ASD, now also ADHD, question re meds

[ArganIvy]

My DS (who is 13) was diagnosed 6 years ago with AS, and recently has received an additional diagnosis of ADHD. He's had a horrible time in school, has fallen badly behind, and feels he 'can't learn' as he is almost completely unable to concentrate on things unless it's a special interest.

We're now thinking about medication. I'd love to hear from others about how successful (or not) medication was for your child with ADHD in terms of ability to focus and learn? I know it's not a magic bullet, and he still will have all his ASD issues, but I'm desperate to hear from others about their experiences of the change medication brought about.

Just wanted to add, there are no significant issues with his behaviour or impulsivity. It's the inability to learn that has really got him down, his self esteem is at rock bottom.

I have a ds with only adhd and another ds who has asd but seeking an inattentive add diagnosis.

My adhd child has had great results on stimulant meds. He's gone from near bottom of his class to top of his class. We have had to work around side effects but he is much happier as are we.

My asd child now has full time 1:1 (he's 6). We mainly got it due to his very aggressive outburst and allows him to leave the classroom - he functions normally with friendships and has loads of friends. He's learning has fallen behind this year. We did find he was having problems with visual tracking when reading the white board and also discovered he struggles to write sentences - this only became apparent when we were preparing statment and reviewing the evidence submitted. We found a behavioural optometrist useful and we are getting ds a laptop for school. We will be trying ds in meds if we can ever get an appointment. Sometime stimulant meds don't work well on asd kids but there are alernatives. Sorry iv waffles on what i'm trying to say is that it's worth trying the meds but def looking at processing issues too.

This thread had good discussion on adhd meds

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/special_needs/3062559-Is-ADHD-medication-mediket-dangerous

Thanks Allthewaves. It's so encouraging to hear about such a dramatic improvement with your son with ADHD with meds. I feel I need a few good news stories! I will look at that link too. I'm trying very hard not to get dragged down by regrets that his ADHD wasn't spotted earlier (e.g. When I raised it 5 years ago!) but instead focus on the positives that it might bring about. Thanks!

Meds is a tricky one for ASD/ADHD because they can compensate for each other.

ADHD enables freedom from rigidity and routine and anxiety about change, ASD enables concentration on subjects that are motivating or interesting and attention to detail at times.

Sometimes when you medicate the ADHD, the ASD symptoms increase and so can anxiety.

My advice is to give your child as much information as you can and let him decided and also set up a feedback system where he can monitor the effects and decide whether they are helping or not. Have him fully included in managing his conditions himself.

Thanks Starlight. That's helpful food for thought. I didn't know that, that ADHD meds can sort of increase ASD difficulties. I do want to include him in discussions although it's quite difficult to get him to engage.