Is it ADHD or am i right to disagree?

[aurorab]

I have a 7 year old girl who has had problems behaving and staying on task in school. All of the teachers she has had have said at one time or another that there are times that she does not follow directions and has a difficult time staying on task. she does usually have some difficulty adjusting during the first month of school. adjusting to new teachers, different kids in her class, different work, ect, but once she has adjusted , her behavior improves. she will still get in trouble a couple times a month for not following directions,but her overall behavior and performance improves. She also gets pretty good grades in school . Especially in spelling , science and reading which she has excellent grades in. she also receives some help from her guidance counselor to help her continue her good behavior and to help her practice ways of paying more attention in class, staying organized,and to curb her sometimes impulsive behavior. her counselor says she is making great srides in these areas.does this mean that she has ADHD or does she just have a difficult time adjusting each school year? I have already filled out an assessment form and so has her current teacher. Her doctor says that based on the assessment , she could be ADHD, but i do not completely agree. she is not fidgety at home 24-7 and when she is left to herself to do her homework , she does very well. can someone here offer me some advice and input? Thanks!

[Sandman2]

    Thank you so much for reposting!  Even though I have read about the problems that lack of sleep can cause, its wonderful to hear first hand experience.  Hopefully, your experience can be used to help other parents.  Best wishes!!

[aurorab]

First i want to say sorry for taking so long to get back on here and let you all know how things went,but hee it goes.
  She had the surgery in the end of January and everthing went well. She was home for two weeks and after the second day home she started catching up on her homework. Her behavior in school has improved greatly since she is now able top breathe through her nose and sleep better at night. She does still have heer moments at school where ahe doesn't follow directions and is disorganized, but they are becoming fewer and farther in  between.
  However, her tonsills might be giving her trouble now. she had two episodes of strep in the past month.The first one she had a high fever and vomiting. the second one was a relapse of the first because the antibiotics did not fully get rid of it. apparently her tonsils were enlargeed and harboring the strep bacteria. her doctor said that if this happens again she will have to have the tonsills out, otherwise she may just keep getting sick. She has been off antibiotics for a few days now ,and strep is running rampant at school. so, we'll have to wait and see what happens.

[Sandman2]

    thats great news.  One way or the other, the surgery is going to help her life.  Till, then its too bad you can't find some stopgap way to help her breath/sleep at night. I did notice that breathe right does make nasal strips for kids (in different colors even).  If you didn't try the kids strips the first time, these might be worth trying again.  
    Happy holidays to you too!!!

[aurorab]

Well, we went to see the ENT today and she is going to have an adenoidectomy based on th e results shown on the x-rays. It is believed that she has had this problem for quite a long time, perhaps since infancy. I will get a phonecall from the ENT office sometime after christmas to let me know what date the surgery is scheduled for. They think the surgery will be done on either late January or early February. I will let you both know when it is when I find out.
  
                                                           Happy Holidays

[allmymarbles]

One of my daughters suffered from sleep apnea, although unfortunately this was discovered until years later. They also thought she had ADD, a diagnosis I did not accept. When the condition became known she was treated with anti-inflmmatories. Although each case is different, the most effective herb she is using is schizandra. Her nasal passages are swollen and she has a small nose. Although this might appear to be an allergic condition, anti-histamines do not help. Irrigating with saline makes it worse.

[aurorab]

Yes i did check out the above mentioned link. after reading the article i felt that it sounded quite bit lke what my daughter is going through as far as her lack of a restful and sound sleep causing her to have ADHD like symptoms. I am hoping that taking care of this sleep issue she has been having and the possibility of getting rid of the adenoids will improve not only her sleep, but her behavior as well. You have been very helpful. My daughter is scheduled to see the ENT specialist 2 days before christmas. i will keep you posted.

[Sandman2]

     Did you check out the other link on lack of sleep causing adhd symptoms?  It was at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407160751.htm

    You might want to print it out and show it to your kids teachers.  It really is pretty new information.  I wasn't aware of the possibility until just the last year, and I try to keep up to date on this stuff.   So I kind of doubt that the teachers are even aware of the possiblility..
    
    And yes, I would definitely deal with the sleep problem first.  I am not surprised the strips bothered your daughter.  It takes getting used to, and I don't know if they even make them in kids sizes.
    Best wishes!

[aurorab]

I went on the link that you suggested an although it was helpful, i still don't think that my daughter is ADHD. I feel very stongly that the only thing that is causing her behavior issues in school is her lack of a restful sleep due to enlarged adenoids, which is causing her to have ADHD type symptoms. i have a strong feeling that once this is taken care of that she will improve even further. If it is ADHD,then we will deal with it in a way that is best for her. i do not feel that it would be a good idea to put her on meds as we have a family history of medication sensitivities. please do not take this as me knocking parents who chose to put their children on ADHD meds. i just don't feel safe giving them to my child due to family history and feel that if it is ADHD that she can be helped without it .as i had said before, she is already showing improvement at school.

[aurorab]

i have been debating on and off with my child's teachers since she started school.they keep insisting that my little girl has ADHD or some other learning disability and i tell them "if so then explain her excellent grades." the girl hasn't missed a beat as far as grades are concerened since she started school. I feel that the teachers just want an easy and fast solution and to them what would be faster and easier than labeling the child. as one of her teacher's put it, if  she is seen as having a learning disability it will make it easier for us to teach her. my reply was "so, you think labeling her is going to make it easier for YOU to teach her??so you want me to have her evaluated so it can be easier for YOU ?? Are you kidding me?" "can't you find other ways of dealing with this without labeling her?" "My daughter is not violent, does not use inappropriate language, and is seldom mean to other kids ,and you want me to have her assessed and evaluated because she is fidgety ,sometimes impulsive and has some minor adjustment issues that a guidance counselor can easily handle?" so as you can see, the teachers and i do not always get along. like i told sandman2 The teachers think that they know what is going on with my daughter, but they are not at my home checking up on her as she sleeps and seeing her with her mouth open and complaing that she is still tired the next morning.
  I had a talk with my daughter today about this, and i asked her if her nose is stuffy all of the time or just some of the time . she said all of the time and also said that it is hard for her to breathe through her nose most nights.

[aurorab]

On friday i took my daughter to the hospital to have an x- ray done on her adenoids and tonsils. today i spoke with the headnurse at my daughter's doctor's office. The nurse said that the doctor looked at the report and the x- ray that was done and said that in fact her adenoids are enlarged still . The next step is a trip to the ENT specialist. it is looking more and more like she will probably need to have her adenoids removed.It is also looking like this may be more of a sleep issue rather than ADHD. the teachers believe it might be ADHD which is why i am in disagreement with them. they cannot see the whole picture like i can. they are not at her home checking up on her while she sleeps.i am . I think that a couple of these teachers think that because they are educators that they know better than mom & dad ,so it's been kind of a back and forth debate between me and the teachers for the past three to four years.
   we have tried those nasal strips before on her, but not only did it not work ,my daughter didn't like it on her nose and eventually would take it off saying that it bothered her
    as for when the cutoff point is at my child's school, it is december for those enrolling their child in kindergarten. one must be 5 by or before december 1st.

[allmymarbles]

Sounds to me like you and the teachers are doing a good job. And your daughter is improving  all the time. When in doubt, err on the side of caution. If she were mine, I would let her be.

[aurorab]

i should also mention that she is generally a happy child.

[aurorab]

she is a september child in the second grade. these problems that she is experiencing often come and go. she will have a few weeks of very good behavior in school followed by a few days of inattentive and impusive behavior. these issues happen at home too , but to a lesser degree because home life is less stuctured. She has a time that she cleans her room and play area, and helps me around the house, but other than that and a few pretty basic rules she is able to be more free(play outside more,play inside more) than at school.
   the doctor that looked over the assessment forms was her pediatrician. He said that it could be ADHD, but i also mentioned to nurse at the doctor's office that my litttle one often will sleep with her mouth open and toss and turn quite a bit. the nurse had mentioned this little piece of info to the pediatrician and he then decided tohave her adenoids checked and also made a referal to ENT specialist. The x- ray was done on her this afternoon and we will be seeing the ENT within the next month. i am guessing that she is not sleeping soundly enough at night. my daughter often says that she is tired and she does not know why.so i am guessing that one of the reasons that she may be having trouble at school may be lack of restful sleep to an issue with her adenoids. her adenoids were checked a couple of years ago, and the doctor said that they were slightly enlarged but wanted to wait and see if they would reduce in size as she grows. i will keep you posted as more is known

[Sandman2]

   My first question is usually when is her birthday and what grade is she in.  At least some of these problems could be due to maturity level.
   The fact that these problems seem to get better and do not appear to happen at home would kind of rule out ADHD.  However if your main assessment is being fidgety, there is a lot more to it than that.  Like ADD for example.
     Also, what kind of a doctor is it.  Pediatricians can be quick to make a diagnosis.  And frankly her new teacher does not know her well enough yet to make an accurate diagnosis.  Including last years teacher would have been a good idea.
    So, I do think that it is wise to question the diagnosis.  To disagree I think that you would need more information.   One of the best overall views on the subject is at this link -
         http://www.healing-arts.org/children/ADHD/index.htm
Although, sometimes all the information on this link is hard to digest.  A book that also does a very good job answering a lot of questions and giving good advice is
     "The ADD/ ADHD Answer book," by Susan Ashley.

       Hope this helps.  If you have any more questions - I will monitor this post for awhile.  
Best wishes