Hi. Our 15 yr. old takes Concerta Monday-Friday during the school year. He does not take it on weekends, or during the summer. Don't know if that is good or bad, but that's what works for us. It seems to really make a difference at school, where there is so much "structure" and need to be still and attentive. But life at home and with friends on the weekends is much more laid back and less structured, so we don't feel meds are necesarry. Anyway, just thought I'd add to the discussion.

It took me over a year to get my children diagnosied. My first Ped really worked with me. I would go in and say listen doc. I am doing this and it doesn't seem to be working any suggestions. He would give me other things to do and I would do that for about 2 months and if it didn't work by the next Doc. appointment he would give me another suggestion. Untill all my efforts had run dry then when the questionairs were all back and he wanted to talk to me alone and send my daughter out of the room. I told him no because it concerns her and she needs to hear it. He was shocked at that but understood. I had prepared her for anything that the doctor would say or do. It was good for her because she does really well on her medications and works with it when she feels it isn't working, she listens to her body. That was 5 to 6 years ago.

I always tell the Doctor especially when it came to my son and he was at the time I didn't know it misdiagnoised. I DONT WANT MY CHILD ON MEDS IF THEY DONT NEED IT. The only one out of my 4 that were misdiagnoised that doesnt' need any medication was my oldest.

I think this is a great idea! On the Connor's scale my daughter was in the "moderate" section for ADHD. I would prefer to learn to deal with her characteristics than medicate. As of right now she isn't having any problems in school (she's only in Kindergarten) but at home it can be like raising a circus monkey. I wondered if the teacher was doing something I wasn't. The counselor and I decided that maybe she needed complete daily structure. So when she gets home from school we have a list of about 6 or 7 things that last 30 minutes for her to do that take her up to bedtime. I do get frustrated with her talkativeness and hyperness. My senses tend to get overloaded and I start to feel like freaking out. Anyone else have that problem and how do you handle it?

Hi, I'm not an "in-betweener" but I wanted to comment on how you felt about not medicating your child. I could go on all day about this one. I had serious reservations about medicating my son. He was clinically diagnosed last December. I work in a health care clinic and I see what the medications do to children and the effects it could have. I hated the thought of giving my son something that had a black box warning. I was thrilled when our Doctor suggested a transdermal patch. I have complete control over this medicine. I love it because I can take it off at anytime. If it wasn't for him struggling to pay attention in school he would be on nothing at all. I'm still not a beleiver in medicating children with ADHD but if it helps my son, I will do anything because I love him so much.

The ADHD come from my husband (Haha - but no joke - I think EVERYone says that as a joke). He would have been a great candidate for meds. Didn't have the opportunity to. As an adult, he has his "ways" of coping that came naturally to him. One of them is "air" drumming. If he's in the car for a long time, he'll tap to the music, etc. He also trained himself (unconsciously) to sort and organize (almost in an OCD fashion, but not really) at times when he is forced to wait or is otherwise uncomfortable. (Now, if I could only get him to put away the 4 kids' laundry...)

It is things like that that I'd like my child to walk away with from his elementary school days so that he may not need meds all his life.

I only recommend this approach for a child like mine who isn't running around manic, nor in danger of hurting himself or others through rambunctiousness, nor disrupting anyone but himself in class. He is a gentle, kind hearted quiet and sensitive soul. You'd never guess he is diagnosed ADHD unless you talked to his teachers or saw him spacing out on the baseball field during a game. He simply can't do his school work like the normal other kids.

To each his own and believe me, there is no judgement being made here. I think ANYone with an ADHD child has learned long ago, never to judge others or their decisions reguarding their kids.

That said, my child is 8 1/2, in 3rd grade, and we have done behavior charts, sticker charts, reward systems up the ying yang. They all work up until he gets his prize, then it's back to old monkey business for a few weeks.

The kid is unbelievably smart, too. When he has his eye on the prize, he'll complete his work with lightening speed and accuracy. This was noted during his diagnosis - (bragtime) he scored the highest that office had seen to date.

Does anyone have an experience similar to this with advice for nurturing his gift while not shoving rules and punishment down his throat?

We tried medication on my 9 yr old and we were not happy with the results of the meds. So we are trying to learn how to deal with the ADHD w/out meds.. It is difficult but the side affects from the meds I believe were worse than dealing with his hyperactivity. I also have found that the school is quick to label your child once they know he is on the medication.. I am new at this ADHD thing we have going on with him.. If anyone reads this and can give some advice, I would greatly appreciate it

DIET AND NUTRITION ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND CAN BENEFIT YOU OR YOUR CHILDS PROBLEMS INCREDIBLY!!! :D

Hi. My 7.5 yr old is what I'd call an in-betweener. He's more on the hyper side and it varies on the attention deficit part. We just put him on a low dose of Focalin after me trying a lot of different things to avoid medicine.
Why did we decide to have him try meds? Well, he just has been struggling so much lately. We did the rewards...and it would work for awhile but we found that he wasn't really learning anything...just putting forth all his efforts to behave in one area and in all the other areas in his life...he failed at miserably.

The meds do seem to be working...& fortunately he's still the bright, personable child that he was before meds...just seems to be able to listen and focus better. The only problem that we have right now is that the meds are wearing off...which they should...around 7 PM...& his baseball practice doesn't start until 7:30...won't get into some of his other issues (group anxieties, perfection iessues, etc.) but he's HORRIBLE at practice & now my husband thinks we need to up his meds. I'm calling the DR for advice tomorrow but I do NOT want to up his meds if we don't need to. ( And yes, we've adapted his diet, added fish oil/flax seed, etc. they helped a little but not like the low dose of meds have....)

ANYWAY....we're struggling w/adding the meds....and trying to decide what is best for him. Just venting and adding to the discussion. Thanks.

Hello. My 13 yrs. old son just got diagnosed with ADHD. We do not have much problem with hyperness but he started having difficulties in school. I feel that he has a mild case of ADD. His problems are disorganization and immaturity which affect his school performance. His was in a very academically demending private school but I just moved him into our public school system. I felt that it will be less stressful for him at this school. He got diagnosed with ADD in August and started taking Strattera and Concerta was just added last week. I think the medicine help him but I am afraided of how they might affect his growth in long term since he is quite petite for his age already. I am thinking about trying ATTEND which is a homeopathic medicine for ADD. Has any of you tried this medicine or know anything about it?? I will really appriciate your input.