ADHD

On 12 Jul 2003 08:22:03 -0700, (Brandy Kurtz)
wrote:

toto wrote in message . ..
On 11 Jul 2003 20:45:42 -0700, (Brandy Kurtz)
wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

Brandy

How old is your son, Brandy?

What kinds of things does he like to do?

I think that kids who are truly hyperactive need exercise more than
computer stuff, but I can probably find something that will interest
him if I have more information.


Well he is 7 1/2. He loves to play sporty kindof games. He can read
well, but doesn't like too. See the exercise doesn't help at all with
his hyperactivity. It's very stressful for us. Even his therapist was
shocked by how much energy he really has. We took him to see the
therapist right after football practice, and he was still up, down,
yak,yak,yak, up, down, bouncing off the walls!
We are drained of ideas. It's really hard to find activities for him,
that it is acceptable to be on the go. We did try martial arts, and it
was a disaster. This wrestling season we are going to give that a go,
and see how it works. I would like to find activities that involve
alot of use with his hands. That seems to keep him the calmest.

Brandy

Perhaps then you can take the opposite approach.. Have you
thought about trying a yoga or meditation type class that might
give him some feeling for how to calm himself down? There
is a book that I like called A Boy and A Bear the Children's
Relaxation Book by Lori Lite. It's available online at
http://www.TotalCampus.com

Since using his hands seems to help, perhaps modelling clay
would work?

Get magazines and let him cut out pictures and make
collages of them. He might enjoy making a scrapbook
of his favorite kinds of toys. Or of some sport he likes.
Maybe the local team if you have newspaper articles
and pictures of them playing?

What about setting up an easel and getting paints and letting
him create artwork. You can get dried tempera at any art store
and mix your own. An old adult shirt can be used as a smock.
Lots of different objects can be used to paint with if you don't
have brushes. A pine branch with the needles attached, a
bird feather, pieces of sponges tied to a stick for a handle
or just used in his hand, old makeup brushes are good too,
If you don't have or can't get an easel, a table works too, just
cover your kitchen table with a plastic tablecloth or newspaper
and get a large roll of newsprint for him to paint on. You can
use marbles or little cars to paint with making interesting
tracks. Or use water color and blow paint with straws.


If he likes dinosaurs, there are kits that allow you to build some,
the same is true of cars.. There are some that require less
dexterity and fine motor than others.

Get some craft sticks (like popsicle sticks) and build things
with them. Or use toothpicks and little marshmallows to make
various creations. You can also use recycled materials.

Younger kids like big boxes, why not an older one. Find a
refrigerator box or TV box or get some from the local
grocery store that are large. Have him decorate them with
paint or markers and make them into a car, a boat, a plane,
a rocket or whatever he fancies. Imaginary play in something
like this can go on for long periods with some kids.

If he likes Harry Potter, perhaps you can spend time making
Hogwart's castle or one of the towns out of blocks or out of
clay or playdoh or out of boxes.

Shoeboxes (usually you can get these free from shoestores
if you ask) can be used to make dioramas from pictures in
various books he likes. You can use found objects, grass,
stones, seashells, etc. Or get pipecleaners to make animals
and people. Or use bits of paper from old wrapping paper
or get the wallpaper or paint samplers from a store and use
those to decorate with.

Good Luck. I hope some of this works.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
Outer Limits

Leah Adezio wrote:

"Elana Kehoe" wrote in message
...
Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml


The Feingold Diet was debunked as having no effect on ADHD symptoms *over 20
years ago*.

Okay, wait. I seem to not recall hearing anything about ADD/ADHD until
about 10 years ago. When was it discovered?

E

In article ,
(Elana Kehoe) wrote:

Leah Adezio wrote:

"Elana Kehoe" wrote in message
...
Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml


The Feingold Diet was debunked as having no effect on ADHD symptoms *over 20
years ago*.

Okay, wait. I seem to not recall hearing anything about ADD/ADHD until
about 10 years ago. When was it discovered?

E

Considerably longer ago than that; I can remember my Mom talking about
it -- at least, about hyperactive kids who were being given stimulants
-- when I was still in high school, and I graduated over 30 years ago!

Did a quick Google search; according to at least one site, amphetamines
were introduced to treat hyperactive children in 1937; ritalin was
introduced in 1956; DSM-II, in 1968, included "Hyperkinetic Reaction of
Childhood"; the ADD diagnosis (with or without hyperactivity) was added
to the DSM-III in 1980, and changed to Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity
Disorder in the DSM-IV in 1994.

Certainly we've been hearing more about it in the last 10 years, and the
number of children diagnosed with it has gone up -- but it's been on
some folks' radar for a very long time.

http://www.strattera.com/1_3_childho..._2_history.jsp
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

On Sun, 13 Jul 2003 00:34:41 +0100, (Elana Kehoe)
wrote:

Leah Adezio wrote:

"Elana Kehoe" wrote in message
...
Brandy Kurtz wrote:

Arg! Does anyone have any good websites for ideas to keep my adhd son
busy this summer?!?!?! He's driving us all nuts! He's
soooooooooooooooooooo toughy-feely, and the wierd screaming is driving
me batty. His ped thought it a good idea to keep him off meds for the
summer, I should drop him off at her house in the morning... Wht the
hell do I do with him, and try to keep my sanity???

If he's off his meds, have you tried a diet change? I've heard good
things about the Feingold diet, and that it makes a difference. Here's
one article about it

http://www.mothering.com/14-0-0/html...-adhd101.shtml


The Feingold Diet was debunked as having no effect on ADHD symptoms *over 20
years ago*.

Okay, wait. I seem to not recall hearing anything about ADD/ADHD until
about 10 years ago. When was it discovered?

E

My son was born in the early 70s. He had a friend in our neighborhood
who was diagnosed as ADHD and whose mom tried the Feingold Diet
at that time.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
Outer Limits

Besides getting a second opinion on the 'med vacation' (which I strongly
recommend), do you have the option of perhaps hiring a responsible high
school student to hang out with him a few afternoons a week for a few hours
each day? Get some responsible, energetic kid who won't mind running around
with Eddie...take him to the park...or to the pool...go bike riding...things
like that -- essentially, someone to be a 'hired, older sibling'.

You'd have some break time that you need -- from experience, I *know* you
need it! g (FWIW, my way of taking 'break time' was to leave the boys
home with David for about an hour, even if it meant driving to the
convenience store or local diner, getting a magazine and coffee and just
sitting and reading -- just that hour away, once a week, did a lot to
recharge my batteries and restore some of my sanity).

Leah

I think I will start taking some *mom* time on the weekends! Now that he's home
All The Time it is really getting to me...

Brandy

Agreed. Given recent studies that adult height is, at most, affected by
approximately 1/4" between being on meds and being off meds (and this is the
most common excuse given for 'med vacations'), is it really worth the
disruption of what the child has gained?

IMHO, 'med vacations' are an outdated and passe notion. I'd get a second
opinion pronto.

We have never done 'med vacations'. My 17 year old ADHDer is 5'11" --- his
growth is not 'stunted' in any way, shape or form.

Leah


I don't know what the heck she was thinking! Need...more...meds! I am going to
call her on Monday!

Brandy

Considering that medicine is evidence-based, and there is very little
evidence that diet affects ADHD, and very good evidence that Ritalin and
other meds do help, what would you expect her to do? There were studies done
to examine whether sugar affects kids whose parents said sugar affects the
kids. Guess what? It didn't, at least not when the kids did not know whether
or not they were eating sugar. I think the vast majority of the stuff saying
diet affects ADHD is garbage.

All the best,

Jeff


He is usually on concerta. Tried strattera, but that didn't work. Just grasping
at straws here.

Brandy

Life is too short to try everything that anyone once thought
might help. The research into ADHD weeds out the bad bets
from the good bets. How much of your son's life do you want
to spend on the long shots?

Remember, Leah and I (and several others on ASAD) have been
there. We've /bled/ for our childrens' lost opportunities
and lifelong scars.

We don't want you -- and especially your son -- to suffer
from repeating our history.

Wow, I hadn't thought of it in that perspective. Gives me the goosebumps to
hear from people that actually understand what adhd means.

Brandy

I homeschool my bipolar and ADHD nephew, so I can sympathize.
Sometimes I think if I don't get him out of the house and out of my
face, I'd throttle him out of sheer frustration.

Ohh see I can relate!


Lots of exercise is good; it bleeds off a lot of that excess energy.
Also, finding him a project that he's intensely interested in, like
collecting bugs or something like that. Any summer programs that are
available and affordable.

He did participate in vacation bible school last week, and he really liked it.
He collects Yu-Gi-Oh cards, did you see the prices for those?!?! I wish he'd
collect something cheap...


So, why does his doctor want him off the meds? And what did his
psychiatrist have to say about that? Does s/he concur with the
pediatrician?

Michelle
Flutist

No, the hterapist doesn't get it either. The ped and therapist are affliated
with thesame hospital, so all records are together in the computer. The
therapist just looked at me and said, you poor poor dear. Yeah, so I am going
to call the ped on Monday to see what is going on here!

Brandy

"RuggyKurtz" wrote in message
...
Agreed. Given recent studies that adult height is, at most, affected by
approximately 1/4" between being on meds and being off meds (and this is
the
most common excuse given for 'med vacations'), is it really worth the
disruption of what the child has gained?

IMHO, 'med vacations' are an outdated and passe notion. I'd get a second
opinion pronto.

We have never done 'med vacations'. My 17 year old ADHDer is 5'11" ---
his
growth is not 'stunted' in any way, shape or form.

Leah


I don't know what the heck she was thinking!

Heh. Well, to be fair, what she suggested used to be conventional thought.

Need...more...meds! I am going to
call her on Monday!

Definitely. Because meds and ADHD management isn't only a school issue --
it can impact on a child socially in the home as well as with how the child
can manage in a less structured setting outside of school -- like outside
playing with friends, or a music class, or karate lessons.....

Some kids don't need meds at all. Some do just for school. Some, like my
son, need them in a variety of settings. Each child is different.

Leah
______
In Memory of David, 11/10/61 - 5/21/03
Beloved Husband, Father, Heart's Companion

Brandy