Anthony is 5 years old. I have always described him as “intense.” He is constantly going, easily distracted, and can’t find his shoes in front of his face. We joke that he is “directionally impaired.” He doesn’t follow directions, is very emotional and gets his feelings hurt easily.
Anthony is brilliantly bright. He has amazing conversation skills and gets along really well with adults…kids his own age, not so much.
He can watch a movie front to back with no problems (as long as it’s interesting, of course).
He is messy and disorganized…but so is his mom *wink*.
I was watching this segment on the Today Show this morning:
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The mom in the segment was describing her son and all I could think was, “Holy Shit! That’s Anthony!”
Now, Bob and I have talked about the possibility of ADHD with him before. And we always say “I don’t want him drugged up.” We both think that parents today are to quick to diagnose and drug their children because it’s “easier” then dealing with a rambunctious kid.
But, what if he really does have a problem? What if we could diagnose and treat him and everyone could be happier and calmer and momma could stop cussing so much?
I’ve also read about the red dye sensitivity in children and have thought about trying to eliminate that. I haven’t seriously looked into it though because it breaks my heart to think I might have to eliminate things from his diet that he loves.
I’m just not sure what to do. So if you have a child diagnosed with ADHD, how did you know? How did you decide to get them checked? How do you treat it? I want nothing more than for him to grow up happy, well adjusted and healthy. I don’t want to be one of those “sell out” parents that take the easy road with drugs either. If he really is just a crazy BOY, then that’s fine.
How do I know?
Welcome to OhRheally?, My name is Rhea and I share stories of life raising 3 sons, my experiences as a (recently retired) 
Maybe he’s just a genius. Try putting a torn apart engine or computer in front of him and tell him to put it together. It would be awesome if he could
Why are you using “Robert?” lol
And I already think he’s genius but his teachers don’t seem to agree.
I will be more than happy to go talk to his teachers.
Alot of what your discribing is my kids.
Blake is distracted at school and home, nothing holds his attention
he is off the walls
Nathan sits on his hands to stop fidgiting.
We dont do red dyes. We noticed a small difference. We also do yellows corn squash and wax beans. They seem to have the same effect.
If you are concerned set him an appointment with a child psychologist. My kids take risperdol and concerta to help. It has made a major difference. We dont have the arguing. the crazy behaviors and the constant on the go. Blakes grades have come up. Your son is right in the middle of my two kiddos. They can also do an IQ test. Blake is having this done. We think the reason he is so bored with math and history is he is not challenged enough.
After watching that video I can probably say that my son has it. I’ve suspected he has, but my husband won’t let me get him tested for it ’cause he thinks it just him being a 5 yr old boy. But now, I think I’m going to push it. Thanks for this post, it was really helpful
I love you forever.
.-= Jenny´s last blog ..Green living the Miyazaki way =-.
My degree is in Psychology and ever since my son was 3 – I knew. However, doctors do not and will not touch a child that young. I wasn’t looking for drugs. I was looking for confirmation. He was kicked out of 2 daycares prior to age 5 for being disruptive, not staying seated, always talking and interrupting, and never paying attention. He wouldn’t play with others and often got angry or frustrated when “tied” down to one task. I knew where we were headed and I cried a lot looking for help. I knew we were past the stage of cutting dyes, working with solely a therapist, etc. It wasn’t until he turned 5 that a psychiatrist agreed to see him…that was a year ago. He is now 6 and he is still a wild boy – but a manageable, wild boy. He started off on Adderall 5mg, then 10mg, then 10mg w/booster dose of 5mg…and now we have dropped the booster dose and added Intuiv to her Adderall. The medication does not make him a zombie – he is still crazy and busy and talks a lot, but now he can control those behaviors. Email me if you want to talk – you know where to find me. (PS I should have made this a blog post! lol)
.-= Lisa Mom of 2 Boys´s last blog ..Palm Pre Plus: Email, Quick and Simple =-.
I did not know this was your specialty.
I might just track you down! lol
Anthony is just go go go all the time. He never stops. And he’s so emotional and gets frustrated so easily. I am not seeking drugs either, but some help in just learning how to deal with him so that we are all a lot calmer and happier, ya know.
Guess I’ll call the ped and see about getting an appt. They have a psycologist on staff. The 1st step is just finding out for sure before I go worrying about it so much.
Thanks Lisa.
Seriously, no worrying. Just do the best job you can do as a mom and get him an appointment. Remember, a psychologist cannot prescribe meds in most states, but a psychiatrist can. . . both can diagnosis.
I love my ADHD child bunches and bunches – he just makes me work harder at it…lol.
.-= Lisa Mom of 2 Boys´s last blog ..Palm Pre Plus: Email, Quick and Simple =-.
My son is adhd. I suspected it when he was about 3, but knew the doctors wouldn’t do anything about it (not sure what I thought they could do ha) so I just kept an eye on it. Some of the things I noticed in him were:
*he couldn’t stand for us to have the fan on it the car while he was in it because while we could tune that noise out, he could not.
*he couldn’t focus worth crap, but then again he was 3
*things he liked, he would hyper focus on
Once he got to Kindergarten, he was out of control. He got up during circle time and started playing duck duck goose, ran around the room knocking over chairs, couldn’t sit still, etc. His teacher approached me and asked me if I noticed any of that at home, to which I said yes.
I took him to the doctor, made it known that I was not wanting a quick medicine fix. We did the tests, his teacher did the tests and when we compared the results on the chart, he was very obviously adhd. After lots of research, and talks with my husband, we did decide to try the medicine, not to drug him up and make it easier for me (cause trust me, it’s not), but because I was afraid that if he didn’t get the help he would never make it to first grade.
The first day on the medicine, it was like a totally different child. He listened to his teachers, followed my directions, seemed more focused and with it rather than constantly distracted. Never once was he “drugged up” or “zombie like”.
Sure we have issues with eating since the medicine is essentially an appetite suppresent but we are learning ways around that and he is gaining weight still and very healthy. But most importantly, he is making friends and is no longer “that kid who causes problems in school”. He is learning, slower than others (but I think he has learning disabilities as well like dyslexia), but I have no fear of him moving on to 1st grade.
The one thing that made us give the medicine a try is the fact that if it is truly adhd, the medicine will help immediately. If its not, you won’t see a difference at all. I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. We also have in going to a behavioralist to learn some things as well. We start that on April 26th actually. Mainly I want help with his impulsiveness, which is much better, but I think he needs to learn techniques to help and even at 5 he doesn’t seem to want to listen to mom and dad lol.
Sorry this is such a long winded response.
Good luck, Rhea…I hope talking to his ped will give you some answers.
How did Martial Arts work out for him? Was he able to focus his energies on that?
He quit. Refuses to go because it made his “legs hurt.” I told him that was just his muscles getting stronger because he was using them. I could give him some Tylenol. But he refused. I’m not going to force it. He went TWO times. *sigh*
This is actually another clue of ADHD. Quitting/ getting frustrated when something is a little hard. I really thought he would love it, too.
My best friend’s son has had ADHD since he was about your son’s age. He is now 15. He was wild, couldn’t control himself at home or school and was flunking every subject because he just couldn’t focus. His teacher’s brought the subject up to my friend and they tested him at school and said they thought he had ADHD. My friend then took him to a doctor and he prescribed medication. My friend was reluctant too to put him on meds but like someone posted above, if a child DOES NOT have ADHD, then the meds will have no effect. Well, they noticed a difference IMMEDIATELY! He no longer threw fits or cried over every little thing, he started making a few friends, and it made their family life much more enjoyable. He did still have some learning disabilities, but with the help of an aid at school who worked with him one on one, he brought up his grades dramatically! Now that he’s old enough to take his own meds on his own, he sometimes forgets. And after a day without his meds, his family knows immediately that he forgot because he will get moody and irritable after approx 24 hours of not taking his meds. One thing he does need though, along with the meds, is time alone to relax and unwind. He does this by playing video games for about an hour every day. This might sound strange, but when he needs to “destress”, this is how he does it. It doesn’t have to be video games for ur child, just some activity they enjoy doing by themselves so they can decompress. Oh, one more thing is that most kids who have ADHD do not get the same effect as “Normal” kids when drinking caffeine. “Normal” kids will get wired. Kids with ADHD can literally fall asleep after drinking one of those “Monster” drinks!
Good luck and I hope you find a good doctor or psychiatrist that will help your son!
Well my brother in law, who is now 24, has adhd. My MIL says my youngest son, who will be 2 on saturday, acts just like how my brother in law did at that age. As a 2 yo, who doesn’t sit still? But it does make me and my husband wonder.
.-= Nicole´s last blog ..What Not to do… =-.
How did I miss this! I did not know you suspected (and I believe now has been diagnosed I need to read up more!) with adhd. I was diagnosed with ADHD um close to 2 years ago. I think it’s amazing that you aren’t wanting to medicate him. From experience being medicated and nailing down the medication is not only an art form for an adult it’s frustrating. My doctor finally put me on a brand name low dose medication and it was wonderful, then this month my insurance forced me to get the generic and I feel like an alien. I can only imagine the struggle kids would go through with this type of ordeal. If you ever need to talk or have questions let me know!!!!