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Old 05-02-2007, 09:50 AM
DianeS DianeS is offline
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The dosage of Adderall has less to do with the size of the person, and more to do with the severity to which the person is affected by ADHD and/or the speed at which the person's body metabolizes the medication.

Being impulsive is very much a symptom of attention deficit problems. The person just doesn't pay enough attention to themselves and their surroundings and the "rules" of staying safe to be able to restrain their impulses to do things. However, it's just one symptom, and if that's the only one he has then it probably should be very severe before a doctor would medicate a child for that alone.

Hyperactivity is not a requirement to be diagnosed with ADHD. Yes, the word "hyperactivity" is part of the name of the disorder, but doctors now recognize there are several different types. There's hyperactive type, and inattentive type, and a few others. But since they share the majority of their symptoms and are helped by the same types of medications, they are all called the same thing even though individual symptoms can vary widely.

Definately speak to the doctor, like you plan. It would be good for you to hear why he was placed on the medication. It could be that he has more symptoms than you have noticed, or it could be that you've seen all the same things and just deal with them differently. Like, if you have one child who could easily run into the street you may compensate by simply holding his hand near streets. But if you have three children who might behave like that, you don't have enough hands. And if you actually live next to a dangerous street, it may become a severe safety issue that threatens their lives, and medicating the child may be the only way to allow him to play outdoors. That sort of thing.

The thoroughness of the evaluation he was given could also ease your concerns (or heighten them). If the doctor spoke with only one parent from his current placement, that's not enough for a valid assessment. But if he spoke with multiple people - perhaps both parents, his daycare worker, a former placement, a couple teachers, and a neighbor, as well as observing him in his office and possibly even testing him (depending on age, of course), and they all reported the same types of behaviors, then that is probably plenty.

And of course your observation now that you don't have to supervise him as closely now as you used to - that certainly lends at least some credence to the possibility that the diagnosis is correct.

And of course the diagnosis of ADHD and the medication for it won't have any affect on his anger or his attachment issues. They'll still exist and will have to be handled separately.

I feel like I'm writing a book here, and you probably know a lot of this already. But I wasn't sure which parts you would know, so I posted most of what I could think of that applied.

Hang in there!
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