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Need help, something above and beyond medications :-(
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<blockquote data-quote="susiestar" data-source="post: 399231" data-attributes="member: 1233"><p>A neuropsychologist evaluation refers to a complete evaluation done by a neuropsychologist. Some people find that developmental pediatricians also do this very complete exam. They ARE done on six year olds. My son was 7 or 8 when he was tested. The evaluation consists of many tests lasting a total of 10-12 hours broken up into many shorter sessions. Often a neuropsychologist will do all the tests themselves, but we had the tests done by a dev pediatrician who had a group of professionals in his practice who did the various tests and then they all got together to discuss the results and come up with some answers. I liked this because it wasn't the words or opinions of just one person. Having had my son have different teachers, tdocs, etc... I was aware that each of them saw him very very differently, so having a group of professionals evaluate and then work together gave us a more complete picture (esp as Wiz could be VERY different with one person than with another - often depending on mood, the person's gender, and almost anything else). Either way it is done, you get a whole lot more info than you do from just seeing a psychiatrist or therapist or pediatrician.</p><p> </p><p>Has your difficult child ever had an EEG? Seizures can cause a LOT of behaviors and many look like various behavioral problems. Some types of "adhd" are not actually a result of adhd. My daughter was diagnosis'd with "inattentive" adhd, but I insisted on having an EEG before we started medications because many adhd medications lower the seizure threshold, making them more frequent. We were all shocked when the neuro asked us to come in for the results (always a sign of a problem here - if nothing shows they tell you on the phone!). She has Absence Epilepsy and her seizures just look like she isn't paying attention. In reality her mind has turned off - she literally was unaware of about half of the time because the seizures were so frequent. They lasted less than a minute, but they were VERY frequent. It was no wonder she was having some trouble in school - she wasn't "there" half the day!</p><p> </p><p>In addition to the neuropsychologist, you also NEED to have your kids tested by a PRIVATE Occupational Therapist (OT) (occupational therapist) for sensory problems. Sensory integration disorder is when your brain doesn't handle the input from your senses in the "normal" way. It is a difference in how the brain is "wired". It can create HUGE problems with children either seeking or avoiding various types of sensations. Problems with clothing, picky eating, seeking out certain movements, etc... are all symptoms (My youngest used to watch tv sitting on his head on the couch. NO idea how he started - the other kids never did that until he did, but he LOVED it.). Occupational Therapist (OT) is a lifelong problem but it CAN be managed and treated. The GOOD thing is that the treatment is NOT invasive and involved NO medication. It can help the frantic activity that is thought to be part of adhd in your kids. I am NOT saying that they don't have adhd, just that this may be part of the puzzle. The main treatment for this is a combination of brushing therapy and an appropriate sensory diet. Sensory diet is providing the types of sensation that she needs. Brushing therapy uses a soft brush like a surgical scrub brush to brush the body in a certain pattern, followed by very gentle joint compressions. Most kids do not object to this and it can be done over or under clothing. Brushing MUST MUST MUST be taught by a qualified Occupational Therapist (OT) but then can be done by a parent in about 2 min or less. If done on the wrong parts of the body it can create HUGE problems, so learning it from an Occupational Therapist (OT) is super important. There are 2 books about Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) (sensory integration disorder) by Carol Stock Kranowitz - the first explains the problem and how the treatment works, the second is all activities to provide different kinds of sensory input. "The Out of Sync Child" and "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun" are the books - I would borrow the first and buy the second as the second is more useful day to day (and a LOT of fun for the whole family, in my opinion!) .</p><p> </p><p>AS for your child and evening activities, well, you have some choices. A lot of it isn't really her fault. You can see the difference the medications make, and with-o them it will be super hard for her to cope. You could stop the activities. You can also try other medications, either for during the day or a dose for the evening. Both ritalin and adderal are both fairly short acting and might make evenings a lot easier. Some of it depends on the side effects - does she eat well while the medications are active? It can be a real problem. You can also try other stims - one of them comes in a patch so taking pills wouldn't be a problem. I would work with her on swallowing pills - those mini- m&ms are a good thing to train her with. My youngest cannot have liquid antibiotics because they ALL have artificial sweeteners and he is allergic, so he was swallowing pills and capsules by age 3. One of the reasons your daughter's focalin does not last very long is that it ismeant to be swallowed and digested in the capsule. with-o the capsule it messes up the extended release part and it cannot stay in her system as long. </p><p> </p><p>Caffeine is a stimulant and some people do find it helps their kids. I can remember back in the 70s and early 80s when my dad taught shop in very poor schools he would pour coffee or cokes into some of his students. It helped them and back then there were not many docs who would recognize adhd even existed, much less try to treat poor kids with no insurance for it. It doesn't help all kids. Mt Dew has the highest amt of caffeine of any soft drink, followed by diet coke then coke. There are all kinds of other caffeinated drinks, but they are not always something you want to teach your child to drink. You may decide it is worth trying as it cannot hurt long term if you just try it a few times. Many parents that I have known have said that the effects of teh sugar make the effects of the caffeine less noticable. </p><p> </p><p>I hope some of this helps. If you give her medications in the afternoon/early evening, you don't have to do it every day. That is a choice. We chose to medicate our difficult child every day because it made a HUGE difference AND because he asked us to. He did nto like the way he felt/acted on the days/times he was not medicated. So he was medicated every day regardless of if he had school. He just couldn't keep it together with-o the medications to help, Know what I mean??</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="susiestar, post: 399231, member: 1233"] A neuropsychologist evaluation refers to a complete evaluation done by a neuropsychologist. Some people find that developmental pediatricians also do this very complete exam. They ARE done on six year olds. My son was 7 or 8 when he was tested. The evaluation consists of many tests lasting a total of 10-12 hours broken up into many shorter sessions. Often a neuropsychologist will do all the tests themselves, but we had the tests done by a dev pediatrician who had a group of professionals in his practice who did the various tests and then they all got together to discuss the results and come up with some answers. I liked this because it wasn't the words or opinions of just one person. Having had my son have different teachers, tdocs, etc... I was aware that each of them saw him very very differently, so having a group of professionals evaluate and then work together gave us a more complete picture (esp as Wiz could be VERY different with one person than with another - often depending on mood, the person's gender, and almost anything else). Either way it is done, you get a whole lot more info than you do from just seeing a psychiatrist or therapist or pediatrician. Has your difficult child ever had an EEG? Seizures can cause a LOT of behaviors and many look like various behavioral problems. Some types of "adhd" are not actually a result of adhd. My daughter was diagnosis'd with "inattentive" adhd, but I insisted on having an EEG before we started medications because many adhd medications lower the seizure threshold, making them more frequent. We were all shocked when the neuro asked us to come in for the results (always a sign of a problem here - if nothing shows they tell you on the phone!). She has Absence Epilepsy and her seizures just look like she isn't paying attention. In reality her mind has turned off - she literally was unaware of about half of the time because the seizures were so frequent. They lasted less than a minute, but they were VERY frequent. It was no wonder she was having some trouble in school - she wasn't "there" half the day! In addition to the neuropsychologist, you also NEED to have your kids tested by a PRIVATE Occupational Therapist (OT) (occupational therapist) for sensory problems. Sensory integration disorder is when your brain doesn't handle the input from your senses in the "normal" way. It is a difference in how the brain is "wired". It can create HUGE problems with children either seeking or avoiding various types of sensations. Problems with clothing, picky eating, seeking out certain movements, etc... are all symptoms (My youngest used to watch tv sitting on his head on the couch. NO idea how he started - the other kids never did that until he did, but he LOVED it.). Occupational Therapist (OT) is a lifelong problem but it CAN be managed and treated. The GOOD thing is that the treatment is NOT invasive and involved NO medication. It can help the frantic activity that is thought to be part of adhd in your kids. I am NOT saying that they don't have adhd, just that this may be part of the puzzle. The main treatment for this is a combination of brushing therapy and an appropriate sensory diet. Sensory diet is providing the types of sensation that she needs. Brushing therapy uses a soft brush like a surgical scrub brush to brush the body in a certain pattern, followed by very gentle joint compressions. Most kids do not object to this and it can be done over or under clothing. Brushing MUST MUST MUST be taught by a qualified Occupational Therapist (OT) but then can be done by a parent in about 2 min or less. If done on the wrong parts of the body it can create HUGE problems, so learning it from an Occupational Therapist (OT) is super important. There are 2 books about Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) (sensory integration disorder) by Carol Stock Kranowitz - the first explains the problem and how the treatment works, the second is all activities to provide different kinds of sensory input. "The Out of Sync Child" and "The Out of Sync Child Has Fun" are the books - I would borrow the first and buy the second as the second is more useful day to day (and a LOT of fun for the whole family, in my opinion!) . AS for your child and evening activities, well, you have some choices. A lot of it isn't really her fault. You can see the difference the medications make, and with-o them it will be super hard for her to cope. You could stop the activities. You can also try other medications, either for during the day or a dose for the evening. Both ritalin and adderal are both fairly short acting and might make evenings a lot easier. Some of it depends on the side effects - does she eat well while the medications are active? It can be a real problem. You can also try other stims - one of them comes in a patch so taking pills wouldn't be a problem. I would work with her on swallowing pills - those mini- m&ms are a good thing to train her with. My youngest cannot have liquid antibiotics because they ALL have artificial sweeteners and he is allergic, so he was swallowing pills and capsules by age 3. One of the reasons your daughter's focalin does not last very long is that it ismeant to be swallowed and digested in the capsule. with-o the capsule it messes up the extended release part and it cannot stay in her system as long. Caffeine is a stimulant and some people do find it helps their kids. I can remember back in the 70s and early 80s when my dad taught shop in very poor schools he would pour coffee or cokes into some of his students. It helped them and back then there were not many docs who would recognize adhd even existed, much less try to treat poor kids with no insurance for it. It doesn't help all kids. Mt Dew has the highest amt of caffeine of any soft drink, followed by diet coke then coke. There are all kinds of other caffeinated drinks, but they are not always something you want to teach your child to drink. You may decide it is worth trying as it cannot hurt long term if you just try it a few times. Many parents that I have known have said that the effects of teh sugar make the effects of the caffeine less noticable. I hope some of this helps. If you give her medications in the afternoon/early evening, you don't have to do it every day. That is a choice. We chose to medicate our difficult child every day because it made a HUGE difference AND because he asked us to. He did nto like the way he felt/acted on the days/times he was not medicated. So he was medicated every day regardless of if he had school. He just couldn't keep it together with-o the medications to help, Know what I mean?? [/QUOTE]
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