Need some practical ADD/ADHD pointers

[Melissa C]

Jacob is 7 1/2 and has ADHD. As you can imagine, he has a terrible time focusing when he's doing anything that is a seatwork kind of activity. What are you practical pointers?? I taught special ed, but sometimes when it's right in front of you it's hard to remember what I used to do! :lol:

Biggest problem areas are just doing.the.next.thing. Like just write the next word in the sentence! We do Teaching Textbooks for Math, and that has been great. We do a lot orally, but the kid has to learn how to do some things with a pencil!

He feels poorly about himself b/c he is being constantly corrected, mostly for not following through on chores, schoolwork, or for antagonizing his sister.

We do Feingold by way of food allergies :lol: and he is on digestive enzymes. I'm really looking every day behavioral things here.

We are also going tomorrow to talk about meds with his dr. He was on Strattera two years ago and he was a different child! He would say things like, "You know,Mom, I'm just not bothering Mattie all the time!" :hcry: And he felt better about himself, I'm sure because there was an absence of a hundred corrections a day, that's bound to make a difference! Anyway, dh and my brother both have struggled with ADD/ADHD their entire lives and hated it. Meds have helped them both, so we hate to withhold that from Jacob.

So I'm rambling... what behavioral/situational/setting changes have you made that have helped???

[Rachel Jane]

Can you make a fun sensory deprivation chamber like a tent under a table with a blanket that has no print? Have you tried making him a cubical with a tri fold poster board? Is your dryer in a common area? I have allowed a child to do his math in an open dryer with me sitting in view of the door but out of his sight. Have you used a whisper phone to that he can quietly hear himself work through the answers verbally?

Staying on task:
If it is a writing assignment you could have a cheat sheet that says:
Start with a capitol.
End with a period.
Read your sentence.

Then show him how to fix his sentence if need be.

How about only asking for 3 to 6 answers at a time?
When writing, have him tape himself first and then listen and write what he has taped as his answers.
Let him act out the answer and you tell him if he is correct.
Do spelling up the stairs, one step per letter. If he misses a letter, have him stop on that stair and think about it.
Have him jump on a minitramp the answer to math questions.
Toss a bean bag back and forth for beginning skip counting or spelling (he says "2", throws bag. you say "4" throw it back. In spelling you go back and forth with letters.
Use matchbox cars in a garage with slots on paper to teach addition or subtraction. We also used legos and craft sticks to do tens carrying.

[Rachel Jane]

We are also going tomorrow to talk about meds with his dr. He was on Strattera two years ago and he was a different child! He would say things like, "You know,Mom, I'm just not bothering Mattie all the time!" :hcry: And he felt better about himself, I'm sure because there was an absence of a hundred corrections a day, that's bound to make a difference! Anyway, dh and my brother both have struggled with ADD/ADHD their entire lives and hated it. Meds have helped them both, so we hate to withhold that from Jacob.



Is there a reason that you are uncomfortable putting him on meds?

[Melissa C]

Is there a reason that you are uncomfortable putting him on meds?

I guess I forgot to finish that! He ended up with incredible sleep deprivation as a side effect of Straterra... like he'd only sleep for 2 or 3 hours per night!! It was several months to get him back on track sleeping after just 2 weeks of meds. It was horrible for all of us!

I'm hesitant to do the stimulant meds just because I always like to avoid medicine if I can (antibiotics and all), but I know that's just probably what's best for him. I'm really okay with that, especially now that he's older. One other struggle is that he's allergic to corn, so we have to choose a medicine that is available for compounding. It really just complicates everything. It's hard enough to find meds that work well without side effects, but our options are just more limited b/c of the food allergies. I've just avoided it b/c it's a big headache. We've recently found a good compounding pharmacist who is familiar with a corn allergy, so I'm feeling like it's not all so overwhelming to figure it out.

[Jo in PRC]

Smart but Scattered and Taking Charge of ADHD are my two favorite resources. It might help to let him know that the reason you are "correcting" him a lot is because right now his frontal lobe needs lots of reminders. In fact, you have to BE his frontal lobe for awhile.

Music helps Anna, as long as it doesn't have words. I also try to do lots of sensory diet stuff before she does "hard" things like math or writing. Ironically having a huge fight (adrenaline rush) tends to help too, but I can't see making that part of our daily routine! Though a quick game of tag or dodge ball with stuffed animals has the same effect for Anna.

Hang in there! Jo

[Gwen in Texas]

Rachel Jane had great ideas! You could cut up his math pages into strips so he only has to look at one row at a time. You could try giving him a cup of coffee. Sometimes that is enough stimulant to help. :group:

[Laura F]

My oldest was recently diagnosed with ADD (although we have suspected it for 3+ years). Most of what we already do helps her but leaves me with little time to take care of the other 2! I'll have her dictate answers and write them for her. She knows the info but frequently wanders off-task when she is writing. I have her read directions aloud to me, and I break assignments into smaller tasks. I also play to her strengths. She's an incredible artist, so I try to incorporate art into other areas.

We don't deal with hyperactivity, but I do give her frequent breaks. In fact, this is why she doesn't want to go to a public school. She knows that she won't get a break each time she finishes a task! I'd love to be able to remove all distractions, but that's just not possible with 2 other children.

This is our first week trying medication. What finally brought us to the route of testing and meds is that she simply cannot sustain her attention to finish ANYTHING--chores, simple requests, assignments, you name it. I also cannot sit with her for the rest of her school career and make sure that she finishes every problem or sentence. We are trying a stimulant.

I have also thought of a mini trampoline when we are doing seatwork that can be completed orally. And I have one more idea for you. I read a newspaper article this summer about a teacher who replaced the chairs in her classroom with exercise balls. This way the student is sitting but is also able to wiggle.

[AndreaD]

My 7 yr old is ADHD as well. A few things that work well around here-
-- LOTS of hands-on stuff especially math
-- Workboxes- I was skeptical- but I'm thrilled with how well they are working for my ADHD kiddo.
-- Our Token economy (http://deansacademy.blogspot.com/search/label/token%20system)- A big thing for my kiddo is to catch him being good- and reward whenever I can. Our Token system helps me do that.
-- Rewards charts- working towards prizes he wants to earn- we have a drawing of a sword on the fridge- as he cooperates, he can color in parts of it. When it's all colored in- he earns the Nerf Sword he wants

Meds seem to be working some- we had the problems with not sleeping well in the evenings too- and they put him on a small (1/4 a pill) of clonidine- which really helps. Also- we've noticed he has a small "window" of time- if we can get him to bed inside that window- he'll go to sleep great. If we miss it....he's prowling the house looking for things to get into. lol

Good luck!

[Melissa C]

I never got back here to tell you guys thanks for your great ideas! In the meantime, we have started Daytrana. It's a ritalin patch, and it has revolutionized our family life! Jacob is focusing really well but is definitely still "himself" if you KWIM. Sometimes hyper even, but as long as he's focusing, I'm not going to increase anything. The medicine has enabled us to do all sorts of stuff I could never do before because we never had leftover time (or patience for each other!). Now he can focus so we can do stuff in a reasonable amount of time and move on to other fun things too. It has been great for us!!! We have to make sure we take the patch off early enough and he also takes melatonin, but for now we have a good routine that involves focusing and sleeping! Yay!

[Rachel Jane]

:clap::clap::clap:

[Shelly in MN]

...Smart but Scattered...


This is the book I'm trying to work through right now, and it seems very good. Considering I have ADD myself, i'm trying to adapt some of the advice/technics to my own life. ;)

[Laura F]

:clap: So happy for you, Melissa! Grace started melatonin last month, and it has been a life-saver for her. She's getting more and better sleep, and adequate sleep really helps with her ADD.

[Leslie Nelsen]

:clap:

Thank you for starting this thread. It's got a lot of great info that I wish I didn't need. :lol:

Laura - I can so relate to not feeling like there is enough time. How do I manage all of this??? Having kids with so many different needs and I just haven't figured it out.

How do you know which sensory things willl help with ADHD? I have a child with SPD (sensory avoider) which is not the same. Isaiah has recently started complaining of tags and I'm wondering if we are headed down needing more sensory things for him.

We did buy him a trampoline for his birthday and I just picked up a whisperphone, but haven't tried it yet. I appreciate the tips and help. I'm glad to have friends to help! :group:

[Mary D]

I also have a 7 year old with some aspects of adhd so I will be following this thread closely.

We just started hs this year. We tried meds last year after teacher suggested she might have adhd. Docs "confirmed" diagnosis but I am not sure yet. We started Feingold in April and I have seen some fruits of that labor. We stopped meds after seeing such a negative change in her and I researched so much on the internet that I am so scared to go that route again.

I can pretty much deal with her being inattentive and unable to focus 100% of the time. We just change what we're doing and try it another way. Where I mostly relate to the post is her having to be fussed at a lot during the day, ie. bothering her siblings, not keeping room clean, etc. The impulsiveness seems to be the biggest thing tugging at my heart when it comes to her diagnosis because the other things we work through best we can. My son has commented often that his sister doesn't like him or is mean all the time to him and these things break my heart. Can anyone give me an insight on what problems we might face if we don't go the medicine route? I mean, if we just work through things best we can.....