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I think children have to be a certain age to be diagnosed with ADD? Also feel he is young to be trying anything to drastic as far as medications go.
I have to run to football practice. I'll see if I can find anything in the next day or so. I CAN tell you that MGH is leading the country in these early childhood diagnoses. Age 4 is still too young, from what I understand, though, to diagnose ADHD, but I know Joseph Biederman is of the opinion that the disorder can be present that young... the question is whether it can be accurately and consistently diagnosed that young. I'll have to see if MGH has any guidelines for diagnosing that in early childhood.
He sounds a lot like my second boy, who is now a beautiful, respectful, well-behaved eight year old.
The one thing we had going for us was that we were consistent. Guess what? After a couple of months, he was a different child. Looking at him now, it is hard to remember those very hard times.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there is hope even though I know it seems impossible at times. I know how frustrating it can be. Hang in there and keep us all posted.
That is good to hear. Yes, I keep hoping that nothing is wrong with him and something will work. Part of the problem is I have so many kids I can not do some of the things I would like. For instance he shares a room with his 2 brothers. We only keep beds an dressers in there and then they have a toy room which I wont use as a bed room because it is in the basement and God forbid if there were a fire they would never get out.
So anyway the last two nights my 5 yr old slept on the couch because the 4yr. old (the obnoxious one) kept screaming and I had to keep my 2 yr old up to almost 10:00 at night waiting to put him in bed because like all 2 yr olds he comes out of bed a few times before he will actually fall asleep but my 4 yr old hits him with his hands or on the head with toys. I am not sure if I should try to change around where they sleep or even where to put every one. My girls are older and would not want to share a room with one of the boys.
Anyway it is good to know that there might be nothing wrong with him.
I would definately take him to your local school and asked to have him evaluated. As he is supposed to be entering school in the next year it falls within their perview to get involved NOW.
My son is autistic and I waited until school age before I ever contacted the school. They said they would definately have recommended my having come to them by 3 1/2 or 4 at the latest. They said that schools are set up to help with any kinds of special needs and they need as much time as possible to get the kids sorted out in determining classroom placement and services that need to be offered.
By all means go to your local school and ask for help. At worst all they can do is say no, at best you will be getting some type of recognition and assistance.
I have to run to football practice. I'll see if I can find anything in the next day or so. I CAN tell you that MGH is leading the country in these early childhood diagnoses. Age 4 is still too young, from what I understand, though, to diagnose ADHD, but I know Joseph Biederman is of the opinion that the disorder can be present that young... the question is whether it can be accurately and consistently diagnosed that young. I'll have to see if MGH has any guidelines for diagnosing that in early childhood.
Thank you. I am sorry if this is a stupid question but what does MGH stand for?
Your 4 y.o. sounds like my 4 y.o. minus the hitting. Since she was a year old, I kept waiting for the day she would get better and when the crying would get less intense. Well, she will be 5 in January and the time never came.
A friend suggested that maybe my daughter was just a spirited child, but I never understood what it really was. I also thought it was just a nice term for an extremely difficult-to-the-point-of-embarrassing child. Then I started doing some research on mood disorders, and found pediatric bipolar disorder to be the closest to how she is. Still, there are so many possibilities and I am afraid of the proper diagnosis (fear of having her medicated is one of the reasons).
Fortunately, as she has gotten older, I have been able to calm her down in public by firmly talking to her (i.e. bribing or threatening to take something away), but her crying and screaming are still pretty intense. I don't recommend ignoring because it intensifies the crying (especially if it IS a mood disorder). Like you, my older son is a well-behaved child and I've never had as much heartache as with my daughter.
Aside from all of this, I just want you to know that my heart goes out to you, because I completely understand how difficult, stressful, distressing, and heart-wrenching it is to deal with. Good luck.
You might call the school district and see if you can get them to evaluate him (at no cost to you) for special ed preschool which would be free if he got in (for whenever he's ready to go to PK4).
Good idea holding him back a year, but you might be able to get some help from the school district sooner.
Then I started doing some research on mood disorders, and found pediatric bipolar disorder to be the closest to how she is. Still, there are so many possibilities and I am afraid of the proper diagnosis (fear of having her medicated is one of the reasons).
Pediatric bipolar disorder (with ADHD overlayed) is what my 6 year-old (now 7) boy was diagnosed with last October. Thing is, we had him to numerous shrinks in the greater Boston area, and NO ONE even mentioned bipolar until we went to MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital, to answer the OP's query). The Pediatric Psychopharmacology unit at MGH leads the country in diagnosis and treatment of pediatric bipolar disorder. And the screening they did for our boy was VERY, very comprehensive... took like 3 full days with Dr. Biederman himself to complete it. But once they explained what was going on and why... everything made sense. And their treatment has basically saved our family, as we were all blaming each other and tearing the hair out of our heads before MGH.
The part that gets really tricky is when we try to treat both the mood (bipolar) disorder and the ADHD at the same time. The ADHD meds are all stimulants and tend to have an adverse and unstabilizing effect on his mood. Therefore, there is a bit of a balancing act that takes place trying to find the optimum mix of mood and ADHD medications. For the summer, we have taken him off the ADHD meds completely because it's not really that easy to do... much easier to just focus on the bipolar disorder, as that's what was so hard on the family. But to succeed in school, both of these must be addressed.
Finally, I will say the staff at MGH seem to go above and beyond the call of duty in being proactive. They have anticipated that we're going to be doing battle with the local school system to get the special ed services we need, and they have arranged to have a full psych workup done on our boy (that will also test for things like dislexia (sp?) and to identify those areas where he's really going to need more help. Then they will assist us in locating a special ed consultant to equip us to confront the school. The way budgeting goes, and the game of the schools wanting to provide the minimum level of service they can get away with (versus the minimum level needed to meet the kid's needs), we are also anticipating having to take legal action after all this to really get what our boy needs to get the education he is entitled to. But so far, Biederman, Wozniak, et. al., have been really great in helping us deal with all this. And, as much cost and trouble as it has been to deal with our boy's problems, it's cheaper and less nuisance than a divorce, which is where we were headed before MGH.
I feel for you. I had one about that age that would pitch a fit every afternoon. It finally dawned on me that he had reached the age where he didn't need a nap, but would still get very tired in the afternoons. I just got in the habit of when the first burst of anger would start, I would just get down on the floor with him and cuddle him a bit and sing one of his favorite songs. It took months until he was old enough to make it through the day. I thought I would go crazy a couple of times.
I don't like the idea of making the bedroom a place for time outs. It makes them assoiciate going to bed with punishment. Not always a good idea.
But I agree, there may be something there that you need to take care of.
But first, try sitting right down on the floor by him and give him some extra love. KInd of rock him in your arms. For some reason, sitting on the floor worked better than picking him up and sitting in a chair.
The Pediatric Psychopharmacology unit at MGH leads the country in diagnosis and treatment of pediatric bipolar disorder. And the screening they did for our boy was VERY, very comprehensive... took like 3 full days with Dr. Biederman himself to complete it. But once they explained what was going on and why... everything made sense. And their treatment has basically saved our family, as we were all blaming each other and tearing the hair out of our heads before MGH.
Thanks for this, shuke. My daughter is entering pre-K this September and if all goes well, I may not need to go to Massachussetts, but if problems arise, I will definitely look into it. Also, I hate to admit this, but my daughter's "condition" is one of the reasons why my husband and I decided NOT to have any more children. It has really taken a huge toll on all relationships (parent to child, sibling to sibling) and we could not imagine having another child who may be as difficult. And we just knew she would use up all of our energy!
To FreezinIL, I commend you for your courage to reach out for help in this forum, since some parents can be really harsh with their opinions sometimes. But at least now you can that you are not alone!
. Still, there are so many possibilities and I am afraid of the proper diagnosis (fear of having her medicated is one of the reasons).
Fortunately, as she has gotten older, I have been able to calm her down in public by firmly talking to her (i.e. bribing or threatening to take something away), but her crying and screaming are still pretty intense. I don't recommend ignoring because it intensifies the crying (especially if it IS a mood disorder).
Aside from all of this, I just want you to know that my heart goes out to you, because I completely understand how difficult, stressful, distressing, and heart-wrenching it is to deal with. Good luck.
Thank you and you daughter sounds very much like my son. best of luck to you too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FarNorthDallas
You might call the school district and see if you can get them to evaluate him (at no cost to you) for special ed preschool which would be free if he got in (for whenever he's ready to go to PK4).
Good idea holding him back a year, but you might be able to get some help from the school district sooner.
Thank YOu, I am going to look into that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Padgett2
I.
But first, try sitting right down on the floor by him and give him some extra love. KInd of rock him in your arms. For some reason, sitting on the floor worked better than picking him up and sitting in a chair.
THat was my very first response to him. I was usually just kicked bitten or slapped. That is what worked well with my other 4. That is great advice wished it worked for me. On children with out what ever this problem is that does wonders.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luckyduck
To FreezinIL, I commend you for your courage to reach out for help in this forum, since some parents can be really harsh with their opinions sometimes. But at least now you can that you are not alone!
THanks. Yes people can be harsh. Once when he had an "episode" in Walmart a lady started yelling. " GO HOME I JUST HATE THAT NOISE JUST GO HOME!!!" I was trying to calm my 1 1/2 yr old after the 3yr old had an "episode" and bit the little guys fingers while I was trying to pay. Of course the 3 yr old was actually screaming louder than the little one. Here I am with 5 kids 2 screaming and 2 carts full of groceries. I was sitting already near tears when this lady started yelling at me. I managed to yell back that if she wants a more peaceful shopping trip go to Nordstroms with her snobby self and if I am bothering her so much she could help me get our of there by pushing my cart! Well she just yelled some more and left and then There were 3 of us crying, Me my 1 yr old and the screaming 3 yr old.
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