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New ADHD Diagnosis and Medications

NOTICE: The following posts are taken from the Christian ADHD List. The names, e-mail addresses and locations of all parties involved have been removed to protect their privacy. The posts have been used with permission, but are copyrighted by ADHD of the Christian Kind.

July 2008

Hi everyone! I am the mom of a newly diagnosed ADD son, and our doctor put him on Focalin XR. She said (and the paperwork shows) that it is supposed to be an extended release lasting 12 hours, but my DS takes it right when we get to school, it kicks in about 20 minutes later (not the hour that the indications show), and by the time I pick him up from school it has worn off, leaving him unfocused and struggling to get homework done.

We have an appointment with our doctor to discuss his progress and to re-evaluate his medications, so I am looking for some feedback on what kinds of questions to ask or things to discuss to make sure he’s on the right meds. Also with summer coming up, I am wondering if the doctor is going to do much tinkering with the medications. Any information you can provide will be much appreciated! Have a blessed day!

Regardless of what time of year it is, these things need to get looked at. My son (10 years old) has trouble in his after-school/holiday program if he doesn't have his meds - silly things can happen, and things that he does not think are silly at the time, but can get him into trouble - inappropriate teasing, etc. can occur because of his impulsivity. He has gotten into trouble in this program during holiday time when I did not give him his meds, so now he is on them all the time - he feels better, as well. But dr.s sometimes won't push issues and you have to really advocate for your son to get the best treatment possible.

But I'm a "feeling" type of person - I try to do what my gut tells me to do - it's rarely wrong. So, I think you need to get all the info you can in your head (from here and google other sites as well), and then listen to what you gut feeling is. I know this may sound strange, but it really does work for me. You also have to be willing to listen to others, though - just stay open-minded. I do not know anything about Focalin XR, my son is on Dexedrine 15 mg spansules.

I hope this helps - ADHD can be a blessing in disguise. I tell myself that everyday! LOL Stay blessed!!

We use Focalin XR in the am, in fact we have to wake my son up and administer the dose, he sleeps for another 30 minutes or so while we get ready and he is ready to get dressed and eat breakfast with out too much disruption to the other two non- adhd children. Because of this, his Medication wears off about 2 0r 3 pm. We then give him a boost of just the plain short acting Focalin to get through home work/supper time.wears off by 8pm This afternoon boost is a much needed shot in the arm not only for him but for the other family members. ADHD children un medicated can be quite disruptiveto the whole family dynamic. One person that demands all the time is hard on every body.

A booster dose works for us.

Thank you so much for this information! I may ask the dr. if we can get a prescription of the short-acting kind. My son has been asking if he needs to take another dose when he gets home…he realizes that he isn’t focused enough to do homework.

Do you use the booster during non-school times too (summer, holidays), or do you just use the one dose per day?

We sometimes use an additional 5 pm dose if we know that a school project is due or a late baseball game.

We use the booster dose only when needed. Not normally on Sat, but we do use it on Sunday as our evening service starts at Six and may last until 8.

But the booster improves our son's behavior so much it almost has become a daily thing. Don't suffer this Summer because your child won't be at school so medication wont be needed.... He still needs to remember to clean his room , to remember where he put his Bible, things like that The medication will also helps him with his family responsibilities not only school work.

Don't cheat your self out of seeing the benefits of proper medication, otherwise it's only the school teacher that gets the "easy Johnny"

The only other thing that I can recomend is that you not let a Peditrician try to manage your childs ADHD. A Child Psychiatrist has much more experience and plugged into new and effective methods than a pediatrician.

Also if you are in public school make sure that they are aware of your sons diagnosis, you may not be aware but the school is required by law to allow/create special accomdations to the learning process to ensure that your son does not fall behind.

We plan on using the meds this summer, too, but maybe we won’t have to use the booster doses as much. My husband gets home late (after the meds have worn off), so he hasn’t seen the effects of it yet, but I can definitely tell a difference in the morning. I talked to his teachers Friday, and they said that they could tell a difference, too, even in his handwriting. He brought home B’s and C’s this week, which is a huge improvement!

This year we are moving him from a Christian school to the middle school…this has been a huge upheaval for us, but we prayed about it extensively before we made the decision. The Christian school is still fairly small and doesn’t have a separate track system, so if he doesn’t keep up he falls farther behind. The public school system sends out tutors, but only to the end of their funding, which this year ran out in October. Also, the school was destroyed by a tornado back in February, and they will be in portables this fall, which wouldn’t help his focusing much. I’ve already talked to the middle school, and they have reassured me that even though I have mixed feelings about it, they agree with me that it would be in Michael’s best interest to make the move, especially since in 6th grade everyone is new to the school. He has lots of friends from baseball that will be going there too, so it won’t be like he’ll have to make a whole new set of friends.

Praise God ! It sounds like ya'll are making progress.

I wouldn't worry so much about the portables, He should be able to focus in there.The reason he was distracted before was his ADHD. Sounds like you've got a good handle on it now. He should be fine.

Again, the best advice I can give you from the public school aspect is just make sure that you have daily communication with the teachers as to homework and projects that are due when. Some teachers are better than others, some in it for the joy of teaching, others for the joy of Money. Do not depend on teachers to update a home work hotline, it needs to be communicated directly. Our school uses agenda books for students to write homework assignments due , dates of up coming tests, and projects. As part of our 504 planThe teachers initial it daily to make sure everything is written down completely, and can provide daily feedback on classroom time management.

Unfortunately for my son but we must use some Saturdays not only to make up class work / missed homework but to get a jump on future class work/ home work so we dont get bogged down. There is only so much time in the evenings.

The school should set up a 504 plan so you can get the advanced work and most helpful to us is an additional set of school books so that " I forgot my book" is never an issue.Handle all isues before school starts next year so that he is not two weeks behind before you/ teachers realize there is a situation. ( the voice of experience speaks)

Thank you so much for the great information! We have him registered for public school this year, because if he had stayed at the Christian school he would have been held back a year, and all of the testing we have done indicates that he is testing at grade level, but when the textbooks are 2-3 grade levels above, it’s hard to keep up.

I think we will have better communication with the public school teachers because they have more experience with ADHD kids (the Christian school has only had 2 or 3 come through, and usually they do not stay through high school). They have already told me to bring Michael up to the school for a tour during the summer school session, and they are putting him with a good team that is really interested in helping ADHD kids succeed (we go to church with a couple of them).