OH NO! THE RITALIN DEBATE HOTS UP ..........AGAIN!

Post Reply New Topic

The school has been fabulous. They worked out several strategies to help him too. He has earmuffs that he can wear if class is too noisy. He has permission to go work in the hallway if he's overstimulated. He also has permission to use an mp3 player in the lunch room because the noise level in there was keeping him from eating. His seating was also adjusted to minimize stimulation.

No, it's just the doctor recommending it, and that was after I said we were perfectly happy with his progress. The little bit he takes now gives him the edge he needs to make better choices and focus. The doctor said, in essence, that we should up the dose until we don't see any more benefit from it. It sounded a lot like, well if a little does some good a lot will do more good. But I could be wrong. I will look into the stuff you're mentioning too. I know my daughter would prefer not to give him medication if she can come up with a natural substance.

Great news that the school is being so helpful, you are lucky!! Not many schools have the sense yours is showing!!

Interventions are all important, these children are so responsive to postive behaviour management. I have read empirical research by the bucket load ( studying for Masters in autism!) where the CHILDREN are actually shouting what they need and researchers are writing the papers BUT noone is reading them! Grrrrrrr! If only the papers were read and ACTED on then we wouldn't be in this mess!

Talking to children using analogy is a brill way of communicating and also keeping in CONSTANT touch with the school is mega important. Our ethos is that the parents are INCLUDED all the way and NEVER left out. So many make the mistakes of arranging meetings and then not inviting or allowing the parents to participate.

There are loads of interventions your daughter may like to use, all free and very effective to ease the load a bit. Good luck and do look into Phosphatidyl Serine, I have been going on and on about it on this board for ages. It works, HONESTLY and I have never known anyone yet that has not seen a benefit WITHIN 30MINUTES!!

Here is a link for information, a small but very friendly group that know a lot about PS! Ooooh and yes it is perfectly SAFE! 3000 academic papers on the subject. Click into Dr Kyl Smith, Phosphatidyl Serine YOUTUBE. GOOD LUCK!

http://www.phpbbcity.com/forum/index.ph ... =psforadhd

Interventions

www.jelibean.com/

We've decided to leave his dose as it is. My daughter was pretty devastated to have to put him on anything at all. She felt like she should be able to do for him what I did with her. The fact is, her hyperactivity did not cause the same type of outbursts his do. (I wonder if that's a girl versus boy thing?) But she definitely doesn't want to increase his dose. This dose has made a huge difference and we're all a bit nervous about medication, particularly over long periods of time. I think, myself, that keeping the dose low and not giving him doses over the weekend or summer, will help him keep from developing a tolerance to it and keep it working longer. Plus, I'm always worried about possible damage to him.

Rebecca, PLEASE at least try or suggest Phosphatidyl Serine! My son was on Concerta, Resperidal not to mention whatever else they were ABOUT to suggest UNTIL I found PS!

Don't dismiss it till ya try it! HONEST it is a miracle!! XX ( IN MY OPINION!)

Jeli, we'll look into the PS solution this summer. We don't want to try something at the same time that he's taking the Concerta because there could be an interaction. If it makes a difference during the summer, though, we'll certainly use it next year instead of putting him back on Concerta. We don't want to risk his education, though, because last year was a rough year for him.

Great news Rebecca!! Promise you you won't look back. If you cannot wait until Summer try it at the weekend or when he is not HAVING to concentrate soooo much. The difference is MASSIVE. Honest, SEEING IS BELIEVING.

Concerta kicks out of the system in about 12hrs, I tried it during weekends and DID NOT give him Concerta at the weekends. One weekend is all it took, he has never looked back and never taken Concerta since!!

GOOD LUCK

That's a good idea. I'll wait for the next three day weekend and get his mom to try it on the last two days, just to be careful. Can't be to careful where the little ones are concerned.

Ritalin certainly has it's place and it does work but now that I have switched my son (age 7.5) from Ritalin to Straterra after 2 years I am just SO HAPPY with the results.

I was extremely against Ritalin and we tried everything else before resorting to it. I am glad that we did medicate as you can see how Ritalin helps your child in all aspects. The only downside to it is - insomnia, appetite loss and anxiety. Dylan also has a naturally higher heart rate and when on Ritalin it would spike up 130+ which is far too high for such a small body.

Since going off Ritalin my son is asleep by 9pm (used to be 10.30/11pm), has put on almost 3 kgs as he is eating again and is doing so well. He seems to comprehend and understand things so much better, he is socialising better and is just wonderful.

My only advice to anyone is talk to your doctor if you are not happy with anything that you see in your child - don't leave it alone, you are giving your child schedule 7 drugs, which is major stuff. Well that says it all doesn't it - schedule 7 drugs that are kept under lock and key and monitored on a register and we feed it to our kids ! !!

Anyway just my point of view on Ritalin ...