Having a Child with ADD

Our oldest child is almost 13. He was diagnosis with ADD a few years ago. Putting my child on medicine was the hardest choice I ever had to make. I seen children on medications and they seem to look like a zombie and I did not want this to happen to our child. Our son was not hyper which is great, I think. But maybe if he was hyper I would have known the signs of ADD earlier than I did.

Since my son was not hyper we missed a lot of the signs that most kids with ADHD may have. I can remember when he was in kindergarten his teacher said that he seemed to daydream a lot. I ask her if that was a problem and she just said "No". The next year not to long into the first grade some thing happened. I got a call from the teacher. My son's grades were fantastic and he learned quite easily, so we didn't worry about it. The second grade year a few weeks into the school year the teacher called same thing. She arranged his desk to keep him on task but still was having trouble.

The third grade we dealt with the same complaint but I was unsure what to do about it. His grades were still good but keeping him focused was sometimes hard to do. Since he started school homework was such a chore. Over an hour or two was spent on homework and he should have had most of it done in just minutes. I wasn't sure but I started to read up on some signs of ADD and the more I read, the more it sounded like my son.

I did nothing since his grades was still decent. The forth grade teacher called after a month or so of having my son. At this point his grades were failing and his projects were not being completed. I told her that I felt he may have ADD and I would take and follow up on it. After taking him to his pediatrician and answering many questions he too confirmed that my son had ADD. He was placed on Concerta. I was so worried about him being on medication but his grades moved up to the honor roll and all projects were being completed. The teacher didn't know for sure that I put my son on medication but she did ask because he did a complete turn around and she noticed. I also had seen a big difference when it came to homework. He was able to complete his homework in less than thirty minutes and there was no more yelling and getting frustrated.

Looking back I seen a lot of signs I just didn't know that a child could have ADHD with out the H as my son tells people. Don't be afraid to ask questions and medication is a good thing when giving in the correct doses. My son never looked like a zombie and I was so satisfied.