Is it ADHD?

Question

I have three girls ages 10, 9 and 5. The older 2 are always well behaved and do very well in school but the 5 year old has been getting into trouble at least 3 times a week for disruptive behavior. When I ask her about why she does these things she cries and tells me that she tries to be good but that its very hard. I think that ADD and ADHD is over diagnosed and I dont want to jump to that does any one have any ideas besides medicating her?

She has always been harder to handle than the other 2. She also has the same kindergarten teacher they had and I trust her. She has not suggested medication.

Answer 1

If the other 2 are doing well I wouldn't jump to an ADD conclusion. Teachers do that to cover their own faults. They want all the students to be alike, to be cut out of the same cookie cutter and they can't stand the thought of having an actual individual in there class. She's probably bored. Talk to her, and draw her out. See if you can find ways to challenge her mentally. That may be all she needs. The classes may be too easy for her. Maybe she is ready for stuff beyond kindergarten. I had a 2nd grade reading level by kindergarten, so how bored do you think I was? And they didn't have ADD and all that back then, I was just a trouble maker. Work with her as much as you can. Talk to the 2 older kids see if they ever had moments of boredom. You'll figure something out. I think I have this book, (still packed) called "Ritalin Free Kids". It deals with other alternatives than Ritalin in dealing with our kids. If you are still needing some help, email me through here. And I will dig through the boxes I don't have unpacked and find the title out for you. Good luck.

Answer 2

Before getting her tested for ADD, etc., why not get her tested for intelligence? This is a very typical trait of kids who are bored from having to be held back by the less gifted ones. They get bored with the work and start to fidget, then they get into trouble.
Is she the type that likes to have alot of attention? That could be the problem too since she won't get much attention in a class full of kids unless she gets the bad kind.

Or she could be having problems being away from you so long. If she wasn't a problem before, she isn't ADD now.

Children don't "catch" ADD. True ADD are born with it and it is obvious from a very early age. We knew my nephew had a problem when he was just 6 months old. He was very restless and would fight any attempt to slow him down. By kindergarten, he was very out of control. He couldn't keep his hands off things no matter how hard he tried. Their friends quit having them over because he was so distructive. By 2nd grade, his teacher told my sister to have him tested and he was, indeed, ADHD. The ridlin helped him become an A student and he was even a patrol boy in 5th grade.

At 23, he still shows signs of it because he has a very big imagination and says things that just don't make sense. ADD kids exagerate things, can't focus for long on anything and (oddly) have a tendency to be cruel to animals. They are very thoughtless without medication and rarely consider consequences. That's why they are so out of control.

If you never thought your daughter was ADD before school, don't think she is now. Teachers are just looking to take the easy way out. I'm surprised they don't just give all the kids a seditive before class.

Don't do it. You'll ruin her.

Answer 3

I have three myself 10, 8 & 6. My six year old is boardline ADHD, and we do not medicate, I think at this age its just not enough time yet to choose medications. We have had numerous calls from school, pretty much when the phone rings, and it the caller id shows the its the school calling, I already know for which child. Anyway, things are getting better, we just keep reminding him of staying focused, making good choices, and trying to keep transitioning from one activity to the next as easy as possible. We give constant reminders about behavior & actions, sometime more than hourly, also changing his diet has helped too, limiting sugars.
Sometimes its very very difficult but we have made progress, slowly nonetheless as its still progress without medication. Just this last week he received an award at school for making improvements on his behavior. So hang in there, it can get better, without the med's!

Answer 4

You were correct when you stated how ADD and ADHD is overdiagnosed. I applaud you for realizing this and not jumping to any conclusions. The best solution for any type of "mental illness" is one that is drug free. You have to realize that your 5 year old daughter is just as I said...5 years old. She is a child and it is natural for her to want to be disruptive. This is actually a good thing for both her and you. She is testing her limits and it is your job as a parent to work closely with her to make sure she behaves. If your daughter goes on medication, she will now have another problem which is the drug itself. Just because a drug is legal and available by prescription doesn't mean that it is safe. Most doctors do not even realize that the drugs they are prescribing are dangerous. This is a huge failure on the part of the drug companies and the FDA. Get your daughter involved in a good amount of activities. Another important thing is to make sure that she is eating properly. We live in a society filled with junk food. If your daughter is eating too much sugar, this can lead to her being very hyperactive. If she is consuming sweet cereals, candy, soft drinks and things like that, you should cut them out of her diet. Do not buy into the whole ADD and ADHD labels. If you start your daughter on medications, she might have to be on them for the rest of her life. The drug companies and psychiatrists have one common goal and that is to make as much money as possible. Many of the clinical trials for psychiatric drugs were rigged so the company would not lose hundreds of millions of dollars in research and development money. It is unfortunate that we live in such a world where money is more important than the health of each human being. The bottom line is you can find a way to help your daughter's problems without ever needing any type of prescription. When your daughter is grown up and is perfectly healthy, she will thank you for not prescribing her medication for her perfectly normal human emotions.

Answer 5

Is she only getting into trouble at school? Do you notice the behavior at home? Generally girls don't have the "hyperactivity" component to ADHD. If she is only getting into trouble at school I would find out if the teacher is imposing rules that don't work for her.
She is too little to medicate, and they do have behavior programs "the drake institute" is one, to help kids with ADD without medication.
If you do need to medicate her one day (again I think 5 is way to young) consider a non stimulant like strattera.

Answer 6

I have 8 kids - 2 are on ritalin and so is my husband - I have done enoromas research on what alternatives can be given instead.
Basically if your child is willing to take Omege 3 x 3 a day with 1x a day primrose oil then after 15 weeks you will see the same results as ritalin but of course she would have to continue taking it.
It does not necassarily have to be ADHD . I have one daughter that I thought was a shoe in for ADHD but it turned out that she has eye focusing problems that your opthomologist would not be able to spot and must go to a specialist in eye training (she saw double)
Get your daughter checked out by a good pedicatric neurologist and have her teachers monitor her. There are a lot of new treatments out there (such as special holistic massage therapies) check with educational experts and search around for what is available in your area.

Answer 7

Without meds, which is recommended, and yes, your daughter is starting to fit an ADHD profile, there are psychosocial interventions. A commonly used intervention is classroom management. It incorporates contingency management, time-out, and other techniques and has been found to have positive effects on thecore symptoms of ADHD as well as on academic performance. Self-instruction, self-evaluation, and other self-control techniques are also sometimes used, but their benefits have not been demonstrated consistently. Parental invovlement is considered an important part of the treatment of ADHD.

And I agree, ADHD is overdiagnosed- usually by people (i.e. teachers and parents) who aren't qualified or licensed to diagnose a pretzel!

Answer 8

Nurse nik, go to www.cchr.org and watch the videos of the psychs saying that they cure no one and that there are no valid tests for add/adhd and so on from their last convention. You children are too precious to drug. They deserve a clear mind too.

Answer 9

I think you will be OK. The medicine really treats the class and not the child. The only advantage to a diagnosis would be to obtain special education services or get special treatment in school. I think you should wait.

Answer 10

The greatest reason children act out is boredom. Give her activities and change them when she wheres out on the task. Anything is better than feeding your kid amphetemines.