ADHD - inattentive

[NoraC]

Hi - any moms or parents of children who are ADHD - inattentive? I have some thoughts that my daughter may be and have observed from the time that she was 3 or 4 (she is now 8) that she had a tough time following instructions, was slow to get things done even with regular routine and prompting, doesn't seem to hear us when speaking to her at times. we have described her as a daydreamer, a kid with her head in the clouds, a live in the moment, easily distractable kid. Now that she is in grade 3, there is more working coming home, more chores, piano practice and so on and it seems that it's a real struggle to get things finished (even with me sitting by her and coaxing her along) and I admit I lose my patience at times. And it's also with regard to So things that we passed off as being a quirk of her nature are having a greater affect on our lives.

I don't know much about ADHD and am now trying to learn more about it so we can decide what to do to move forward. We have parent-teacher interviews coming up so I will be asking about this for sure then. She has been in a Montessori program since she was 3 and I that some signs may be less observed because of the nature of the program (more choice, more ability to move around, fewer children and two adults in the class so more opportunities for her to get some feedback, little testing).

Now a few questions...is there a continuum with respect to ADHD? Eg. some children are inattentive in many ways, in many situations and harder to get back on task. while others may be inattentive in a few ways and can be returned to the task at hand more easily? Are there times or situations where you or your child are not as affected and others where you/your child are very affected. we believe very much that each child is an individual so I also wonder how much is just that she is a not very organized, forgetful, easily distracted kid and how much is because there's "something else" going on. If we decide that we want to pursue an assessment, what happens then? if you are a parent with a child with Inattentive ADHD, what prompted you to pursue an evaluation? And what has that meant in terms of dealing with it (medication, education etc)?

Thanks in advance for your insight and comments.

[mamatwig]

i am going through very similar things as you, but with us its adhd- hyperactive. we have always noticed our ds was different and in the last year we have been suspecting this. we havent gotten evaluated, i am thinking of getting that done, but honnestly anyone i know who has a child who was evaluated  says the dr just pushes meds, and i dont feel like fighing. we have recently started up on an adhd diet and i give him homeopathic Attend. i want to see if this starts to work , and then we will probably go to the neurologist so we know what to do with school(he is 4 now).  i found a very informative website its. www.newideas.net . its talks about all things adhd. it goes into detail about all the different types and their is an evaluation test. ( we scored high risk). 

from what i have learned, it is a case by case disorder, it can show differently in every kid ( if i understood your question right). for my ds it definitely goes through waves. he always seems to have it to some degree but sometimes its not so bad others i just want to cry because he is unmanagable. the only thing i have noticed that triggers it to be worse are his seasonal allergies.

so for other mamas i would love to get your take on those questions too.

noraC i hope you hang in there, i know how challanging it can be, my heart breaks for these kids! i hope you get some answers!

[~Christina~]

My daughter doesn't really lean one way or the other. She has both Inattive and Hyperactive traits. Shortly after learning she had ADHD we decided to try the gluten and casein free diet and noticed great changes in her ability to focus and control her impulsive behavior.  A few months after that we started her on a supplement called Attend (the children's version) that I found at a local health food store. It has made a HUGE difference! She's pretty sensitive to artificial dyes too, so if her behavior starts to get out of control we really look at her diet and can usually find somehting that has set her off. When I first started researching the way diet affects ADHD I was amazed. For us medication was to be an absolute last resort so after reading The Autism and ADHD Diet, by Barrie Silberberg we decided to give it a go. Then I got my hands on a copy of the Spring 2010 Issue of Pathways, which was all about alternative treatments for ADHD! It gave me a lot of hope that we wouldn't have to medicate her, and now 7 months later she's still unmedicated and while we do have rough days things are overall going great.

[NoraC]

Hmmm...I thought I'd posted but it seems to have disappeared!

Thank you both for your comments. I will check out the newideas.com site and I have ordered the Pathways digitally. I have gotten some books from the library and I'm working through them. I think it's interesting that you both mentioned Attend! I will have to learn more about it. I did have on my list of possibilities to consult a homeopath and I would definitely be interested in some alternative ways of dealing with our challenges rather than going straight to medication. I do think our daughter seems fairly mild but I can see it really affecting her at school down the road if we don't work to help her.

Thanks again!