ADHD Top Tips

[TwoLeftSocks]

DS1 (7 yrs old, Yr3) was diagnosed with ADHD a couple of weeks ago, I'm just wondering if anyone has any top tips to share?

Any on getting anything down on paper and reading would be especially great (though I'm going to ask school if he an be tested for dyslexia), and any tips on remembering things / maintaining concentration.

School are great and we're working with the teacher on strategies to help in class - I'm hoping we can between us think up some things that work as DH and I aren't all that keen on the idea of medication if it can be avoided.

Hi, my dd doesn't have adhd but has asd with sensory issues that effect her ability to stay still and concentrate. I find omega 3 supplements help and have just purchased a sit and wobble cushion from amazon (recommended by somebody on here) which seems to be good (she sat on it at the table for lunch the whole time at family get together last sun ) so I'm going to try this in school. No tips on reading/writing sorry but I find dd works best in short bursts with a reward for concentrating for short periods. Also as she loves the ipad I bought an app pen to help teach her drawing/colouring skills as it interests her more on there, she is only just 4 though so doesn't do writing/reading yet.

Hi polter-I believe it was you that recommended the sit n wobble seat on another thread so thanks for that, dd really likes it

Oops wasn't meant to be in bold

Polter - who did the alert programme for you? Where was it based or did you do it at home? It sounds really interesting and I think my ds would benefit from this.

What a good idea - am looking at the wobble seat now, and that could work a treat, so long as he doesn't constantly get distracted by the seat itself.

He's not seen an OT, but has been going through the local neuro-assessment centre and seen a peadiatrician & nurse team there. I assume that's different?

I'll look at that alert course too - hadn't heard of that before.

We've been doing the Tinsley House programme and had great results. Have a look at the support thread on here. We did brushing with Jenn Clarke which has helped too - it's very relaxing and helps with retained reflexes. There are lots of great things out there to help. Good luck

Two my son was diagnosed at 7 with mild-moderate ADHD & dyslexia. 3 years later and he is a very different child. Our main issue with him at 7 was the inability to listen, pay attention and concentrate for required periods. He has always had boundless energy, but that has 'dulled' down as he is maturing. I used '1-2-3 Magic' (Amazon) back then which is a kind of count up to consequences. Really worked for getting his attention and stopping unwanted behaviours. School have really taken care of the attention side of things. Egg timers and busy legs have been used, but above all, the most important and easiest tip they used was to give him regular breaks. To either move about or play with lego for instance. It really helped him return to task and stay on track longer. I talk to my son loads about behaviour and expectations. Knowledge and awareness is everything for him and I think it's done wonders for him being given the heads up in situations that he may find tricky … I never assume he 'gets it'. He does 'finger therapy' at school which is a kind of OT which has helped his writing. I got him to join a footy and rugby club .. and he runs for a club as well as jogging around our streets at least twice a week. Obviously diet is key along with supplements of Omega and Zinc.

Hi Madame Sin - I forgot about 1-2-3 Magic. We use it too - it's just part of what we do now and its great. There is a second dvd about encouraging positive behaviour which was very helpful. I'm interested in how you use it / talk to him to discourage unwanted behaviours. Another vote for diet and supplements too ;)

For my friend's son with ADHD the most important thing is taking his Ritalin and finding the correct dosage! He went from a child who we didn't think would make it in school to get GCSEs to one who has just started at uni, with support, after being head boy in his last year of school. He is horrid (his parents words!) when he doesn't take it, but can be calm and focused when he does.

Hi all. We're slowly coming to the conclusion that DS has ADHD. I'm hoping to get a meeting with the SENCO this week to discuss. DS does seem to tick all the boxes, his teacher who is woefully lacking info on special needs said he thought that DS was autistic, I convinced he's not, but he fits the ADHD profile almost perfectly.

I'm "lucky" in the sense that I work in the field of autism, as an events and comms manager but it does give me access to Ed Psychologists, SALTS etc. In the meantime I have some questions and wonder if anyone can help.

1. Should we see the GP as well as the SENCO?
2. Who diagnoses ADHD is it a paeditrician or/and Ed Psyc?
3. Seen about the wobble board, we have AWFUL trouble getting DS to sit at meal times, do you mean this www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=wobble%20cushion&sprefix=wobble+cus%2Caps%2C230&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Awobble%20cushion if so then great as I have one of those already that I use for core strength. Does he sit on it bumpy side up? How exactly does it help? I assume its because it gives the feeling of movement so makes him more likely to stay put?
4. Any hints and tips, should we press for a statement? I heard yesterday at a training event that they are phasing statements out :-0

The more I read about it the more I think that I have it too. My school reports were always good, but ALWAYS said that I talked way too much and found it very difficult to settle down to work. I'm impulsive and do have problems with controlling anger (just ask my DH!!!) too.

Thanks in advance

Our wobble seat's here, took less than 24 hours to arrive! Both DSs are enjoying having a go and DS1's going to take it in to try in class tomorrow. He's going to see if he prefers the bumpy or smooth side, but is very keen to try it out.

lucyjam - we went through the GP route (standard I think) for a referral to a peadiatrician. In our case, meetings with the SENCO were really useful as DS1's has more of the distracted & impulsive traits than obvious physical hyperactivity and it got dismissed by the GP first time we went. The SENCO wrote a letter describing what they'd tried at school and his behaviour in class, which was really useful the second time we took him.

I'm not entirely sure about statements - I think they're phasing them out, or making the criteria much tougher to get one, but for us and school just the diagnosis has been useful.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply. I texted the SENCO today (her son is in DS's class and they are friends so we have an 'out of school' relationship) and she is going to meet with me on Tuesday so will see what she says.

I'll try the wobble thing at dinner and see what happens... and I'll take a look at the wedge thing too.

Gosh its a whole new world isn't it. If SENCO thinks DS is ADHD then I'll ask her to write to GP and then then get GP appt to discuss referral. Would I need to take DS or not? I've not said anything to him about it, should you, do you?

Anyway I'm jumping the gun have to see what SENCO thinks first I guess.

Definitely have a chat with the SENCO - I don't think she'll be in a position to give a professional opinion, and I'm not sure whether they write a letter outlining behaviour as standard, but even if she doesn't you can get an idea of whether his behavior is the same at school as at home. I think that's an important factor.

And I took DS to the GP & all follow on appts - he's been fine with us saying 'you know how you sometimes struggle to concentrate in class, well we're going to have a chat with the doctor to see if they know any clever ways to help'. Seems ok with that.

Thanks two I'll let you how it goes.

As a general rule remember to bring consequences as close as possible to actions. This ties in to the frequent breaks thing too as it's keeping everything very immediate. A reward too far in the future just won't have the motivating power for a child with ADHD that it does for one without.

I would read/listen to Russell Barkley too - look on Amazon and Youtube. He doesn't wrap everything up in cosy 'it's a gift' language but what he says is very interesting and useful.

It is highly heritable so you could well have it too!

Wobble chair cushion was a winner last night and he sat at the table for the entire meal. We'll see how it goes, may have been the novelty value, fingers crossed that it's not!

Will look out for Russell Barkley too.

I will try and keep consequences close to actions. DS has a working towards board, so if he can go brush his teeth get his shoes on and stand by the front door in time for us to leave for school then he gets a tiddlywink to velcro on, once he gets 5 he can have an item of choice, usually a magazine or a lego mini figure. He did want to work towards some bigger lego sets but I told him how long it would take, he decided to go for it but the motivation did slip a lot last week so we have brought it back to something he can earn weekly.

He was very slow and very distracted this morning, DH told him he was a baby and was trying to 'shame' him into going faster. I asked DH not to do this because if its something he can't help he shouldn't do that. In the last week since I've come to the realisation that he might have it I've been calmer with him because i now think he can't help it rather than he is being deliberately awkward, trying to wind me up etc.

I'm sure I have it too, will have a chat with my Dad and dig out my school reports to re-read. DS is very like me in character and personality traits.

Thats an idea Polter, I'll do that.

Meeting with SENCO was as expected, she thinks he has ADHD without the H, so I guess tha makes it ADD. She said that she could do a referal from the school to the local child developement centre for assesment. So we filled in the form together and I signed it so it could be sent off. I won't hear anything untl next year. I'll give them a ring next week to make sure they have received it.

I've asked them to put a few things in place ASAP. When DH and I got there on Tuesday we went in the front entrance DS went in the usual entrance. As we stood in reception all Icould hear was DS's teacher bellowing DS's name over and over and telling himto hurry up.He knows there isa potential isues, I was sooooooooooooo frigging cross. I stood at the end of the corridor watching, teacher saw me and looked a bit shocked. I'm glad he saw me because I want him to know that I'm aware of what goes on. Teacher is male, 50's and old school, sort of person who thinks that SEN is made up by the parents of naughty kids as an excuse! Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I was assured in the meeting that DS won't be labelled as naughty and won't be blamed for his inabilities but won't be "mollycoddled" either which seems fair enough.

We had a fab meeting with DS's teacher earlier this week - we went through a couple of photocopied pages we'd been sent on classroom strategies and between us worked out half a dozen or so that could be specifically effective for DS.

One in particular that we both do a bit already is to only give instructions once we've gained eye contact, keep them fairly short and ask DS to repeat back if needed. Maybe that's the sort of thing your DS's teacher could try lucyjam. He sounds quite similar, and similar to MadameSin's DS (meant to say thanks sooner for posting - been a busy week).

If there is anything particularly brill on that list then let us know two.

Am going to get an egg timer as per madamesin's fab suggestion, think we have some at work so I could get one there.

DS teacher says DS procrastinates getting stuff he needs, pencils, ruler etc. he will try to start work and think oh I need a pencil, so he gets one, then decides it needs sharpening, then needs a ruler, all these items are gathered on separate trips round the clasroom, going the long way round of course! I've bought a pencil case (angry birds!) for DS, which we will fill with school issue pencils and ruler etc. DS was begging me for fancy rubbers and highlighters. I had to explain that he didn't need more stuff to distract him. Teacher will have pencil case and at end of carpet time when they get sent off to do work he can give DS pencil case and then there is no excuse for getting up. If he finds something else to procrastinate with teacher will have to deal with it!