ADHD symptoms

My son is 10 1/2 years old and weighs 102 lbs and was recently diagnosed with ADHD.  The Doctor put him on Concerta 18 mg and then 36 mg.  I don't like these meds as they make him angry when the meds are wearing off.  The main symptoms for which we had him diagnosed were:  He always goes up to the 5th grade teacher and asks her to explain to him what she said he was supposed to do.  He just doesn't seem to understand directions.  She said he stares off in space and she thinks this is why he misses directions.  I think he misses the directions because he can't seem to understand what she is saying.  We did have him checked for an Auditory Processing Disorder and this came back negative.  The APD people said the next thing he should be checked for is a Language Processing Disorder.  However, this current ADHD doctor did a bunch of tests and said his scores on the tests indicate my son does have a severe problem with Auditory and Visual Processing.  The doctor said that the ADHD meds should hopefully take care of this.  What do you think?  My son is a very nice boy and yes he gets upset but this anger he is displaying while the Concerta is wearing off is uncharacteristic.  Thank you in advance for any suggestions.


This discussion is related to 5 Year Old Son just recently diagnosed with ADHD/ODD, on Concerta, Need Help!!!.

[babygirl6152]

from the tiny bit you told us I see ADD not ADHD- and am not sure what Concerta does - but I am sure you read up on it-

in general all teachers should try their best to teach to the child- the way that child learns- but the teacher to hit all 3 styles of learning should do them all anyways- that is to say If I were teaching a child to write the letter 'a' I would guide their hand on the board with my hand- say " start- pulling backwards I would say "around to the left then Up and retrace down" when I say 'start' again I will go thru the motions again several times repeating what I said earlier- so he is hearing seeing and touching- the "3 learning styles"- so when things get harder with your son you will probably know his learning style and want to encourage the teacher not to give him the answers but to go thru 2 similar examples to work out a math problem- kiddos like this actually need more practice- not less- and the first instinct is to say "it's a struggle for him- give him less work"- that's all the advice I have- try not to fall into that trap- and try to find his "learning style"- auditory is my least favorite style- guess why? I am not auditory- and it is natural for a teacher to teach by whatever style works best for her- she just has to push herself to use the other 2...... Not sure if that helps any