I am sure my son has ADHD, and since researching the condition, I believe that I have it too. Unfortunately my son's school is not supportive, many parents have moved their children because of the school's attitude, and they say they don't have a problem there. However almost every day his teacher tells me that he's done something else.
At Easter I went to my doctor, and he referred my son to a paediatrician. I heard nothing until the week before Christmas when I got a letter from them saying that the school assessment didn't match the criteria for ADHD and that they didn't want to see him, speak to us or even see my diary. They even suggested parenting classes! I have done many courses and conferences.
When my son started reception year his teacher was impressed at how good his work was, but he is now on the low side of average, my son is 6 and due to start junior school in September and I feel that he needs help now before he starts juniors because if he falls behind now he'll have severe problems catching up there.
I would be more than happy to go private but I just don't have the money.
Is there anything I can do now, or do I have to resign myself to the fact that my son will have to experience the problems that I've had? Or maybe worse.
I'm from Australia and I have also done research on the condition and felt that ADHD was what I had rather than depression which I was prescribed medication for. The doctors refused to look into the issue, as I was completing high school at the time, and there had been a scandal involving students using ADHD medication as a performance enhancer in exams. There is also very little government support for children with ADHD, so schools are very reluctant to touch on the issue and the condition often ends up undiagnosed. My suggestion for you is to research different schools for your child and find a school with smaller class sizes so that he can receive more individual attention, special education/remedial programs available in the event that your child may fall behind and well-trained, qualified and supportive staff who would be prepared to work with you and your child to make sure your child can reach his full potential. If you find that you need to go private, perhaps you could apply for a scholarship on the basis of your child's needs. I wish you all the very best!
Hi sorry to hear you are having so many problems, I would look at his diet. Low sugar and cut out as many preservatives as possible. A poor diet can send some kids feral. A great Australian site is www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info In Australia there is particularly bad preservative called 282 here which is an anti mould preservative found in breads, refridgerated pasta, cakes etc. I cut this out of my daughter's diet and after a week the improvement in her behaviour was amazing. It doesn't work for every child but certainly worth a try.
On this site there is a diet called the Failsafe diet that is used for kids with ADHD which is very successful for some families. Anyway there is info about this on that website if you are interested.
When I was a kid, it was suggested that I had ADHD but my parents refused to believe that such a condition existed. Many years later I married a teacher that, jokingly, suggested that I had it. Well, long story short, I took a ADHD test, didnt pass it, when to a specialist, and am now taking Concerta. A whole new world emerged after that point. I only wish I had gotten help when I was in school. I look back on it all and wonder how far I could have gone with the proper treatment. To this day, I am still on the medication and doing well.
My wife would never say if a child had this problem or not. She would always say "I am a teacher, not a doctor. My job is to teach, it's the doctors job to diagnose".
The point is, do whatever you have to do to get help for your child if in fact he has ADHD. Dont let him get to where I am now wondering what could have been.
