the problem.

Hi J.,

My 3.5 yr old son was just diagnosed with moderate to severe ADHD, the hyperactive/impulse control type.

After speaking a few weeks ago with his concerned preschool teacher I made an appt with our pediatrician who referred me to a child psychologist for an assessment. We met for an hour and then I filled out a form and his teacher filled out a form (I think they are standardized). The child psychologist gave us the diagnosis and recommended behavioral therapy combined with medication.

I liked her as did my son. Her contact info is:

Dr. Meghan Nicolini
Phone: ###-###-####
Website: www.drmeghan.com

Atlanta Psych Consultants
1100 Johnson Ferry Rd, Suite 1090
Atlanta, GA, 30342
(they are near Northside)

Because he is so young and we do not take medicating him lightly (not fundamentally oppose to it, just don't take it lightly) we decided to get a second opinion. I used to work at CDC and last week I attended their ADHD parent support group with some subject experts. I learned that the Cobb County School System does fairly extensive behavioral assessments and evaluations (as well as offering early interventions programs) for preschoolers through its special needs services.

Here is the contact info. If you are in another county I suspect they would have something similar and the Cobb County special needs folks would be able to refer you.

Special Needs Preschool Program
Martha J. Moore Center
6997 Keene St.
Kennesaw, GA 30144
ph: ###-###-####
fax: ###-###-####

Please feel free to contact me if I can give you any more info. You are not alone.

Liz

My son was diagnosed with adhd but he was in school. I actually had to take him to a child psychologist and they gave me 2 questionaires that had to be filled out, one by me and one by his teacher. The results were then sent away and when the results came back it showed he was in fact adhd. I then took a letter to our family physician that the psychologist wrote up and he was perscribed medication which works wonderful for the most part, he can still have bad days. The biggest thing the doctors told me was that he needed a very strict schedule and I have noticed since putting him on the schedule he does so much better. I find that any time we detour from the schedule is when he has most of his bad times. I also had to go one step further which was to eliminate a lot of the processed foods and sugars from his diet. He can no longer have cereal for breakfast before school otherwise he gets into trouble so I make him eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast. He calls it his brain food so he can be like Jimmy Neutron. We still sometimes have hamburger helpper or something along those lines for dinner but for the most part I actually have to cook him something from scratch otherwise it will show the next day at school. I'm not sure why the diet thing was so important for my son and I'm not even sure if it is what your son will need. My best advise to you would be to take him to a child psychologist and ask for their advice. Chances are you will need a referral from the psychologist before any physician will perscribe medication. Hope that helps and good luck with it all.

A cousin of mine had a son who was extremely hyper and couldn't focus (he is grown college graduate now). She searched until she found a pediatrician who had her change his diet. Anything with high fruitcose syrup was eliminated (which is alot of fruit juices and other products) , and other ingredients in certain foods where taken out of his diet. She said he did a 360 in his behavior and focus once she did that. I would talk to your pediatrician 1st about his diet and if you need to change it. If that doesn't work, I would see if he should be diagnosed. My son wasn't extremely hyper, but he had his moments. I took her advice and I really saw a change. I hope that helped!

My son was just like that at four. He still is at eight. When we started looking for help, we were told they can't offically diagnose a child until at least age seven, but they knew then something wasn't right. On top of being overly moody, hyper, argumentative, late sleeper/early riser, and unable to follow direction, he also had bathroom issues. It was utter Hell.

We tried for two years to use behavioral changes instead of meds, but when he was 6 1/2 something happened that just messed that up. He finally had to go on meds in Jan 2006 at age seven. There's a slight difference, but not much on my end. The school has been amazing, and if he's in pre-k and having problems, check if the county can help.

Make a journal of your son's behavior and his mood swings. The doctors ask you how many times he does this and that, a journal will make answering easier. This will also aid in charting his mood swings, which could indicate a more serious problem like bipolar disorder. Many kids diagnosed as ADHD turn out bipolar in adulthood. Don't stress about it, but it's something you may have to deal with.

I know you're having a very hard time right now, so try not to feel guilty about your feelings conflicting with your love of him. I've done nothing but try to help my son for four years, I fought pure evil for him, but there are days I go hide in the bedroom because he's being a pain. It doesn't make you a bad mom, so please don't think that.

Talk with your pediatrician and if he/she says he needs more testing, get them to refer you to a good psychologist or psychiatrist. No official diagnoses will happen, but they'll at least be able to help. Don't try to diagnose him on your own, though. And be very careful with whom you go to see about him. I hate to sound mysterious, but there are some therapists out there that could do more harm than good. I met one, trusted her, and she almost destroyed my family.

Now for the scary part. This will be very hard, and there's going to be days you'll want to scream, so if you can get a support group do so. I didn't and it caused me to go into deep depression. Take the help from anyone, especially with two other kids. Arm yourself with knowledge and it will make the ride much easier.

Good luck, J., and if you're near Alpharetta I have a couple of good docs for you.

When I first suspected my daughters "needed help" because of similar behavior arranged a meeting with their teacher and school counselor to talk about what they observed where I then was directed to a physiologist for testing and then to the pediatrician for evaluation and med management. you could also go through a physiatrist for the med management but i trust my girls dr and so far so good.

you can also start out with googling adhd test and take an online test to see if your suspicions of adhd are even on course before going through the above.

There are extensive test that he will have to go through to diagnose this properly. I went through six months of test for my daughter to be properly diagnosed with this. She is a pretty severe case. There are some ways to tell, but not all are as accurate as the psychological test that they put through. Plus he is pretty young. He could just be going through a tempramental time. I advise that you talk to his doctor and explain exactly what he is doing at all times. They usually want you to observe their actions for a week or so, just to get a good idea of exactly what they are doing. Then they will refer you to a psychologist. It is a very long road you may have to embark on, but on the bright side, all children with ADHD are extremely intelligent. My daughters IQ is well over the 120, which is advanced intelligence.
Good Luck and I will pray for you.