What age did they put your kid on meds?

[ajatho]

I have a 3, almost 4 year old son, and I am pretty sure he had ADHD. It runs in our family. I have it, I am pretty sure my mom has it, looking back at how she was when I was growing up and still is, and I have 2 cousins that have it. I have an appointment for him to see a neurologist in October. My pediatrician said that if he is diagnosed, they will do behavioral therapy at first, being he is so young. What I am wondering is, will they put him on meds when he reaches school age. What age were your kids put on meds, and did you feel it was benificial to your child, or was it too early? I don't want to put him on medication if I don't have to, but I also do not want him having troubles in school.

[ccom5100]

We are a definite exception to the rule here. We didn't put our ds on meds until he entered middle school. Until then, we used only natural methods (diet and supplements). I feel that it really depends on whether the symptoms stand in the way of success, both academically and socially. Every child is different.

[sarahsweets]

My son began meds at age 4. He was one of the youngest kids in this area. He is 16 now and a wonderful person. I am so glad I helped him when I could.

[pooka]

...Who is "they"? Isn't it ultimately your decision?

[CheekyMonkey]

When the troubles outweigh the possible side effects I'd say. Some kids are dangerous and need meds earlier, some can get through until 1st grade and then hit a wall. It depends on your kiddo.

[Ms. Mango]

Yes, it's true, you are the one who decides. My husband and I decided to try medication for our son when he was entering first grade. Our son continues to be on medication because it is so beneficial. There are side effects, but the benefits outweigh those.

We did do behavioral therapy with our son. It was helpful for us as parents, however, after some time, it became clear to us that we needed to try medication in addition to behavioral modifications.

I definitely recommend behavioral therapy, perhaps you can even get a referral to start now.

[ajatho]

I do plan on trying the behavioral therapy for him. I have an appointment in October for him to see a nuerologist. The pediatrician also wants to rule out aspergers. I dont really think he has aspergers. He doesnt have any repetetive actions that I hear about that come along with aspergers, other than constantly jumping on the couch, but I think that has to do with the hyper activity.

He is very loving, always wanting hugs and kisses and to be held. He is not socially awkward at all. In fact he is very friendly. Saying hi to people ALL THE TIME LOL ( I did the same thing when I was a kid) I have a cousin with aspergers. She is about 6 months older than me. I remember how awkward and distant she was and still is. She would never give hugs, and seemed to always be obsessing with her drawings. My son just does not fit the profile in my eyes. I could be wrong tho.

All I know, is I want my son to live his life to the fullest and not have to struggle in school the way I did. I just recently got re-diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and am going to the doc to talk about meds next week. I am 29 and feel like I have wasted a lot of time. I can not wait to get on the right track for myself and I plan on keeping my son on the right track and doing what ever it is that I have to do to help him suceed in life. Thank you all for your responses. It has been helpful.

[zette93]

I was ready to put DS on meds at age 5, but was told to wait by the psychologist who diagnosed him with initially with Aspergers only. We delayed kindergarten due to a fall birthday. When he was 6, kindergarten was so disasterous that by November we got a co-morbid diagnosis of ADHD and started on meds. It took 8 months to find an effective combination, so K was pretty much lost academically and socially. I wish we'd been able to spend that pre-K year figuring out what meds would work for him.

The meds have been approved for kids as young as 4, I guess it depends on the level of hyperactivity and the philosophy of the doctor. Is your son in preschool? Are the teachers reporting meltdowns or just hyperactivity?

Do consider having him evaluated for Aspergers, just in case. My son is not withdrawn at all with adults, and freely gives hugs. His social problems with other kids didn't really become obvious until age 4.5. His repetitive behaviors and special interests were exteremely mild. It didn't seem that odd to us that the child of 2 engineers would insist on watching the flush mechanism of the toilet, the gears of a skyrail, or riding a glass elevator many times in a row.

[ajatho]

No he is not in preschool. I can not afford to send him, and unfortunatly there is no head start program for the county I live in. I am going to call some numbers that they gave me at WIC and see if there is something else I can do. I want him to go to preschool. He plays well with his siblings. When I bring him to the park, he goes up to kids and says hi and tells them his name and tries to play. I guess I will see at the end of October. Seems so far away.

[Lunacie]

"They" did not put my granddaughter on meds.

She was 10 before she got a true diagnosis and began meds.

Her mother and I talked about meds, the risks and the benefits, and discussed

them with the doctor before making the decision to give meds a trial.

I wanted her to get diagnosed and try medication at the age of 8, but

out of concern for the risks, her mom waited until she was failing school.

That was SO hard on her self-esteem, both academically and socially.

[happytexas]

By "let" you medicate I assume you mean whether his doctor is willing to medicate, and that is their decision, but you can always go to another doctor. My ds started medication at 6.5yo but he really needed it at 4yo--we just didn't understand what was going on with him at that point.

Originally Posted by ajatho

I do plan on trying the behavioral therapy for him. I have an appointment in October for him to see a nuerologist. The pediatrician also wants to rule out aspergers. I dont really think he has aspergers. He doesnt have any repetetive actions that I hear about that come along with aspergers, other than constantly jumping on the couch, but I think that has to do with the hyper activity.

Your ds is too young to rule out Asperger's; part of what helps to make the diagnosis is what stands out from the norm but there is so much variation in normal development in under 7s.

Also, my ds (who has the co-morbid diagnoses of ADHD and Asperger's) didn't start with any repetive movements (that I noticed) until he was 4yo. They peaked around 7yo and now are generally more subtle.

http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot....s-it-feel.html

He is very loving, always wanting hugs and kisses and to be held. He is not socially awkward at all. In fact he is very friendly. Saying hi to people ALL THE TIME LOL ( I did the same thing when I was a kid) I have a cousin with aspergers. She is about 6 months older than me. I remember how awkward and distant she was and still is. She would never give hugs, and seemed to always be obsessing with her drawings. My son just does not fit the profile in my eyes. I could be wrong tho.

It's more complicated than you think. Being friendly doesn't necessarily mean one is not socially awkward--one can be friendly in a socially inappropriate way. My ds went through a period from 3-5 where he didn't like to be touched much overall, but he did like to be close to us and would cuddle at bedtime. Other than that time he has been affectionate with us (even in public ) and hugs adults, primarily women, he sees often (like his teacher); he even sat on my lap when I stopped in to see him at lunch last week and he's 8yo! Social awkwardness can also be a part of ADHD.

Also, obsessive interest in a single subject is not required for diagnosis. My ds' developmental-behavioral ped had a patient that was fixated on train engines and knew details about them down to their individual serial numbers--my ds isn't like that.

Now I have no idea if Asperger's is a possiblity for your ds, but the symptoms of ADHD, Asperger's, and other disorders overlap and can be difficult to tease apart.

In my state there is no universal preschool, but preschool is available for certain groups like children with disabilities that can interfere with future success in school (generally speaking). Your ds is too old for EI but you can request a comprehensive evaluation from your school district; Wrightslaw.com is your new best friend .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you decide to request the school do an evaluation, you need to "start the clock" in your letter of request; the school has 60 days from the date they received parental consent for evaluation to do the evaluation and 30 days from the evaluation to present it at an IEP meeting (your state may have stricter requirements); your written request should note that this letter is the consent for evaluation. (And, if you did not do it in writing, it never happened!).



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[ajatho]

Happytexas, thank you very much for your input. That was very helpful. My pediatrician also told me that the nuerologist he is sending me to likes to jump the gun on autism diagnoses. I will see what she has to say first, but he told me if she does diagnose him with that right off the bat, he would like to get a second opinion. In the referal it says concerns about hyperactivity. The doc seemed to think he was a normal kid that was just hyper, but he wanted to make sure nothing else is going on. I was talking with my cousins wife about him today, and she was telling me that with her son, she saw a big difference between age 3 and age 4. So maybe part of this is his age too. An ADHD Diagnoses would not shock me one bit with my son tho.

[happytexas]

I would look at a program like the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Clinicsat theUniversity of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital (there may be other programs in your area). We had ds evaluated (6y11mo) at a children's hospital clinic that specialized in evaluating developmental/behavioral/education issues; he was evaluated by a team consisting of a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, a speech language pathologist, a psychologist, and a social worker.

[Lunacie]

Originally Posted by happytexas

I would look at a program like the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Clinicsat theUniversity of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital (there may be other programs in your area). We had ds evaluated (6y11mo) at a children's hospital clinic that specialized in evaluating developmental/behavioral/education issues; he was evaluated by a team consisting of a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, a speech language pathologist, a psychologist, and a social worker.

My youngest granddaughter wasn't diagnosed until she was 8 - the only local

person who could do it had to move after the first meeting with her.

But she had a very thick file already built up by a couple of therapists, case managers

at the mental health clinic, teachers and speech therapists at school ... so we

mailed those papers to the developmental doctor at Kansas City medical center,

and then we drove three hours to the hospital for her to be evaluated.

The specialist spent an hour with her and then spent an hour talking to us.

[Electra2]

I was 26 when I first got AD/HD medication,ever.
Strongly recommend to start when school starts.
Or earlier.