Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional horrible dr visit

Cola, I don't know your personal situation so I can not provide specific advice. However, there is no need to medicate your child unless you have had an appropriate and thorough assessment. You also need a clinician with whom you feel comfortable and who will provide a prolonged and supportive relationship. If the diagnosis of ADHD was borne out and medication prescribed it would need monitoring and adjustment and careful ongoing management.

How do you find a new paediatrician? As I say I don't know the specifics of your insurance or the services available to you but it pays to do some research, ask some questions and seek advice.

Others on this forum may be able to advise more specifically if you can narrow your location at all. Otherwise, hit the internet and look for specialists in your area. You mention your brother has ADHD, any information to be sourced in that regard for specialists in the area?

Thinking more broadly, in case as you suspect this is not ADHD, look for gifted specialists and neuropsychs who could perform assessments. Is there a University or hospital backed clinic you could access.

Doing some broad research on your own doesn't hurt, which I am sure you are already doing. You have time to investigate and ponder the path. While I am know you want the situation improved for your child right now, there is time.

The doctor failed miserably, because an ADHD diagnosis REQUIRES that the symptoms must be present in more than one environment. Otherwise, the problem is not the child, it's the environment. Your son's doctor only looked at one environment.

Assuming you got to read the school report, since you carried it in... How would you have scored him, based on what you see at home?

He has issues with paying attention in class and doing his work. But if its something he is interestedin he can focus no problem . I would have scored some things similar but not all of it. It was a sheet with a rating scale and the number 3 as being most problematic. The teachers wrote 3 on all including depression and anxiety and violent behaviour. He has no symptoms of depression and is definitely not violent. Funny thing is the teacher complains about him not paying attention or just doing the bare minimum but I have never heard of anything regarding depression or violence. His handwriting is absolutely horrible and they are doing common core based teaching. The class has been doing double digit multiplication and division for a month now. He's completely bored but the teacher says otherwise. I'm not surprised with what she put down but I am shocked a pediatrician would write a prescription based solely on one teachers input.

My son does best when he's able to get his exercise. Unfortunately they believe that at a 4th grade level kids only need one recess. I have been trying to tell them if they let him outside to even just run off the energy for 10 minutes they may see a difference. But...I keep getting the same response "I have been teaching gifted kids for 18 years I know what I'm doing".

For better or worse, you now have an ADHD diagnosis. Use it. Request a 504 plan for your child. In the plan, request "a sensory diet" of exercise and activity in the middle of his day, separate from his recess. It can include doing things like being sent on errands carrying books to the library or heading out into the hallway to do pushups and jumping jacks or whatever works for your child..

I know in my situation, my daughter was misdiagnosed due to rushed judgment. Like you, I have a sibling with ADHD. One thing that I would mention is that in cases where the child's symptoms are not a slam dunk ADHD diagnosis, doctors/psychologists will often suggest stimulant medication as a diagnostic tool. The thinking being that is if the child doesn't have ADHD, then they will not improve on the medication. I don't know if this is what your pediatrician was thinking? I was never ok with this. You should never medicate your child unless you feel there is benefit to be gained from them taking it.
If the school has completed questionnaires on your son, ask to fill one out too! If they don't allow you to, I would be suspicious. Most schools want parent input before making a decision regarding a child and offering them in school services.

As others have said, there is no need to quickly rush to judgment here. Unless your son is failing subjects, give it some time and do some research.

I'd also add an excellent related caution from our psychologist, who provided a tentative diagnosis of ADHD-I (to be formally confirmed only after testing to eliminate CAPD, plus getting LD accommodations in place). She noted that the "pending" status did not mean we couldn't, in the meantime, do a trial run of medication if it seemed appropriate after discussion with our physician. The effect of ADHD meds is pretty immediate, so you can see right away if they are helping, and how much.

BUT - she also pointed out that we are talking about *stimulants* - and almost anyone will be more alert and focused with stimulants. That doesn't mean they are medically necessary for your DCs well-being.

So in our own case, we need to think carefully about what problems are causing DD the greatest distress, and do everything we can to fix those problems. If it becomes clear that focus problems are keeping her from being able to use her accommodations or access her remediation (such as she can't concentrate well enough to get through her remedial reading training), then medication may need to be part of our solution too. Once we have figured out how to clearly define the problem we'd like the meds to fix, we'll be much more able to judge if they are doing what they'd need to do in order for the benefits to justify the risks. Sorry if that sounds preachy - it is not meant to be!

My dd looked ADHD til.., well, she still looks that ways sometimes. But she does not have it. She is super organized and can focus when needed, though it is painful and her threshold for boredom is low and she will become hyperactive when as a side effect.

I'm nodding here.

My DD very much looks ADD inattentive-- when she is listening to the perfectionism monster under the bed in her mind.

This is her personal demon. She even has some of the other features that (mystifyingly, to my mind, honestly) make it onto checklists-- the hyperfocus (I mean, really, what PG kid doesn't have hyperfocus??) etc.

But it's entirely situational and it's entirely dependent upon her own internal state of mind.

Do stimulants improve her ability to stay on task? No, not really-- but they do work to the same degree that they do on pretty much everyone. There is a reason that study drugs and caffeine are a thing on college campuses, YK? It's not because all of those kids have ADD.

I'm very very sure that ADD exists. I've known some people in my life who are clearly experiencing something profoundly different from normative in executive functions, and the impairment is such that they do not experience life the same way that others do. I have ZERO problem with psychoactive meds for those people-- but what I do question is the use of such meds in children who are (at most) borderline cases.

If the environment is the problem, changing elements of that environment and fostering flexibility in the CHILD seems to me to be the better long-term strategy, not applying some corrective measure to the child... I'm probably not stating that well, but it just really bothers me that classroom teachers are seemingly losing sight of the fact that there is a RANGE of normal development in children... and pathologizing parts of that range in the name of doing things the way that they like seems REALLY wrong.

So not providing large motor breaks? Whoah-- that's a red flag to me. This is something that even kids without actual ADD/ADHD are going to find hard in this age group-- well, some of them will, anyway.



Medications are not benign. They are a permanent choice-- you cannot "un-do" a trial of psychoactive meds. Period. There are persistent shifts in neurotransmitter function that occur when one of those stimulant meds is offered repeatedly.

That's fine if there is an underlying neurochemical abnormality. Not so fine when it's someone who didn't use to HAVE anything 'wrong' with that biogenic amine neurotransmitter system. Particularly so in those whose brain development isn't complete. Bad, bad, bad juu-juu.

I have VERY strong feelings about this. But I have pretty good reasons.

On this point specifically: the most common rating scale for ADHD used by pediatricians is the Vanderbilt. pdfs are freely downloadable for this. Here's one:

http://www.uwmedicine.org/neighborhood-clinics/Documents/03VanAssesScaleParent%20Infor.pdf

And here's the teacher one, if you want to get input from a different observer, like an afterschooling tutor, coach, or extracurricular instructor:

http://www.nspeds.com/_files/Vanderbilt-Teacher-Initial.pdf

Yes! I think that you should absolutely take advantage of the diagnosis and ask for accommodations from the school as suggested above! Make the best of the diagnosis the pediatrician handed to you for getting a 504 plan while you figure out if you want a second opinion or to pursue other options. Good luck.