Hyperactivity label? [titled edited by MNHQ]

[Flojobunny]

Health visitor wants to refer DD (4 yo) for hyperactivity assessment. What is it with health care professionals trying to stick kids in to boxes.
Yes she's always on the go, yes she doesn't sleep but she's my DD and that is that. No good can come of being labelled surely.

And flojobunny - I honestly can?t say in your situation what to do! I don?t think health visitors are especially reliable, but on the other hand my DS?s nursery completely failed to notice his autism and then he had a very difficult and unpleasant time when he started school

Maybe this will make sense? a long time ago I went to a talk by a medic, a specialist in abdominal problems. He said that GPs always sent along patients to him with a suggested diagnosis (a label) of what might be the problem. He said that the GP?s label was almost always wrong and the patient usually ended up with a totally different diagnosis. But he said that the GPs were very good at one important thing ? they knew who to send to the specialist. They might get the diagnosis wrong but they were usually right about who needed to see him and who didn?t.

So maybe the HV is wrong about the label but she?s right that your DD might benefit from seeing a specialist?

Sorry, I'm here I'm just up to page 6.
The more I read the more I believe my DD does not have this condition.
My anger comes from years of blood tests, prodding and poking and theories that never materialise.
It has been suggested my DD has wests syndrome,epilepsy, leukaemia and now hyperactivity. All of which she does not have.

It sounds like health professionals have had concerns about your child's health and development before Flojo? Surely it is better that these concerns are explored and ruled out rather than ignored? It may be that the health professionals don't consider your child to be developing typically and are looking for an explanation as to why and hyperactivity is the next thing to rule out. What made them question Wests syndrome and epilepsy? Surely you or someone else reported episodes that seemed to be fits the Doctors don't pluck these thing out of thin air.

Wow I had no idea my post would cause this reaction. I am angry at yet another health care professional spending half an hour with my daughter and try to fit her in to a box.
I, in no way, meant my title/post to be disabilist though I do have concerns that a diagnosis of ADHD has negative connotations. I am glad to hear this is not the case and that a diagnosis can only be a positive thing.
In my particular circumstances though, i beleive DD is lively not hyperactive and I was ( still am ) quite distressed from the shock that HV believes she needs assessing. I still believe that she is too young and time will tell at school.
I can cope with DD, nursery have no concerns with DD behaviour so as far as I can see there is nothing to modify.
But certainly from all your advice, if DDs 'liveliness' becomes a concern for myself or her teachers, I would not hesitate to have her assessed, however hard that might be.

DD has seizures. Developmentally she's on track.

I think if you are prepared to have her assessed if you start to have concerns that's what matters most. I wouldn't want anyone to avoid assessment because of their others' negative perceptions of ADHD. I hope your dd really enjoys school and thrives there when she starts.

or others'

Sound like you have been through a lot OP! The thing is, if you really believe she is fine, rather than fighting a 'label' then she probably is! If the school have any concerns then they will bring them up and you can be open minded and deal with it then!

Thankyou. I guess my use of labelling was clumsy. I've just finished an essay on pro's and con's of diagnostic classification systems (for depression) and the con's were very much surrounding stigmatisation, lowered expectations and becoming the label. So I went off on a muddled tangent. But my concerns about the negative connotations of ADHD were real but on reflection that's is quite concerning.

I have a child that was diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, ODD, CAPD, severe speech delay, and chronic separation anxiety when he was seven. I was devastated at the time and was told (by teachers and doctors) that he needed drugs and therapy. We tried both and the drugs had a very negative effect on him very quickly (he became psychotic) so we took him off them. Therapy didn't help either. He was a very very unhappy boy and the light had gone off in him. He was learning nothing at school and was utterly miserable there and his self-esteem was extremely low. He told me that he felt like someone had cut him open and spilled his guts all over the classroom. That was how he felt there every moment of every day. I removed him from school and homeschooled him, and we have never looked back. He is 11 years old now and a happy, confident, thriving young man who is advanced academically and socially. He has lots of friends and I get complimented all the time about what a lovely interesting young man he is. I believe now that he was a little boy who learnt to speak later than 'normal', is very high-energy, and who follows his passions intensely and deeply. School can't accommodate children like that - those who don't fit the mould. Children are diagnosed with these disorders so they are then easier to deal with. IMO it is not our children that need 'fixing' but the school system is flawed. We need to parent the children we have, respect who they are, and stop seeing certain traits as a deficit or a disorder.

embrace how fantastic. I wouldn't rule out home schooling if my child was unhappy at school.

Embrace ds is thriving in an independent specialist school and dd is too at her inclusive mainstream primary but will probably home school dd from y7 as we don't have a secondary school that would meet her needs and I wouldn't win at Tribunal until after she has fallen apart. Glad to read home school has been so successful for your ds.

children are diagnosed with these disorders so they are then easier to deal with. IMO it is not our children that need 'fixing' but the school system is flawed

I agree that the school system is flawed for children who don't fit the mould.

I don't think the diagnosis makes the child easier to deal with, the issues ate always there I think it can make (some) the teachers/professionals/ h/c providers easier to deal with, as some (not all) will only adapt their provision for a labelled child and not before.

Diagnosis has most definitely not made either of my boys easier to deal with (as anyone who encountered us in Tesco, tonight, would attest to).

Diagnosis leads to treatment that is designed to make children easier to parent and to teach. Honestly I think people are kidding themselves when they say they are doing it for their child, or they are dubbed (by the educational and medical profession) into believing that it is the right thing for their child. That may sound harsh, but I think it is a lot harsher to drug or counsel children out of behaviours just because we find them 'difficult'.

My view - having not read everything - I'm on holiday -& can't be bothered.
Is 4 is too young to label. Yes,she might have ADHD & it might be diagnosed in a few years - and you will have to deal with it. But not yet.
A speech therapist tried to say my youngest had ADHD aged 3. He didn't and doesn't - aged 8
These diagnoses shouldn't be made lightly. Some health professionals are guilty of having a little knowledge and jumping to conclusions

OP, I can't believe that I've just read through 10 pages of that looking for an update and then you finally reappear on page 10! I'm sorry to hear that you and your DD have been having such a hard time. That's a lot to go through in 4 years of life. I hope that you find out exactly what is causing your DD's problems and that they can be sorted out.
As I said before, go with your gut instinct but don't refuse any help that is out there, if you/ your DD needs it.

Embrace I don't think my fri DS 15 year old son would agree! He is a changed you g man in the five years since diagnosis and the correct medication!

He wants to joint the forces but cannot do so until he has been off the meds for three years but likes the effect they have on him, in his words 'I feel normal and don't want that to stop'!

MammaTJ Maybe he feels abnormal because people around him (I am not saying you) have made him feel that way. Maybe he doesn't feel it is ok to be who he is and that's why he clings to something that makes him feel more like everyone else.

No Embrace he felt abnormal and out of control because of the ADHD! It made him feel out of control and scared!

Read back to the couple of people on this thread who have said how much diagnosis and treatment has helped them!

Just wanted to jump in to answer a question posted earlier about the military.

In the uk you apsolutly cannot join the military if you already have a dx of ASD its a prohibited condition neither can you join any of the military colleges and the military is exempt from many aspects of any laws that cover disability discrimination.

If you have a dx of ADHD then it is hard to join but you are not automaticly prohibited however if you are treated in any medical way for it (inc medically documented therapy) within the last 3 years then on application (providing you push it) you will always get as far as the medical once you get to the medical appointment (that is automaticly offered to people who push for it) you go to catterick well usually catterick to get a medical discharge that lasts for 3 years, so you can not reapply for that long. And if you remain having treatment that will keep happening until you haven't done so for 3 years.

Embrace..with respect. .what worked for your child worked for your child but you shouldn't judge what others do.

Embrace- surely your own experiences have taught you that every child is an individual and needs to be treated as such, you can't make a blanket statement like that!

What happens to work for one certainly may not work for all! Bloody hell.