Interesting Article

[cfred]

Cfred and Jennjubie, thanky ou for sharing your stories and I sincerely hope you do not feel I was attacking you in my earlier post. I recognize that for some kids, this is the only way and I can see that you are both dedicated and wonderful mothers who are doing what is best for your kids. I think it is just the assumption that every hyperactive behaviour is ADHD that I find troubling...the misdiagnosis and overdiagnosis. Obviously, for some kids medication is the right thing to do, but just as you went through a process, it shouldn't be the first and only action IMO.

Oh no, I didn't feel attacked and wouldn't expect to in a forum involving my peers. Unfortunately, Ritalin has had such a bad rap because of it's overuse. Typically, the people I become frustrated with are the people who have no business whatsoever imparting their wisdom upon me. The best I had was a friend's daughter, fresh out of university. She had all kinds of things to say about the potential damage to my child, a better course of action and, of course how I could change my strategies to deal with his behaviour. I invited her to spend a week in my house whilst I went away on vacation and see if that didn't change her views a little. As she watched my son running in circles, wild eyed and yelling, she declined my offer and apologized. I actually 'used up' babysitters! We paid 'danger pay' if they were in tears when we came home. I put him in a daycare centre for mornings, 5 days/wk so I could have a break. He made his provider cry on a regular basis so I was asked to reduce his time to every other day to give his teacher a chance to 'regroup'. Good times I can laugh now, but holy s%#& that was a tough haul! And yes, I agree that it shouldn't be the first course of action, nor the only one. It needs to be used in conjunction with behaviour modifications and diet.

It's a simple fact that if you haven't lived it, you can't possibly know how to handle it or what it's like to live in it. Every family is different, as is every child and their level of ADHD. I can say with all honesty that as much as I love my son, I wouldn't repeat the early years if you paid me. It was a horrendous, confusing, exhausting time full of self doubt and concern that I was going to 'poison' my child. It was a tremendous strain my me, my marriage, my other children. In the end, when I was backed into a corner having exhausted all other methods, the meds were what worked. And there are certain 'telltale' signs of ADHD that are unmistakable and def not normal. The 'wild, darting eyes', the near vibrating state, the constant (CONSTANT) fidgeting, zero impulse control, jerky bodily movements, night terrors, fixating and obsessing over things (redirect all you want, they're still way back at the thing they're fixating on). It's quite a thing to behold.

I can't imagine piling asperger's on top of that. Jeez....the patience of a saint!