What was the final straw for you that lead you to make that doctors appointment to start the process of diagnosing your child with possible ADHD
I have an 8 yr old son, who for at least 4 years now I have been adamant he has a mild form of ADHD. Being a boy, I keep telling myself his behaviour is a "young boy thing" and he will grow out of it.
Long story short, my son has issues with concentration both in class and out, very short attention span, and is just go go go from the moment he wakes up, even more so as soon as he sees his friends. You can only give him 1 instruction at a time or you can forget about him doing any of what you just asked of him. Whilst he is not one to be easily angered, if he is angry, this will quickly turn into a meltdown. This is just a small snippet of what has lead me to think he could possibly have ADHD
I don't know if I should be trying to implement changes in his day to day life or see what the doctors think.
How do you make an 8 year old concentrate, listen and take it all in??????????
6 Replies
How is he sleeping? Is he a snorer? Does he suffer regular tonsillitis and or ear problems? Someone recently told me there is a strong connection between enlarged tonsils and adenoids and ADHD symptoms.. worth considering?
Good luck on your journey!
I opted for formal diagnosis for my son when he started school due to concentration issues. He’s a bright kid that never could sit still, listen or concentrate no matter how he’s he tried. I didn’t see it as fair for my boy to struggle so hard when I was in a position to help him. In the end we opted for medication to assist. He still struggled but not half as much.
Behaviour support etc never worked, time out never worked. All the things you’d think to change just didn’t seem to work. Hence the medication choose.
He’s now 15, still has some issues, impulsiveness being the biggest problem and not thinking through the consequences of his actions, but not half as bad as when he was younger. He’s in a flex type school without as much strong structure as a normal school. Gotten a job and off all medications.
In response the the poster above me re: tonsils, ear issues and adenoids. My son had his adenoids removed and massive ear issues all around time of diagnosis so that’s really interesting information!! thank you :)
My son is 14 and was diagnosed with ADHD at four years old . The lost of his symptoms is so vast that there's too much to list here. He has no tonsil or adenoid problems but does have seasonal allergies such as hayfever .
Behavioral Therapy really helps my child but its daily therapy. I refused to have him on medication. ADHD is personal to each family and it's best to decide how to proceed with the input of a paediatrician trained in ADHD . A GP will give you a referral. Paediatricians are expensive if private , or you may already have private health cover, and wait lists are very long if you go public.
For me it was the disengagement from school. He had an amazing teacher in year 3 who recognised signs and implemented strategies for him (she also pulled me aside and mentioned it even though teachers are not meant to, but it was a relief to have someone else recognise it as I suspected for a while). Then he moved into year 4 and his teacher was horrible! The disengagement from him got so bad I was getting calls multiple times a week to come get him and his teacher didn’t want to deal with him. He was running out of class, swearing at his teacher and principal, was very angry, etc. I knew he had a sweet caring side so this was the final straw for me. Don’t count on the public health system for a quick diagnosis (if you’re in qld anyway).. I was told there was a 12 month wait just to get an initial appointment, so I ended up paying a private paediatrician and we got a diagnosis very quickly based on school behaviour reports. He’s been trialled on medication and we’ve seen significant improvements however still not 100%. I’m now looking into an independent school opening up in my area that will be aiming to take a more hands on approach with the majority of their lessons outdoors and life skills incorporated (cooking, maintaining vegetable patch, etc). The thing is, even with a diagnosis and medication, you may not get him interested in learning. Even with medication my son questions the education system big time, and rightly so because it’s so outdated. You need to constantly adapt to find what suits the child. I hope this helps!!
My 14 year old was diognosed at 6 he was always go go go,had a bad temper, very impulsive, couldnt concentrate and was suspended numerous times in kindy so in year 1 i bit the bullet & had him tested he has been on medication for years & it really has helped him.
My 8 year old i has been thinking for a few years that he also had it but i put it at the back of my mind thinking surely he doesnt have it to. He had quite bad sleep apnea but taking his tonsils & adnoids didnt change his behaviour (he does sleep alot better though). He is in year 3 this year & going backwards fast so i took him to a developmental peadiatian a few weeks ago & he to has been diognosed with ADHD. Go with you gut instinct & see a developmental paed who will be able to help you there maybe something else going on.
When my sons school reports were not matching up with what I knew he was capable of, I knew I had to follow up a diagnosis. This was after 18 months of me asking his teachers if they thought something was wrong and them telling me no. I pushed for the psychologist assessment and was correct in my diagnosis.
In relation to giving instructions, try giving 1 step at a time. My son gets lost if I try to give him multiple step instructions. To assist with concentration in the classroom, my son has to sit at the front so the other kids don’t act as a distractors. I also use a lot of reward based learning. If he wants computer time then he needs to achieve xyz first (eg reading)