I have battled for so long to find the words to explain that even though there are people who are successful and open about having and battling with ADHD, they’re not successful because of their ADHD!
Dr Russell Barkley says it so well.
Watch this video and listen carefully. Then watch it again.
If you are parent to an ADHD child, then in all likelihood you have asked this question! Most likely when you were only two or three months into your child’s diagnosis and treatment!
Let me see if I can answer the question for you.
I’m going to start by trying to clear up some of the confusion around medication.
The thing to keep in mind when it comes to Ritalin (methylphenidate) is that it has been studied and used for well over 50 years, and when correctly prescribed for the correct diagnosis, it works very well. Regular Ritalin is metabolised by the human body within 4 hours. It does not build up in the body and does not need to be prescribed by weight. It does have side-effects, but all forms of medication have side-effects and everyone reacts to them differently. What Ritalin does- when properly prescribed and monitored- is to chemically assist the brain to send the messages it’s not sending on its own. Once the brain is sending those messages correctly, a child or adult correctly diagnosed with ADHD will be able to focus on instructions, learning, and behaviour modification therapies.
Simply put, the ADHD brain is unable to properly process instructions and input, and trying to teach a child how to react to situations or complete tasks and manage time will be all but impossible without some form of intervention. Sometimes medication is the intervention that is needed.
If you have the right doctor- and here I must stress that a pediatric neurologist or a psychiatrist isn’t automatically qualified to treat ADHD- and the correct diagnosis, Ritalin may help your child. You will very quickly be able to see if it will make a difference for your child. If you do decide to try medication, I would suggest you start with at least a 10 day trial. Less than 10 days may not be an accurate depiction of whether it helps your child simply because he will react positively to getting extra attention from you and his teachers and anyone else who may be aware that he is on a Ritalin trial. Within 10 days however, the “placebo effect” of the extra attention will have “worn off” and you will better be able to tell if the biology of the medication is actually helping him.
Does that make sense?
Now this careful and close monitoring in the months following a child’s diagnosis will actually cause positive results, even without medication. You’re suddenly giving a lot of extra attention to a child who thrives on it. Many children who are newly diagnosed and treated for ADHD, Aspergers and other similar issues have a phenomenal couple of months where their treatment team thinks they’re finally sailing along, but after a month or two they’re right back to square one! This is largely because the first few months of extra focus from parents and teachers, extra focus on behaviour modification and different discipline styles by parents and so on, starts to slack off when things start going well- and this puts everything back where it started.
Its not that “the meds isn’t working anymore“, its that the consistency isn’t there anymore.
When you- as a parent- believe your child is finally doing okay on treatment, you stop watching him like a hawk and carefully monitoring his homework and how his morning get-dressed-for-school-eat-breakfast-leave-on-time routine is progressing.
Am I right?
You cannot slack off on this focus and consistency! Without a holistic treatment covering all aspects of a child’s life and personality- the medication will not make any kind of difference. You need to make sure he eats properly. You need to make sure his teachers know he has a diagnosis and a treatment plan and how they can work with you. You need to supplement a dreadful appetite with vitamins. You need to set up schedules and calendars to aid your child’s time management. You can’t ease up when things are going well- this is exactly when your added focus will REALLY start making a difference because the child is receptive to learning!
Yes, its exhausting. Yes, it goes on for years. Yes, you can treat your child without medication. But don’t blame the medication for all the issues. And please, for your and your child’s sake, please don’t watch him waiting for negative side effects and behaviours to manifest. See the good as well. Your child will gauge his reaction to his treatment and doctors based on how you treat them. If you are negative about meds and specialists, how can you expect your child to be otherwise?
Disclaimer: I need to stress that I am not a doctor, therapist, counsellor or a professional anything for that matter, so my ass-vice and opinions are all out of my own, uneducated, done-lots-of-reading-lived-with-it head!
I really want to speak at the next ADHASA Parents’ Seminar… so much so that I have already started working on my presentation! It’s probably about a year away, but I will be working my magic on them to get onto the list before then.
It’s one of my favourite favourite TV shows. Season 2 is about half way through on the DSTV series channel. Since I started watching it I saw parallels with my own life in so many of the characters and situations…
The series revolves around a big family of four siblings and the parents of these siblings, the siblings’ relationships with their partners and children, and each other. The grandfather is cantankerous and opinionated and loves his family. The grandmother is wise and patient and loves her family. There’s a single mom of 2 teenagers with an absentee dad. There’s a guy who discovered his ex-girlfriend hadn’t told him she was pregnant when they split five or so years before. There’s a couple with a genius IQ daughter who are TTC. And there’s a couple with a teenage daughter and an Aspie son.
Most who know me will know that movies and such do not make me cry. I may get a lump in my throat but I don’t actually cry. This show makes me cry.
An episode that really hit me hard was when the grandfather wanted to take one of his grandsons fishing because he takes all the boys fishing at a special place and they spend the night just him and them and it’s a tradition and and and.
The grandson in question is 7 or 8 years old, and he has severe Aspergers Syndrome. The boy’s own family has been battling with living with and treating his syndrome and they have changed schools and hired a coach for him and so on and so forth, and whilst they do not keep his Aspergers a secret or anything- their extended family has no idea what they really deal with unless they accidentally witness a meltdown.
When the grandfather started planning the fishing trip, the Aspie’s parents tried to speak to him about being on his own with the Aspie, and gave him a folder containing information and suggestions to read on how to handle potential issues with the Aspie. They have tried repeatedly to explain- to the grandfather especially- how their son is very different to a regular kid and has to be “handled” differently to other children because of his Asperger Syndrome.
The grandfather didn’t read the file and didn’t pay attention, and as a result the fishing trip was nothing short of a disaster, the Aspie only calming down after the grandfather called his parents to ask for help.
It broke my heart because at one stage I was giving folders like that to my family to read about my knucklehead’s ADHD. It took a long time for me to talk to my family about my son’s diagnosis and to tell them what I was dealing with, and it took even longer for them to actually pay attention to what I was saying!
Anyone who is parent to a special needs child will be able to identify with this situation. We are too often fobbed off as over-reacting or being over protective, and at the same time judged to be too lax in disciplining our children.
