Help from parents with children with ADHD, Aspergers, etc

Tashja

Thank you for reading.

I was wondering if any parents with children with ADHD, Aspergers, ect could help.

We have just got back from a meeting at school about my sons behaviour and the Head Teacher says that in his opinion he feels DS has one of the above problems.

I was wondering if anybody could let me know what symptoms their children have or if I could let you have my DS's symptoms and see if they compare at all.

I have DS in at the doctors tomorrow to start getting a diagnosis but just need to look in to this and get some support in the meantime.

I don't mind people contacting me by PM if they don't want to post.

T xx

Mips

How old is your little one?

fallen_angel_69

in this section there is a thread which is titled aspergers/asd there is a lot of advice on there as to symptoms etc Asd adhd aspergers are all on a spectrum as to being mild to extreme all children and adults fall on this spectrum Many children cope in mainstream school with additional support or some who need a lot of extra support can go to a special school The main thing is to get your gp to referre your ds to camhs (child and adolescent health services)there can be a waiting list for this depending where you live as to how long there are various sites where you can get a lot of information from ie ipsea paren partnership all the sites for help are on the other thread i hope this can be of some help if not please either post on here or pm me will be on computer till 6.30 if not sometime tomorrow and i will try to help there are quite a few of us on here who have asd children with varying symptons

Nicki

My experience is that no two children with ASD/ADHD/Aspergers are the same - just like any other children. However a fairly common feature which might ring alarm bells at mainstream school would be an inability to concentrate for a sustained period, and also an inabiliy or unwillingness to conform with school's rules.

If the school is suggesting this to you, this is a good sign (though you may not believe this at the moment) as it means they are not automatically judging your parenting skills, or categorising your child as "naughty", which happens to most parents with children with these conditions at least at the outset. I imagine that they are suggesting that your child is assessed by an educational psychologist. If not, then I would ask them to arrange this asap, and if they don't do so, you can request an assessment yourself. Once a request has been made by a parent the LEA has a statutory duty to carry it out within a very short time frame.

Your GP may be able to help you get the ball rolling, but this is again in my experience not the GP's area of strength, and it is a Child Development specialist you need - either an Ed Psych (via the school part of Children's Services) or a paediatrician or clinical psychologist specialising in these areas via your local health service. If your GP doesn't suggest this tomorrow and you don't want to go down the education route, then ask your GP to make the referral to the appropriate medical team.

If it turns out to be neither ASD nor ADHD there is still help and advice which can be offered to you and your child, and the SEN section of the LEA is probably the best place to start to find out about this.

Tashja

Thank you for the responses.

DS is 6.

I will go and have a look on that thread thank you. Just sat here crying - was a bit of a shock actually, I thought he was just naughty and now they think it might be something like this

We are off to the GP tomorrow because the Head said he needs to be refered to CAMS ?? (might be the Camhs Fallen Angel mentioned)

Just not sure what to do or think at the moment.

T xx

Tashja

Nicki

Thank you.

The mai problems he has are lack of concetration and he is hitting other children and no matter what they say he doesn't understand he is doing wrong. Also if he doesn't want to do the work in class he hides under the table and screams

He has seen and Ed Psych but they said he is fine. HT thinks that they miss quite a lot of children with this and therefore we will be better getting him under the hospital where they will take the health route as opposed to the education route.

T xx

Nicki

Tashja wrote: »

to CAMS ?? (might be the Camhs Fallen Angel mentioned)

Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

Just the people! Good luck.

fallen_angel_69

good luck with everything try not to worry i know it's hard not to but if he is referred it means people are trying to help he's not going to fall through the cracks in the system as some children do

Peanuckle

The main thing to remember is he is still the same child you tucked up in bed last night, he hasn't changed at all. IF he gets diagnosed with ADD/ASD/ADHD then that just opens the doors for the support he (and you) will need.

There are a lot of people on here with experience with all of the above conditions but there is a light at the end of what might seem like a very long tunnel right now. For example my son was very similar to yours at 6 years old, he spent more time under his desk screaming than he did sitting at it. Fast forward 9 years and he's just finished sitting his exams and the school are expecting very good grades in all of them. The first step in dealing with a problem is knowing what you are dealing with

take it one day at a time and try not to get overloaded with maybes and what ifs right now.

Hawthorn

I had a problem with ADHD with my first son. Then I took artificial additives out of his diet. Not saying this is definately the problem, but it solved the problem with my son.

This site is one of many detailing the various side effects known about different types of additives. Have a look. You will be quite surprised. It's also surprising which foods they crop up in, though things are improving in this country in the last couple of years
http://www.foodreactions.org/allergy/additives/index.html

Savvy_Sue

I was going to merge you into the Asperger's thread but then I realised you don't yet know what it is. Let me know if you'd like me to do that at some point in the future ...