The little turd is darn near a genius. IQ in the 'Very Superior' range. We got his test results back yesterday as well as the psychologist's findings. She was very thorough and has put quite a few hours of observation into this; glad for that. Anyway, yes he definitely has ADHD. You have to meet 90% of qualifying factors for diagnosis and he meets 97%. He has some of the symptoms of AS as well, but not enough to include that in his diagnosis.

I am so aggravated with the school right now. His 1/2 grade teachers refused to admit any kind of ADHD factors although he has exhibited them since preschool, because they didn't want him medicated. Never mind if it would have helped him a HUGE amount in third grade. The factors have to be observed in more than one environment (ie. home AND school) so he hasn't been treated for anything, and he's struggling so much. The other thing that irks me is he was tested at 4th grade math level and 7th grade reading level when he was in 2nd grade ... and NOTHING was done about it ... no advanced work to keep him challenged, nothing but having him help the 1st graders with THEIR work!!

So XH will fight me about changing schools, and I'll have to approach the courts to get an approval to make the change. I could tell when I brought up to the psychologist what effect changing schools might have on our son, XH went rigid in his chair and started talking about our charter school like it was so superior to the local public schools ... I just acknowledged him with "you must be looking at old information" ... yes, it was a great school, we thought, when we sent the oldest to Kindergarten there. Things change. Parents are taking their kids out and teacher turnover is high ... I don't call that a good thing.

Have a lot of people telling me to try and change diet before resorting to meds. Can anyone share experiences?

I have "been there, done that"
In my own opinion - and I am sure many many people wil disagree - changing diet will not help. My son is 16 now and no longer needing meds, but when he was in grade school it was a constant struggle.
And my son is also very bright - labeled as "TAG" (Talend and Gift) but, again, the school did nothing about it ("they don't have the funding for a TAG program"). I felt like he went to school for the first 6 years just for the sake of showing up - didn't really learn anything new. But, in junior high, when they start going to different classes, there were greater oportunites for him to take advanced classes, which helped. I actually think that there is a direct relationship between ADHD and being "gifted". Easily bored, easily distracted.
I wanted to believe that changing his diet would help. I tried them all - no sugar, no preservatives, no wheat or dairy, you name it. But none of these things seemed to help. And (again I know others wil argue with me here - but I have LIVED this experience) the parents who told me that they cut out all ____ in their childs diet and it made all the difference in the world - I was watching their child still bouncing off the walls, still answering questions without raising teir hands, still showing all the ADHD signs, and could not see where cutting ____ out of their diet had really helped.
All of us, as parents, do not want to "drug" our children. We would all like to believe that just by giving them a healthy diet, lots of love and TLC, they will be able to settle down, relax, and sit in their chairs for hours. But that is not reality.
Last year, when my H left, I was so depresed that I did not want to get out of bed, did not want to eat, much less cook for my children. I finally decided that I needed to get help just so I could cope with life, and I went on anti D's. it was then that I realized we all need help sometimes, and medical science has found medications that can provide the help when we need it.
I would try the meds for your son. It is not just about helping him to sit still in school - he also needs to be able to make friends and learn how to play with other kids without driving them away.
As a side note - my sons saving grace now is sports. he plays 3 sports in high school, so he is constantly working out, conditioning for something. It has made a huge difference for him. When he takes a week off in between sports he instantly goes back to being Captain ADHD. Even he can see the difference in himself.

Buttercup,

Something that I've observed is that when I was a teacher, my ADHD children were especially challenging the day after intense sugar celebrations - like Halloween and Easter. Or birthday parties at school that had cake and ice cream brought in as treats for the class.

I also noticed that the best time of the day was right after PE - the times when running races for 20 minutes or so where the activities involved full oxygenation/breathing stimulating.

My husband has a bit of ADHD with a touch of bi-polar. As a result it has been hard for him to hold a job or deal with sociality of the work place. But he's doing much better now with his recent career change from massage therapy to real estate.

He tells me he noticed his own ADHD symptoms as a child and remembers they were particularly intense after eating his favorite after-school snack of PBJ + honey Sandwiches - the challenges of a 7-11 year old child unsupervised - they always go for their favorites rather than the healthiest choices.

PS - Please note that ALL the children in the classes I taught were a bit more "challenging" on these sugar holidays. It's just that the ADHD children were so much MORE boisterous, etc. than their usual selves.

The proportion of adults with learning difference (LD) who received no intervention as children and who are unemployed is incredibly high. Last figure I heard was 75%.

The nationwide figure on ADHD children who graduate from high school is SIGNIFICANTLY lower than the proportion of uncategorized LD children. And that figure is much, much lower than non-LD children.

BTW, different medications have different ways of working. There are so many different drugs. You may not get the right one the first time.

I didn't want to start medicating my child when he was 4, but there weren't many choices. He was so angry and so difficult for me and for the teachers. All along the way, his father has resisted any change I made. But I keep him informed and involved.

When son was about 6, I asked him if he felt different when he didn't take his medication and he said he did. I asked how and he said his ears hurt. I pondered that and decided that was pretty good. What part of the body is ADHD manifested in? The brain. Where is the brain? Between the ears.

Have you tried an elimination diet? It's a real pain to do, and not so fun when the other kids are eating oreo's...

It's great for finding food sensitivities... not that food causes the symptom, but that some foods/additives/dyes/preservitives... you get the idea... make the symptom worse.

I've had a few friends that have used it, it's probably all over the net, but could scare one up for you.

My Chris reacts to dairy. Not hives or swelling allergy reaction, but bad attitude. Sounds silly I know - but even he knows that if he has a milkshake or cheeseburger, he becomes a bear. So, we *try* not to go there....

Hope you like brown rice, cause it's only fair if Mom eats it too!

Most of the ADHD diets I've found online would be excruciating to implement in my house.

Besides the fact that I can't cook, don't have time, don't have patience, don't wanna learn ;p and the kids freak out over new foods, we almost rely on convenience foods for the lunches I have to pack every day.

The boy likes pork chops and chicken. Won't touch fish. Won't touch salads or steamed veggies. Won't touch raw veggies except carrots. Won't touch rice. Won't touch stew. He won't eat anything with tuna. No potatoes, no matter how prepared (except fries of course). No oatmeal no matter what you mix in it.

This is where we have the biggest problem. His grandma will fix him whatever he wants. One night he had "beef and chocolate" for dinner (remember this one?) and sour candy for dessert and of course vomited in my car on the way home from there. Now that dad has lived with grandma for the past 3+ years, it is excruciating to get him to even sample anything new.

He is a skinny little stick boy and he will literally refuse to eat when not given an option that he knows he likes. He likes macaroni and cheese (certain kinds), chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, fish sticks, seasoned fries, pizza (only certain kinds), chicken noodle soup, pickles, honey ham, french toast, bread/rolls. He'll eat plain spaghetti (won't touch it with sauce). Will eat scrambled eggs only. Sometimes we have those with bacon or sausage and toast for dinner. He eats most breakfast cereals (no raisins).

Making sack lunches (that they will eat) is almost impossible with some of those diets! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Eek!]" src="images/icons/shocked.gif" />

Oh honey, LMAO @ beef and chocolate... I remember that! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/grin.gif" />

I think you may have hit something... "we almost rely on convenience foods " - the chemicals in that stuff can be causing a reaction.

Totally not picking on your parenting - OR cooking, we are lunchable lovers.

I have migraines. Nasty ones. When I cut out the crap, I can tell the difference.

So, do I want to get headaches so bad that I can only sit in a pitch dark bathroom and puke my guts out or not drink red wine, eat prepared foods, and enjoy the time not spent cooking?

Well, ok. Red wine won hands down the other night. But it was a really good bottle.....

See if you can modify what he eats to remove some of the chemicals... mac and cheese, make it yourself. Use the pasta from the health food store - do you have a whole foods near you? Anything at one of those stores is more likely to have less additives in it. Eggs, try the unbleached shell ones... Chicanoodle - try making it yourself instead of the red and white can.... PB&J - the bread from health food store w/natural pb and jelly. My kids eat lasagna tofu and haven't a clue. I used to feed it to [censored] too, he never knew...

I know it sounds like a ton of work - but imagine the time you save if he isn't acting out as much.... and the wear and tear on your mental health.