Living With the ADHD Child
November 1st, 2008 by Susan Kirstein
Watching 7-year-old Sydney Roche play at home is like observing a whirlwind. She greets me with a quick “Hi,” then does a handstand next to the couch, flips over, runs to her room to change clothes, grabs her 10-month-old lab puppy Georgia, and skips outside to jump on the trampoline. There her acrobatics continue, as she performs a series of forward and backward flips.
To say this little girl is energetic is an understatement.
“She is full, full of energy,” mom Christy Roche admits with a laugh.
While raising an active child is nothing new for Christy and her husband Frank Roche, nurturing one with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is. Sydney was diagnosed with the disorder in June.
Since then, the family’s calendar has been filled with doctor visits, therapy appointments, and tutoring sessions, all in an effort to help Sydney better manage daily activities. Christy says her daughter’s problems began to surface last year, when she started first grade at Germantown Elementary School.
She noticed Sydney was struggling, she was easily distracted, and her grades plummeted to Ds and Fs. The couple sought help at The Bowie Reading and Learning Center in Memphis. After two months of lessons, Sydney’s tutor told Christy, “I think your daughter is classic ADHD.”
While hearing that news was difficult at first, it didn’t come as a surprise. “She validated what I had been thinking,” says Christy. Not only was Sydney’s energy level through the roof, but her mind seemed to jump from topic to topic as well.
“You could tell with Sydney — her mind was spinning,” says Frank. Her inability to focus or attend to classroom activities was reflected in her schoolwork.
Four months later, the couple says they’re just now beginning to discover what they need to know about ADHD and how it affects their child.
Diagnosing ADHD
Experts estimate that between 5 and 7 percent of school-aged children struggle with ADHD, though it’s far more prevalent in boys than girls. An inability to focus is a tell-tale sign in girls; boys more typically exhibit attention issues along with significant problems with hyperactivity and impulsiveness, which often leads to acting out.
“We tend to miss the girls, because there are often no behavioral problems,” says pediatrician David Kube with the University of Tennessee’s Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities. He cites the three hallmarks of ADHD: hyperactivity, impulsivity, and an inability to focus or complete tasks.
Children with ADHD experience difficulties in all aspects of their lives, not just at school. “If you have ADHD, you should be having trouble in school, at home, church, Boy Scouts…it’s not just a one-stop shop,” Kube says.
Getting a child assessed early is key, says Kube, since other issues can resemble ADHD symptoms but in fact may be caused by a learning disability, anxiety, depression, or speech and language difficulties. ADHD is difficult to diagnose in toddlers and preschoolers simply because symptoms like inattention and impulsivity are common traits for that age, notes Jerry Heston, a child psychiatrist with Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Associates in Cordova.
“But if a young child is kicked out of two or three daycares, or a child’s grandparents won’t baby sit him for a few hours, or he is kicked out of Sunday school, that is a child you may want to have assessed,” says Heston.
Helping Sydney Manage
Sydney sees a tutor once a week to help with her studies, and the family counsels with a social worker at Germantown Psychological Associates, who provides parenting and behavior modification tips. In addition, Sydney takes Adderall, a decision that was a difficult one for the couple to make.
“I was one of the skeptics,” admits Frank. “I thought if you had to give your kid medication, you’re not doing it right.” But their daughter, who tested above average or superior on her IQ tests during her medical assessment, would take up to 30 minutes to read a single paragraph before the ADHD medication. Once Sydney started taking the stimulant, they noticed immediate results. Now her ability to focus and concentrate is vastly improved.
There are no simple tests for ADHD; no X-ray, C-scans, or blood markers flag the disorder. And there is no precise cause of ADHD, at least not one that doctors have yet identified. Experts believe what is happening is that the area of the brain that regulates attention and impulsivity is underdeveloped. That’s why stimulant medications, like Ritalin, Adderall, and Concerta, help some patients by increasing the production of neurotransmitters. “The medicine takes someone with a deficit in an underdeveloped area of the brain and brings it to a standard level,” Heston says.
ADHD is considered a chronic condition; there is no cure. At one time experts thought it was a disorder children outgrew entirely, but now it’s believed most children only outgrow the hyperactivity component. Some teens and adults continue to have problems with focus and impulse control, though not all.
As the Roches have discovered, understanding how ADHD affects your child takes time. Frank wishes they had started sooner, but it’s all part of the learning process. It’s important, the couple says, to read everything you can about ADHD. “Educate yourself,” says Christy.
COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR ADHD
• Assessment — The University of Tennessee Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities offers bi-monthly ADHD assessments and follow-up. Call Tracy Lowe at 448-6511 to schedule an appointment.
• Summer camp — All Days Are Happy Days day camp. May 31-June 4 at the Jewish Community Center. For children ages 6 to 11 with ADHD, counselors work on coping skills. Activities range from arts and crafts, swimming, and dance to games. Sponsored by UT Boling Center. Call 448-6669 for details.
• Parent support — Parent to Parent: Family Training on ADHD. Sponsored by CHADD, takes place quarterly at different locations around the city. Seven sessions focus on living with ADHD. Call Malrie Shelton, community affairs at UTHSC at 448-2741.
• Parent support —CHADD: Children and Adults with ADHD. For more info, go to CHADD.org or help4adhd.org.
Tags: ADHD