Child given ADHD medication unnecessarily

[beatrice82]

Does anyone have experience of a child being given medicine for ADHD when they don't really have this condition? I think there's been a misdiagnosis because when I spend time with this child in an educational setting, I don't see any ADHD behaviours. His parents are at the end of their tether when them at home though. I would say this is more likely because of lack of boundaries. I wasn't asked what my observations of him in school are, which I find odd as I spend 3 days a week working with this child. I'm sad he's being medicated and hope it doesn't change his personality. Will he be ok? ☹️

Glad to see you have found out lots from this thread OP

All I have to add is the experience of being a parent and how very, very difficult it was to get a diagnosis, and then how very, very difficult it was to get medication. AND I see myself as pretty clued up and able to hold my own in a discussion, and good at arming myself with knowledge and research.

Over the years I have seen other parents at CAMHS with similar DCs to mine with no diagnosis and labelled as very, very difficult because they either have English as a second language or are in a really disadvantaged situation themselves and don't have the wherewithal to push for diagnosis fro their DC, many of those DC weren't even able to go to school because they were so out of control, and many of them will be in PRUs or out of education totally by now (Ds is 15 now). It's horrific to see how many kids fall through the system.
The idea that kids are given meds like sweeties is a myth, and comes from the US

@FrownedUpon

Medicating so many children for ADHD is a disgrace. It’s so often without addressing the cause of the inattention, hyperactivity, which is frequently trauma related.

I’ve taught a lot of drugged up children and it’s very sad to see.

I do believe that is page 303, paragraph 2 of the Adhd trope manual.

I wonder how many of these posters who frown upon adhd medication drink tea or coffee.

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng87/chapter/recommendations

Op, this are the NICE guidelines on diagnosing and managing ADHD. Interesting in the management section is this quote “ it is important to understand that a person's decision to start, change or stop treatment may be influenced by media coverage, teachers, family members, friends and differing opinion on the validity of a diagnosis of ADHD)”

I hope you can now see that professional’s view of this being caused by the parents is recognised by mental health professionals. Show this to your SENCO - I hope s/he can reframe their very damaging views which is likely stoping a child getting the treatment they need - would you consider it your place not to recommend a particular treatment to a child with cancer?

OP, ADHD is a complex condition and it doesn't necessarily match the stereotype of the hyperactive child who can't sit still. Inattentive ADHD, for example (formerly known as ADD), is not associated to hyperactivity and children with this condition are very often completely fine in school - only to get home an show explosive behaviour. I hear medication can work extremely well in many cases.

My concern in your implied criticism of this child's parents when you clearly don't understand ADHD, don't have much idea of what's going on at home, and don't seem ready to accept what other posters are saying.

Sorry, ve noticed you've taken peoples feedback on board in your last few posts.

Two of mine are on ADHD meds, they managed OK in primary school and had no disciplinary problems, one was rather popular with teachers as he was inaginative and enthusiastic.
They both trashed and burned in high school as they could not concentrate well enough to manage the multiple subjects and more self directed learning, meds enabled them to combat this and they regained some self esteem.
Both of them used to hold it together at school and then be a handful at home, one used to let all his stress and anger out almost as soon as he left the school building, the other used to be very silly and a bit all over the place after school.
You probably have a narrow cliched idea of what ADHD is like, my boys (and me) are not very hyperactive, more innatentive and have never been "naughty" although DS3 has a problem with impulse control which has led him into some teenage scrapes...

My DS (10) masks at school. He had severe migraines in the 3 years before being diagnosed ADHD. 4 months after starting ADHD meds he came off his migraine meds and no longer has them. The anxiety from masking and trying to fit in caused the migraines.

He loves his meds. He asks for them in the holidays as he prefers his head to be clearer.

No one outside the home would have imagined he'd have this diagnosis. They didn't see the daily 3 hour meltdowns and monthly suicide attempts. Unfortunately his little brother did and is now in therapy.

Children with ADHD get 20 000 more negative comments directed at them by the age of 12 than NT children. Just imagine what that does for your self confidence.

We have boundaries at home but they're different since his diagnosis (some would say more lax, we say choose your battles) and everyone in the family is much much happier.

WRT poor boundaries- to the uninitiated and those of the old school ethos on raising children it probably looks like I’m really soft with my DS - or rather when we were out and he was having a meltdown what the saw was appalling behaviour and a wet lettuce mother. But only having lived it do you learn (through much trial and error) that seems de-escalation from the very earliest sign of him getting frustrated is absolutely the kindest thing you can do for him. I could go into depth about the how’s and why’s but I honestly don’t think anyone who hasn’t been there can truly understand it anyway.

Btw when I say “when we were out and he was having a meltdown” it’s past tense because I’ve learned how to avoid them now. At home anyway. School still have some learning to do.

Yes my DS got tutted at in the street cos he was ranting and yelling at me after a holiday club (where he'd been beautifully behaved). I just kept walking home quietly whilst his words spilled out of him all over the place, on lots of different topics (not just ranting).

After 20 minutes he was calm enough to apologise and tell me that he didn't mean to be mean, he couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth. We hugged and had a lovely calm evening.

If I had punished him for it then it would have escalated and he would once again feel that he doesn't deserve to live.

@Rangoon

An ADHD child may do very well in a 1:1 situation because there is more back and forth and the child is engaged. I personally retaught my son the whole curriculum for the classes he was taking. It took hours of extra time but my son was just grateful and knew he needed to do more work than other children. Revision is very important for ADHD children - they seem to forget so you have to reinforce the learning the next day or even again the day after that again. Flashcards are good for that.

I remember the science teacher telling my son that perhaps he wasn't ready to learn about valence electrons because he wasn't getting her explanation! I showed him footage of the Hindeberg disaster and pointed out that was hydrogen and it only had one electron and that electron was a bit lonely and going out seeking friends so it was very explosive. I pointed out helium balloons were not going boom because helium has two electrons in its shell and was perfectly happy as a couple. We went through the various shell numbers and I tied this into the periodic table where he could count the electrons and work out if elements were stable or not. By the time I'd finished with him he knew more about valence electrons than any other kid in his class but that was easy because it was one to one and it was memorable for him. ADHD children often learn with rhymes or rhythms or having a visual image. My son caused a mini uproar in class by sharing this mnemonic for trig ratios that he found online. Apparently his classmates found it very memorable but my son's homework was to present a more g-rated version to the class the next day!

Once we learnt that while he knew phonics it wasn't his natural learning style, we put the words in big letters on a computer screen and he stared at it for 30 seconds to imprint the image of the word. We used different colours or sometimes a picture with it as well and that revolutionised learning his weekly spelling list when he was younger which previously had taken days for him to learn. You probably want to do only 3 words per session if they are fairly long because you don't want to get the images confused. We used to encourage him to imagine the a movie in his mind and we often had some animal creature coming in writing on the blackboard (Harry Potter was big at the time). It can be important to work with an uncluttered desk and plenty of paper and pens/pencils for workings so that they can write things out clearly.

I suppose in some cases there might be a lack of boundaries at home but ADHD is primarily genetic. An ADHD parent may struggle with an ADHD child. My ADHD child was very well behaved with beautiful manners but I suspect I may have been just lucky in that respect although we tried very hard to introduce good routines so some things became automatic. Boundaries didn't mean he stopped having ADHD though they made it easier for him to cope. Medication helped and it just makes children a bit more focussed but doesn't change their basic personality. My son mostly took it for maths classes.

I've put a lot of detail here but I hope it might help you to work with the ADHD child.

Thank you so much. Your post has been very insightful and I'm pretty enthused now about learning all I can about ADHD.

@ZealAndArdour

Perhaps he’s manageable at school because he’s medicated.

No, he just started the meds today.

I can't believe I'm reading this. Completely unqualified person questioning the specialist who diagnosed the child.

I had this at my school. The schools arrogance was shocking.

Makes me so sad. Makes me so mad.

Could you possibly also become enthused about learning about confidentiality and how highly inappropriate it is to post in so much detail about a child you work with professionally?

There are some fantastic TA’s out there but you are a disgrace. If you were my child’s TA and I found this post you’d be toast!

Maybe you should also use this as an opportunity to reflect honestly on your approach to your role as a SEND TA.

The fact that despite having little training or knowledge about this child's condition you felt that your observations could override the assessments of both the child's parents and professionals shows a real arrogance and lack of insight. Not to mention a complete lack of respect for that child's parents.

Definitely learn as much as you can about ADHD (and speak to your SENCO about CPD) but if you remain in this role there will be children with other conditions that you will need to get to grips with and a touch of humility about the gaps in your knowledge and willingness to learn from rather than judge parents will enable to you provide more appropriate support.

Sorry I’ve not read the full thread so this might have been mentioned already, but I thought that adhd meds were a stimulant, so if you give them to someone who doesn’t have adhd it will have the opposite effect and make them more hyper

Some weird replies here OP. I’m betting a couple of the very hostile responders have had questions asked about their own parenting. In some cases unfairly but in others possibly not….

Mind your fucking business. Who are you to judge the parenting skills? Or question a medical diagnosis? Fucking Christ.

Op... you seem to have the idea of the naughty boy syndrome.

My ds has adhd. He is mostly good at school. To control his impulses , try and focus all day for him is exhausting, hense the coke bottle responsnse. He gets home and it all comes out.

He is medicated. He is still him and a happier version, able to stay in the here and now, he does far better at school as he focuses with less effort.

It took 2 years for a diagnosis. As expectations grew through school , he found it harder to mask.

@Coronawireless

Some weird replies here OP. I’m betting a couple of the very hostile responders have had questions asked about their own parenting. In some cases unfairly but in others possibly not….

Nasty.

[quote SleepWhenAmDead]@beatrice82

So now people have shared some info with you, do you still think there’s been a misdiagnosis and they should have asked you?[/quote]
Despite all the bashing, I'm actually glad I posted because i have changed my mind about a misdiagnosis and my attitude has changed from hearing about all these experiences. I didn't realise that it takes so long and that this child will probably have been monitored for a long time. I didn't realise the meds would be on a trial basis and can be tweaked. I had no idea about masking and that the child I work with could be doing this so I'm not seeing anywhere near the whole picture. I'm definitely going to suggest that I get some CPD on ADHD. I'm so sorry for causing upset and for being fairly ignorant to the process. I guess I've never had any need to delve into the details of ADHD before.

Children with these type of diagnoses can behave VERY differently at school with 1-2-1 support to at home.

You appear very ill informed about the condition op.

@TR888

OP, ADHD is a complex condition and it doesn't necessarily match the stereotype of the hyperactive child who can't sit still. Inattentive ADHD, for example (formerly known as ADD), is not associated to hyperactivity and children with this condition are very often completely fine in school - only to get home an show explosive behaviour. I hear medication can work extremely well in many cases.

My concern in your implied criticism of this child's parents when you clearly don't understand ADHD, don't have much idea of what's going on at home, and don't seem ready to accept what other posters are saying.

I do know about the family situation and home life and there are other issues going on there.

Also.. most prescribed medication for adhd is a stumulant. It calms people with adhd. It has the opposite effect for people who don't have Adhd.