When?

[ridgerunner]

The Professionals around here don't even want to do an evaluation for my 4 year old. They say at that age it's to early.

What planet are they from?

[catseye]

I'm sorry they are giving you trouble about testing!!

As I have said before I wish we had diagnosed sd before school... It took us so long to get the meds right, school was not doing her any good during that time... Maybe you could use that argument to persuade the professionals??? Good luck

cat

[MommaToFive]

My son was dx at 5 professionally... But I suspected as early as 3.... Was so very very hyper all the time... More than the typical 3 yo... Hang in there hun!!! I had to fight to have him tested but am so glad i did!!

[sierra]

These polls are kind of hard. You can only pick one answer and you can only take the poll once. Makes sense. Prevents ballot box stuffing.

But for a poll like this I have two sprouts with ADHD. DH and I have ADHD. I could answer 4 times. But I put l'il sprout's diagnosis date.

I don't think I'm that rare. Many parents have more than one child with ADHD. Many parents also have ADHD themselves.

Is there some way to permit multiple answers even if you can only answer all pertinent questions once?

Otherwise some of the polls will have limited value as far as representing the population.

[Douglas]

My diagnosis is very recent ... my children are formally diagnosed with peripheral disorders, and their diagnoses were delayed ...

(it should be possible to set up a poll permitting more than once choice ... i will look into this ...)

D

[mskris]

DS showed signs as early as 4 in preschool class, but only when the kids were required to sit still at a table and "work." He fidgeted.

His kg teacher mentioned it, but I figured he just needed some time to mature. At no time did it affect his academic performance.

We moved after he completed kg and it was that move that really threw him into a hyper tizzy. We noticed on moving day, even before school began. Once school started, the teacher noticed. Given the previous reports combined with what we'd seen at home, I took the "bull by the horns" and took him to a pediatric neurologist asap. So he was 6.5 when diagnosed (his bd is in April and he was diagnosed in Sept/Oct).

Kris

[camismom]

Cami was diagnosed in first grade - age 7. Funny too, because she never had any problems in kindergarten, yet at the end of the FIRST week of school, the idiot teacher she had that year called me to tell me my child has ADHD and I need to get her on medication.

[Veronika]

My son (now 12) was diagnosed when he was 4, but the dr knew he had ADHD at age 3.
My step son (13) has never been offically diagnosed. We have had him tested a few times for many different things, but no results yet.

ridgerunner; Do you mean the dr's won't test your child? I find that very wrong. Parents don't take their children to the dr just for something to do!!

mskris,camismom; You both live in the U.S right? Do not have a law stating that teachers are not allowed to request to a parent that their child may have ADD?

I live in Ontario,Canada, we have that law. But when a parent does have their child tested and if he/she does have ADD/ADHD, they are treated differently in school.

[Dad2Brooke]

Brooke was diagnosed at about 3 1/2. The doctor did not want to put her on medication prior to age four.

After we got called to pick her up from daycare 4 times in her first week, we knew we had to do something.

Her pediatrician did a blind test with liquid ritalin at age 3 years 11 months. Under the premise that if the Ritalin helped her then she needed it.

It helped her, but caused so many mood swings that we took her off of it a couple months later.

At age 7 we are still looking for just the right medicine/dosage.

[Angelia]

My son was diagnosed at age 4, and began medication at this time also. I could tell as early as age 2 that there was something just not quite right with him, but everytime we mentioned anything to his pediatrician he thought we were crazy, because all he saw was a perfectly normal little boy on the outside. With this being my first child I didn't know what it was. Adhd was the last thing I would have thought about. I believe that it is parental intuition you know in your heart when there is something just not quite right with your child.

[Linda]

camismom...same here..no problems in kdgn...but 1st grade...omg..what a nightmare!! Took so long to get the testing done.

[Dad2Brooke]

Linda said:

camismom...same here..no problems in kdgn...but 1st grade...omg..what a nightmare!! Took so long to get the testing done.

Got a question. What exact testing has been done? Brooke has been to a ped, child pyschcologist, and a child pyschiatrist, but nobody ever did any "testing." We did fill out some questionnaires and so did her preschool teacher at the time of the original diagnosis.

All the doctors ever did was read the questionnaires and observation.

Is this all there is to it? Is there a more definative test?

That was the reason I had her to 3 different doctors to make very sure she had it before medication and to make sure that we needed to continue meds after none ever seem to be the "magic bullet" others have found.

Even her current regimen of Concerta, Guanficine and Ritalin don't seem to work all that great, however you can notice the difference when we forget them. (which is rare, believe me)

We are going to the Ped Thursday evening and I want to be as informed as possible.

This is what I hate about this disorder. There are always so many doubts.

[Veronika]

I don't think there is an 'actual test' for diagnosing ADD/ADHD.
What I have been through, been told, and read up on is just 'behavioral history.'

Our dr. diagnosed our son around age 4. He did that over a period of about 1 year. The behaviors are common and continue throughout the different ages of the child. If you and the school see the same 'behaviors' ongoing for many months, ADD/ADHD is suspected. But only if those 'behaviors' contribute to ADD/ADHD.

[catatonic]

ADHD is diagnosed in an entirely subjective manner, based on behaviors observed in a variety of settings. These symptoms are vague and associated with a number of physical disorders which physicians rarely bother to test for in their eagerness to slap an ADHD label on. (Generally, you the parent and your child's teacher will fill out a couple of pages of behavioral questions. Presto, insta-ADHD.)

Before accepting any ADHD diagnosis, your child should receive a THOROUGH medical screening that includes - but is not limited to - blood tests for anemia, thyroid function panel, heavy metal toxicity, blood glucose levels and tolerance, nutritional deficiencies, vision or hearing problems, learning disorders, allergies (if there are indications allergy may be present).

As for doctors' reluctance to test young children... that is probably because the only treatment most doctors recognize either out of ignorance or willful blindness is to put ADHD children on powerful mind-altering medications. They apparently don't read the research (like the new Harvard Med School study) demonstrating that dietary changes and nutritional supplements are AS EFFECTIVE AS RITALIN. All they know is meds, and these ADHD meds for young children - even within the medical establishment - are widely recognized as a very bad idea.

NONE of these medications have been evaluated for their safe use in children under the age of 6.

NONE of these medications have been evaluated for their safe use in ANY children for periods longer than a few brief months. There has NEVER been any investigation into the long-term effects of these medications and many children remain on them for years.

You have several years before you can safely medicate your child, should you wish to. Why not look at it as "experiment time" and attempt some of the more natural treatments that have been proven to work? It absolutely can't hurt and you may find you end up with a couple of years headstart on treatment and no longer require medication.