thank you so much for responding i will look in to more. this whole thing scares me and i want the best for her threw her life... i think its my mommy intuition kicking up that there is somehting not right. again thank you and i will post if i think of more.
Hi arenarook, it would be nice if your doctor took more time to explain to you how ADHD works.
Its not that your daughter has memory loss. Its that she is easily distracted when getting the information and thus the information never gets learned. As a teacher who has had many ADHD kids, I would say this inability to remember things that I was teaching was very common. And, of course, the meds should her with paying attention. However, they do wear off and if you are asking her to do things at night or before the meds take effect then you would definitely see a problem. And that can make homework a problem as its difficult to retain the info you learned at night when you were not on the meds. By the way, what do her teachers say about her ability to remember things said in class (when she is on her meds)?
What I do worry about is she is on a pretty high dose of Focalin XR. "Doses above 30 mg/day in pediatrics and 40 mg/day in adults have not been studied and are not recommended." So I do kind of wonder what kind of a doctor you are seeing. Typically, if a person is not getting the benefit of the medication and you are at a high level - another med is tried. I mean Focalin is good stuff, but everybody is slightly different and so are the meds - so it can be kind of a trial and error thing.
Finally, as I mentioned, its too bad you have not been given more info on ADHD. And, if you do have any more specific questions, please feel free to post. I would highly suggest that you buy the book, "The ADD/ ADHD Answer book," by Susan Ashley. Its about 10 bucks through Amazon last time I checked. You will find it extremely helpful. And it also has a great part with suggestions for things to include in the 504 plan.
Hope this helps. Best wishes.