Advice For a child with ADHD and OCD?
sassylyn asked:
my neice is 7 years old and is ADHD we held her back and she is repeating kindergarden because she did not get what she should have the first half of the year. We have changed her med 5 times this year alone. She has been wrote up and could not ride the bus 3 times since school started. She was sent home 4 times and we had to keep her home a week because of behavior issues. My mother has custody of her and I moved back in with them 2 years ago to help. The childs mother was doing ***** when she was preg. and has no contact with her and the dad my brother is in Jail. She sees counselor. But My mother is scared that if we continue to have problems with her then the DHR could come in and remove her form the home. She is well loved and taken care of Just the issues above. ADVICE how should we continue to handle situation with school> if she needs special attention will the school be required to give it. Even if they have to hire one on one for her?
As for the OCD she had a thing about closing dores and once she latched on to something that is it. She will not let go. We debated medication but finally had to go with some. She does good as long as the Teacher is standing over her but when the teacher has to attend to another child she will start fidgiting and she has hit children and stuff like that. She is the sweetest child and good most of the time. We are just trying to help her and Do what we can. My mother worries that if she keeps getting in trouble the DHR can take her away from us but I told her Idid not thank that would happen. We just pray and love her.
my neice is 7 years old and is ADHD we held her back and she is repeating kindergarden because she did not get what she should have the first half of the year. We have changed her med 5 times this year alone. She has been wrote up and could not ride the bus 3 times since school started. She was sent home 4 times and we had to keep her home a week because of behavior issues. My mother has custody of her and I moved back in with them 2 years ago to help. The childs mother was doing ***** when she was preg. and has no contact with her and the dad my brother is in Jail. She sees counselor. But My mother is scared that if we continue to have problems with her then the DHR could come in and remove her form the home. She is well loved and taken care of Just the issues above. ADVICE how should we continue to handle situation with school> if she needs special attention will the school be required to give it. Even if they have to hire one on one for her?
As for the OCD she had a thing about closing dores and once she latched on to something that is it. She will not let go. We debated medication but finally had to go with some. She does good as long as the Teacher is standing over her but when the teacher has to attend to another child she will start fidgiting and she has hit children and stuff like that. She is the sweetest child and good most of the time. We are just trying to help her and Do what we can. My mother worries that if she keeps getting in trouble the DHR can take her away from us but I told her Idid not thank that would happen. We just pray and love her.
April 21st, 2007 at 5:12 pm
wow that is reali serious >.<
sorry i dont think i can help much….
my sister has OCD and it was sooooo hard on our whole family… only unconditional love, and OCD specialists can reali help. If shes 7, does she have any rituals or like repetative worries or actions?
dun think the DHR intervention would help the situation at all!!!
April 24th, 2007 at 9:08 am
It’s true that schools are required by law to give special needs children the support they need. The first step is to get her acknowledged as needing an IEP (Indevidual Education Plan). Then work with her psycologist/psychiatrist/pediatrician to develop plan that meets her needs. Schools will often fight this because their resources are already streched thin, but that’s their problem, not yours. You need to look around in your area for a clinic or doctor who specializes in these conditions and get her fully evaluated.
As for the ADD issue, there are things in addition to the medication you are trying that can help a LOT. My daughter and nephew and grandson are all ADD. None of them have ever needed medication, (which isn’t a comment on using medication, just an observation of their symptoms), but they have needed to have diet and behavioral help from the adults around them. Go online and research ADD for some really good advice, like lots of exercise, keeping a food journal to track down trigger foods, and ways to talk to the children to achieve the best comprehension from them. Good luck, it sounds like you and your mom are the best things in your niece’s life, and I’m sure you’ll raise a beautiful human being!
April 24th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
hello, my son is 13 and was diagnosed with adhd when he was in kindergarten. we held him back for another year and have not regretted it. we were going to a private school at the time and they are not required by the state to medicate the kids and did not have qualified teachers (although it was a good school) to handle kids outside the “cookie cutter world”. he is not mean to anyone but he gets himself into trouble by his impulsive butting into conversations and getting off focused. we tried a couple of meds over the years and we finally found one that suits him. i was frustrated with myself with the arguments of whether or not to med him but you can really tell the difference in him for the good and not giving him meds sets him up to fail. he is a A-B student and we only had one really bad year and it was because of the teacher he had. public schools do provide assistance to parents, you can request it - they are tested and given a place to time out, re-take tests, one/on/one counseling and it has really helped my son. i hope this helps. we found a great psych clinic and he had been attending for 6 years…they work in conjunction with his pediatrician and monitor his blood pressure, weight and medicines. it also gives him a place to go and talk if he is not comfortable talking to me and his dad. good luck
April 26th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
wow….is she under special education class and has a IEP…
if not she should be under that class…cz regular class is bit too much for ADHD child……my son he has ADHD his taking ritalin 5mg and his also 7yrs old…..about a yr ago i have that same problem with my son…..but what i did i transfer my son to different school (cz i could see on his old school they always see my son as a PROBLEM CHILD..they don’t wanna give him a second change….it seems that they don’t encouraged him…so if he did something wrong….he goes straight to the office and be send home)…which is no good for young kids like them?? the school should find away to take of that problem instead of running away from it….
anyways like i mention i transfer him…now his doing way better…..his teacher even call me everytime just to tell me that they can never believed what the old school put on his record…..he even get award from his new school…..(thank god for that)…its a big relieved trust me.
also i remember they were advising me to put my son to a NONPUBLIC school….this school specializes kids with that kinda problem…but the thing is that school is to small….it just mean you will take everything away from that poor child they don’t have any big playground…which is kids love….so i never put my son in there…..it will be less challenging for him..
also therapy will help her a lot…..
anyways i know exactly you guys been going thru right now(thats hard)…..and also poor child….this is kinda hard for her…..good luck
April 28th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
My son doesn’t have OCD but he does have the ADHD, and was diagnosed at the age of 4. He is 8 now, and is repeating 2nd grade again, due to a move really. But the last 2 months had been hard and has had about 2 referrals a week, and I’m at wits end with him. So I know how you feel. I think he may have the ODD but not sure. Try talking to a psychologist and see what other things may be going on with her. Hope that helps out a little bit.
April 29th, 2007 at 11:13 am
too much meds going around, find a doctor that advocates diet control, 7 years old and all these chemicals, if you took her to 5 doctors you would get 5 different diagnoses and 5 different meds, low sugar diet, no dairy, there are lots of other methods you could try, the med thing has clearly been tried, the school is legally obligated to provide all the special needs required, sounds like you need an advocate for this child, you need to do make some serious calls on this poor childs behalf
May 1st, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I do not think DHR will remove her if your mother is doing what she can to help your niece. I suggest seeing a pediatrician with experience dealing with “crack babies” sorry for the term. Much like fetal alcohol syndrome, drugs during pregnancy effect the child all through life. Has your mother requested the school to test for a learning disability? If you have a doctor’s ADHD diagnosis, the school can not ignore it and needs to accommodate the child to the best of their ability, in most states anyway.
You can look up your states board of education laws on the internet.
May 1st, 2007 at 9:16 pm
what medication does she take? Adderall works very well for me.
May 4th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
my son was originally diagnosed with A.D.H.D when he was in preschool and i found that his preschool accepted the diagnosis but no extra help was given to him as there were to many children with this condition.
However after 2 years of specialist appointment it was confirmed that my son was A.S.D which made a huge difference in the way the school treated him as there is more funding available to them.
What i would suggest to you is if she is eligible to get an I.E.P than do so.
ask the school if they have an BATS ( behavioural advisory teacher) these teachers work with the school to give them strategies on the best way to deal with difficult children that don’t fit the I.E.P requirement.
Speak to the guidance officer or principal and see if there is anything you could be doing to help with her schooling etc. this will give the school assurance that you are willing to try to work with them and not against them.
If you show that you are taking an active part to try to resolve the issues you might find that the DHR is more likely to try to help your family unit and hopefully the school will support you if you support them.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:32 am
She won’t be taken away because she has special needs. There has to be neglect or abuse going on, and since you’ve got her on medication and she’s getting counseling, you should be fine. It sounds to me like she needs to be tested and placed into the Exceptional Children program at the school. She needs time out of the regular classroom to have more one-on-one instruction, as well as some behavior modification. If YOU request that she be tested, the school MUST test her. That will get the ball rolling to figure out what can be done to help her at school. Best wishes!