ADHA IN YOUNG CHILDREN

I HAVE THREE CHILDREN ONE IS 9YRS THE OTHE IS 6YRS AND THE YOUNGEST ONE IS 4YRS. MY 4 YEAR OLD HAS GOT THAT ADHD IS THERE ANY ONE ELSE OUT THERE THAT HAS GOT A CHILD WITH ADHA AT ALL BECAUSE WE HAVE ONLY FOUNDOUT SHE HAS GOT THIS ITS VERY HARD TO COPE WITH AT ALL TIME OUT OF TWO WEEKS SOMETIMES I MAYBE LUCKY TO HAVE 3 GOOD DAYS AND THE REST ARE DOWNER DAYS AND THAT IS NOT GOOD FOR US ALL HERE

Hi,

I am unable to relate to what you are going through but I found this terrific site which lists support groups from each state. There appear to be a few areas where you can chat to other parents.

http://www.adders.org/ausmap

Hope this helps.

I don't have any children with ADHD, but my niece and newphew supposidly have it. My sister has them on drugs - ritoulin (not sure of spelling) I totally disagree with the drug thing but i'm not in a situation where i need it. I don't think that my sisters kids have ADHD or ADD. I think the only thing they have is the need for attention. I have watched a few programs on Optus and it has said that it has alot to do with diet, what the kids eat. Sorry I can't be of much help. Have you tied looking on the interent for support groups. All the best.

I have a four year old boy that is very very active and at times very hard to look after. I dont believe he has ADD or anything like that but am a huge beleiver in eating habits. I have slowly taken foods out of his diet and I can see a huge difference already. He now can sit still to do things, he listens to me now and he is just happier in general. I also have him swimming and playing sport every week to keep him busy. I think a good book for all parents to read weather they have children with ADHD or not is Sue Dengate book called Fed up with ADHD. It is all about food chemicals, food additives etc. I find only certain foods react bad with my little boy.
There is also a website you can go to www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info
I hope I have helped a little. If you would like someone to talk to you can email me at teenaryder@hotmail.com

My children dont Have ADHA, however they do show similar symptoms when they eat foods with preservatives in them.

I am now in the trial and error process of starting them on the fail safe diet.

Here is a good link to check out.

http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/

I didnt actually read your psot before i posted teenaz, but looks like we're ont he same wave length smile

The biggest one i have found that affects behaviour is

Preservative 282, an antimoulding agent msot often found in baked goods.

Theres a high chance that elminating that alone will show a big improvment in a childs behaviour, and its one of the simplest ones to eliminate smile

My son was labeled with ADHA by the school psycologist during his first few weeks of school. I was not happy with this and of course went and had him properly diagnosed at a pediatrician. I made sure I got 2 opinions.

It was found out that he has CENTRAL AUDITORY PROCESSING DELAY which is very common. This means he cannot hear very well when there is a lot of background noise (he cannot filter out the background noise- there is nothing wrong with his actual hearing- it is a brain function). It also means that he cannot easily understand a sentence that is more than 9 words at a time.

All these problems are just a delay so he should catch up to his peers in a few years and in the mean time his teachers just have to make sure he can hear them, say his name to get his attention...etc.

The symptoms of ADHD and CAPD (letters...letters...letters....i know) are very similar because when a child does not know what is going on they can begin to act up and jump around or get very frustrated and difficult because they don't know whats going on around them.

I hope this has helped..... make sure you get PLENTY of opinions because ADHA seems to be an easy diagnosis by teachers/friends/doctors to explain childrens challenging behaviour.

Cheers smile

Hi Darren
As the others have suggested checkout her diet first. My DD is extreamly reactive to food she is intolleratnt to chemicals and preservitives in food even the natural ones a small piece of bananna will have her climbing the walls for days and the 282 in bread had her headbutting me the cat the walls then when she comes crashing down she has pains in the tummy and headaches finally when the reaction has stopped (can be days or hours) she sleeps for hours. Check out the Sue Dengate books and try her on the Failsafe diet. Try and talk to the peadiatric dietition at your local hospital they should be able to give you an elimination diet to try as well. you have nothing to loose and a happier DD to gain.
if you would like to talk email me at
gewle@bmail.com.au

Leah

Hi all my son too was told that he has adhd.But being only 5(today yeah)we choose not to put him on meds.We have cut foods from hid diet.Like some have said the 282 is a nasty one.We have foud if you go to those health food stores there we found bread which was free from all the nastys,The only thing with it is it goes off a lot quicker.But it does make a diffrance.There are also cordials you can get not much varity but its better than none.We only allow him 1 cup a day then its all water.Goodluck kim

Hi to the parents with those children who have ADHD,

I was just wondering how a child is diagnosed with ADD or ADHD? Like the sort of tests they perform etc?

I have a (what I believe) stubborn 3 yr old, his pre-school teacher said that he may have ADHD because he doesn't listen to them. I spoke to him and since that time they have not complained about him. But I just wanted to know what process children go through to get the the final diagnosis of having ADHD.

Thanks in advance.

Hi mamajj

Make sure if you do have tests run that you get a second, even third opinion. I'm a teacher and many schools throw the diagnosis around like confetti!
There are definately some real children with ADD or ADHD, but I'm of the opinion that so many children are taking drugs for no reason.

Just my opinion!