Treating ADHD in children

The other day, I explained the symptoms of ADHD and how we came to that diagnosis for my son. The diagnosis is just the beginning. The next important step is understanding and treating ADHD in children, so that you can help your child do his/her best at home, at school and in life.

We had the chance to learn about CAP (central auditory processing) and how that impacted Kellen before the ADHD diagnosis. Understanding Kellen’s barriers with processing information was eye opening for us as parents, and changed how we do things. Rather than getting frustrated when Kellen doesn’t doesn’t do what we ask of him, or when he seems to be ignoring us, we evaluate the situation…Is the tv on? Are his siblings making noise? Did he make eye contact? Is he involved in something that is distracting him from us? For our son, we need to have his total attention, with no distractions, in order to expect a response. It is frustrating for us if he isn’t listening or doing what he is told, but it is also frustrating for him if we get upset with him for not listening when he doesn’t realize that he was being asked to do something.

He had an amazing teacher last year (and this year too, but that’s off topic for now). Once we had his CAP diagnosis, she rearranged the entire classroom so that his stronger ear was closest to her, and so that he had fewer distractions. After the ADHD diagnosis, I met with the resource teacher and we discussed ways to make his classroom experience a more positive one, and we came up with many ideas, including:

• sitting on a ball instead of a chair because the bouncing often is enough to keep them sitting (we opted against this one)
• having an exercise band tied on the front legs of his chair so that he can stretch it and and occupy some of his energy while still in his chair
• some kids have textured seats to keep them sitting (we didn’t do this)
• having his quiet reading time on the floor with the big teddy bear in the room, rather than at his desk where he ended up talking to his friends
• a reward system that involved him having a chart on his desk and every time he followed instructions he was given a “gem” (a plastic gem that attached to the chart with velcro). Once he had the required number of gems, he was given a reward. Their suggestion was some time with a handheld game system, but I felt that would cause more problems because he has a hard time turning off games when asked. He likes to help people and have a job, so when he reached his goal with the gems he was able to run errands for the teacher or be at the front of the line…things that are important to him

These things helped our son be less distracting in the classroom; they freed up some of his teacher’s time and helped him get more of his work done, but they didn’t help with the social aspect of ADHD. My son didn’t recognize when he was being hurtful to others. He isn’t a mean person, but he doesn’t have the focus to recognize facial expressions and/or reactions to see how he is impacting others. He always wants to be first at everything and feels he is being treated unfairly whenever he doesn’t get what he wants. He would have extreme outbursts when things didn’t go his way. These things happened at home and at school, and we felt like all of our focus was always on dealing with his behaviour… and he was always in trouble. This behaviour continued, and we changed our expectations for him to try and reduce the outbursts. We no longer expected him to sit through a meal and made a conscious effort to ignore the behaviour. Whenever possible, we arranged for the kids to not be in the same space when there was something that needed to be done. For example, they couldn’t be upstairs getting ready for school at the same time because he would be doing something to annoy or irritate his sister rather than getting ready. Without the distraction of another person, he is more likely (although not guaranteed) to do what is expected of him. These changes helped us a bit, but didn’t solve the problem.

Next we looked at activities, diet and medication.

We put him in hockey (and Beavers and swimming) before the diagnosis, to try and help him burn energy. He liked it, but had difficulty following instructions there just like he did at school and at home. After the diagnosis, he was also registered in Karate. Physical activity is supposed to be beneficial to kids with ADHD (for anyone really, right?) and karate has a whole discipline aspect that I felt would be good for our son.

Medical studies say that diet has no impact on ADHD. Naturopaths say that changing the diet is the cure. I believe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I read that Omega 3 can be very beneficial to kids with ADHD, so we added an Omega 3 supplement to his daily multi-vitamin. We stopped buying foods with red dyes and reduced the sugary sweets. I only allow sugar free real fruit/vegetable combination juices, not fruit juice, so that wasn’t an issue. I started adding more vegetables purees to our meals to ensure my picky eaters were getting enough. I did not remove dairy or wheat products from his diet. This is something I’m considering trying in the near future, but we have not done it yet. I can find no studies that support the benefits of removing these things from his diet, but I know that has been recommended to other people by a naturopath.

Family time continued to be challenging and Kellen’s relationships at school became more strained, and we made the decision to try medication. This wasn’t a light decision for me. I hear people make comments about medication, saying that parents just want a pill to fix everything. That may be true for some, but that is definitely not the case for us, and I don’t believe it is for most people. Until you have lived with a child with ADHD and watched them struggle, and heard them say that no one likes them, and made numerous changes to make their lives better only to see them have more challenges, you have no right to judge. When my child is sick and medication can help, that is what I do. It is no different when your child has ADHD. Deciding to use medication was a choice that involved lots of research, several medical tests and trial and error. I will talk more about that process and what we have tried in next week’s ADHD post.

***I am not a medical professional. I am a mother of a child with ADHD; and a social service worker who has had professional experience with children with ADHD. I speak from my experiences only. For a proper diagnosis and treatment options, you need to speak to your doctor.