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keri29

Guest
hi i am the mother of a child who is diagnosed with generalized epliepsy and adhd and oppositional defiance disorder. he is three and a half years old. he throws massive fits with screaming and crying sometimes it seems for no reason at all. he has good days when he is awesome and days that are so bad that i wonder where my sweet child went. i was wondering if any of you who have children with this disorder does your child repeat things over and over like 100 times in a row. i am not sure if he does this just to annoy me or if he even realizes he is doing it. i can answer whatever he is asking and he just keeps asking for like 45 minutes to a hour sometimes. then he also pulls at his bottom lip and uses one hand to pull his hair and the other hand to tap the hand holding the hair. i am not sure if this has to do with that disorder or not. he also has like no attention span when not on his medications. he does take medications for adhd and the seizures. i am looking for any advice i can get as today was a very hard day for us ...thank you to all of you.



Me: single mom
Boy: three and a half with adhd and generalized epilepsy and oppositional defiance disorder
 

nvts

Active Member
Hi Keri! My difficult child 1 was this way from 2 1/2 on (he's 11 1/2 now).

A lot of the parents on this site (myself included) find that in the younger years, ADHD and ODD are frequently symptoms of other issues/disabilities. The reason being is that many of our kids start out with that diagnosis. but as the kids get older, and other symptoms arise, a more accurate diagnosis can be thrown in.

Has he had a neuropsychologist exam? Also, what type of medications is he taking? Sometimes (if the tantrums are new) it could be an off label side effect.

Welcome to the site - it's a great group of people that care deeply about each other.

Beth
 

SRL

Active Member
Hi Keri29, welcome to CD!

It's an exhausting job being a mom of a young, difficult child!

The repetitive questions and behaviors that you are describing don't sound like they fall under the umbrella of his current diagnoses. Did the specialists address those at all? You might want to do some research on "stimming" and see if those motions sound like they fit the description. Here's one description:
http://faqautism.com/2010/03/stimming/
 
K

keri29

Guest
hi beth, he has had alot of testing but i am not sure if he has ever had a neuropsychologist exam.... the trantrums aren't new they were there before the medications. that is the reason we started doing testing. he takes metadate in the morning. ritalin in the afternoon and clonidine at night and he also takes lamictal in the morning and afternoon for the seizures. the other three are for the adhd and add he has been diagnosed for along with the diagnosis of oppositional defiance disorder he has. he is also being followed by a autism center but does not have a diagnosis at this time from them but it gets to be very challenging with him as i am sure it does for the rest of the parents on this site too. it is definetly a full time job to parent a difficult child.

me: mother of a three and a half year old little boy

son: three and a half year old with adhd , add , seizure disorder and oppositional defiance disorder
 

Marguerite

Active Member
does your child repeat things over and over like 100 times in a row

Oh, yes, we know this one! It's called echolalia and it DOES ease off, but it is a phase that autistics especially will go through, as they learn to talk and manage language in general.

The medications won't fix the tantrums, but time will ease them. The tantrums are probably not a brain thing, but typical kid tantrums greatly aggravated by extreme frustration in the child, because the world is for him a lot more confusing and not making sense, and he can't get his point across fast enough to get what he wants.

A diagnosis of autism takes time, but he certainly sounds to me like he should be getting evaluated for high-functioning autism. Has he had a speech pathology assessment? He should have, with the symptoms you describe. And it should be now, while he has symptoms. You need a speech 'snapshot' of his development level NOW, so you can use that report when needed in the future, even after he has caught up.

Go check out the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) questionnaire on www.childbrain.com and see how close a fit it is for him.

The ODD - it's a bit of an unfair label, when he's so young and frankly, from his point of view, probably feels he has every right to be angry.

A book we find very helpful with ODD-type issues, is "The Explosive Child" by Ross Greene. There is a sticky at the top of this page that can help you get a feel for this book. It really helps, and it changes how you see your child.

Welcome to the site.

Marg
 
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