ADHD Daughter who has problem with hitting.

Well, I actually have a few questions. :)

Is she on medication?
Does she work with a therapist?
When is the hitting occurring? is it during free times, recess, unstructured times?
Does she have an IEP or 504? and is it being followed?

She is not on medication. We only rec’d the diagnosis a few days ago and don’t want to start with medicine first. I took her to a Neurologist and didn’t feel comfortable after meeting with him. I didn’t understand how after only 30 minutes of speaking with me he could comfortably tell me my daughter was ADHD. He then prescribed Adderall. I do believe she is ADHD but was hoping for more advice and other ways to treat this and try exhausting all other avenues before we put her on a stimulant drug. She is not seeing a therapist yet, but will be. I’m in the process of finding one now and hope to begin that very soon.

She is in daycare before her K class and then again after her K class. We have gotten feedback that lately she has been behaving very well in her daycare class. Her trouble at this point in time is in her actual K class. From the information we are getting from her K teacher, she is more often than nought disruptive periodicly through out the day. There is a brief few minutes when the teacher (she’s walking the early birds out for pick up)is not in the class and I think that is when the hitting is occuring(at least that’s when the first hitting occurence happened). We have a teacher/parent conference tomorrow so I will know more then.

What is an IEP and a 504? Since I don’t know what either are, I’m going to say now that she doesn’t have them.

30 minutes with a neurologist is not sufficient to diagnose ADHD. Try another neurologist, but make sure it’s a pediatric neurologist who specializes in ADD/ADHD.

There can be underlying causes of the symptoms that may not be related at all to ADD/ADHD. Read the book “Is This Your Child?” by Doris Rapp to find out how allergies and food intolerances can create the kind of behavior you describe. You may even want to seek out a DAN! doctor for help. Although they specialize in autism, they can help with diagnosing allergies and other intolerances.

Auditory processing disorders can also cause the symptoms you describe. In fact, I have read that it’s not possible to conclusively diagnose ADD/ADHD until APD has been ruled out. Googling should return you with quite a few websites describing symptoms of APD.

It sounds as if your dd is stressed by school. She probably holds in the stress until given an opportunity to release it (teacher leaving the room). At 5yo, she may not have the self-discipline to hold it in until she gets home.

Nancy

I agree with Nancy3 that 30 minutes is not nearly enough time for a thorough dx. However, please do not go to someone specializing in ADHD as that can cloud their judgement. You will want to have a thorough evaluation by either a pediatric neurologist or a pediatric psychiatrist who has broad experience in all disorders. There are many different things that can “look” like ADHD but aren’t.

An IEP is an Individual Educational Plan under IDEA (special education). 504 is accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since she doesn’t have either, you can request testing from the school. http://www.wrightslaw.com has tons of information and good sample letters.

I understand the reluctance to medicate as I went through the same thing. My son did fairly well until he hit Jr. High, then medication became necessary. Unfortunately he had adverse reactions to everything he tried and we had to find alternatives. We finally found some products through a naturopath that have been very helpful. However, he only has ADD/Inattentive. For my dd, nothing worked until she was properly dx’d and medicated. We did spend some very precious years of her life trying every alternative treatment, with none effective. With appropriate treatment, she is now doing well in school, better than I could have hoped for.

Good luck on your journey. :)

This website has some good tips for managing unwanted behaviors such as hitting: [url]www.aboutmh.com[/url] and also has some information about diagnosis and treatment of adhd. when you visited the neurologist who gave the diagnosis, what was involved in the 30minutes? did he talk with your daughter’s k teacher or daycare teachers? or did he just talk to you and your daughter? it is certainly a good idea to seek a second opinion from a different kind of professional (ie, a pediatrician or a psychologist).
[Modified by: sss180b (sss180b) on September 25, 2006 01:03 AM]

Hi. I’d think a full neuro-psych evaluation would be needed in order to make a determination that it’s ADHD. I agree that 30 minutes is too little time to dx a child.

A consistent reward/consequences system could help to stop the hitting. But it is possible that the school environment is causing some anxiety, or if she has impulsivity issues, the school environment may be overstimulating for her and it’s more difficult to control the impulses. My son had some hitting problems, and periodically will hit another child now if provoked (he has improved a lot but still needs to work on his impulsivity). The point is that there is a root cause or trigger that is leading to the hitting.

If you are able, try to observe your child in class to see what the possible cause(s) could be.