We have two ADHD children - a 15 year old girl and a 13 year old boy. We medicate them while they are in bed. We gently wake them and give them their meds and they go back to sleep for another 30 plus minutes. When they get up, they are then able to cope with the demands of the morning rush. Before we did this it was madness!

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Yes, I agree giving them meds before getting them up in the morning works. I've done it with our 11 yr old boy. But how do you get them to eat for the day? It's like robbing Peter to pay Paul. I find if you can get them up really early you can feed them and get them their meds later before school starts. I think it's better if you can get them breakfast. My son brings home his lunch every day, but you feel bad sending your kid to school without a lunch. Comments please.

Thx, Robert

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ROUTINES & STRUCTURE are extremely helpful for children with ADD. If mornings are difficult for your child, then coming up with a morning routine for your child is essential. Start by writing down the "must do" steps the he/she needs to do in the morning. Eliminate things that aren't truly necessary, so the list isn't too long. Then put them in the order you think makes most sense.

Next, go over it with your child and make sure he/she understands it. Finally, post colorful notes in the appropriate places to serve as reminders for your child.

Don't expect the mornings to turn around 100% overnight; have reasonable expectations. You might want to consider a reward system, too. Also, allow a reasonable amount of time for each step of the morning routine.

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I agonized for several years over trying to get my daughter out for school on time. She is now 13.

I get home from work at 3:30 am. I'd stay up every night for fear I wouldn't wake up in time. We'd start at 5:30 for an 8 am arrival time. Her school is less than a 1/2 mile away. Sometimes she would still be dawdling at 10 and 11 am.

I'm the working parent. If I'd fall asleep she'd just sneak back to her room and go back to bed. I'd beg my husband to deal with it, because I was so tired and frustrated. As a man with his own set of problems, he would just inflame the situation. This went on and on.

It came to a head when the state-employed social worker at her school reported her constant lateness to the child-welfare authorities (ACS in NYC). You would imagine the thought of being put in a foster home might shake some sense into her, but even that didn't really help. We wound up in family therapy, which she did her best to avoid. She would come home late, feign illness or just be totally rude or throw tantrums in the therapist's office.

A few months ago she came home and said she would be staying with some friends of ours a couple of blocks away. She claims we agreed to it. I don't remember any such thing, nor does my husband.

However, she's on the right track. She's learning to be responsible for herself. She's being tutored by their 24-year-old daughter with Asperger's Syndrome (they've been pals since my daughter was 3), and she's almost never late for school anymore. They've taught her how to do her own laundry and she helps to babysit for another daughter's two kids.

I miss her terribly, but then most of our time together was so stressful, because I saw her mostly when I was trying to get her off to school. Our time together is much more pleasant now (when she takes her meds), and she's still only two blocks away.

We're not quite sure when she'll be moving back. Probably this summer, although she starts high school this fall and she'll be traveling about 1 and a 1/2 hours. I worry that this trip will really be tough for her.

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Wow, I love these forums; they help me believe I'm human. I have three boys, the oldest (almost 16) and the youngest (11 this week) are diagnosed with ADHD. The 13 yr. old and dad get to try to understand all of us, including me, diagnosed with adult ADD about three years ago. Mornings were always a battle, until I realized nothing was going to be perfect and ADD was a member of my household as much as my kids and I were.

We went the whole route with all of them in elementary school-if they were late due to oversleeping, they had to call the principal and explain why they were going to be late. We also did the, I'll take you, but not until I'm ready to leave the house myself. We even had them miss school if they overslept and they had to make up the work. Of course, none of that worked. Giving them their medication before they were fully awake didn't work well for us; it didn't sit well in their systems for some reason. The medication is taken after they are dressed.

My older son has three clocks in his room, including the "special" vibrating one in the bed, and the super-loud one that wakes up his brother an hour early. He even has to get out of bed to turn one of them off. I then get up at 6:20 am to be sure he is up. He is getting better as he gets older. It seems that maturity and the explanation/realization that once he's in college, he's on his own seem to be helping.

The younger one is the next one out the door. He also has sensory issues, so he gets some "cuddles" in the morning. He has low muscle tone, so I give him a bit of muscle massage. I also use a form of brushing that he really doesn't realize is brushing. He doesn't like to be thought of as different. He is beginning to understand more about his ADD and he is accepting more, but right now it's a world of eggshells with him.

So it is "cuddles" in the morning. I wake him up ten minutes before his alarm for that (we are big on alarm clocks). He (as well as the other two) all have magnetic white boards in their rooms. Each board has a morning list on it. The youngest needs it the most; executive function disorder is a strong issue with him. I stay in his room while he checks back in after one or two items on the list are done. He is learning to be more independent this way, rather than having me follow him around. It's not always perfect, but it helps.

The middle guy gets up the latest and is the only one who turns on a TV-that's because he is ready early!

I have an advantage, as I don't work full-time. I can drive someone to school if necessary. I did find, however, that when I did work full-time, the children understood that there was a time when Mom had to be out of the house and there was no choice; the schedule had to be adhered to strictly. I did find asking them for their help in getting ready on time, rather than talking at them, caused them to move along more calmly.

I also have a white board on the fridge in the kitchen and I write the daily schedule on it the night before. Everyone in the house is trained to check it before they leave in the morning. That way I don't run around trying to remember to tell each one what is happening after school-and I don't end up calling school to say I have to pick someone up. I even write down when they should bring down their laundry. It's a lifesaver for me.

I was very interested in the comments about Provigil. I found out I not only have ADD, but I also have been diagnosed with Narcolepsy (without cataplexy - I don't fall down asleep in the middle of a sentence, although I can just look at the person I'm talking to, say, "Oh, no, it's happening," and fall while I'm sitting with them.)

Surprisingly, the doctor couldn't believe I had gone so long without a diagnosis. He feels my extreme organizational skills (read: ADD coping mechanisms) are what got me through, since I've napped my way through much of my life. I had always known I had sleep difficulty and thought about Narcolepsy, but between having it attributed to other things and being an ADD procrastinator, I waited until I was almost 50 to check it out.

I also had read a while ago in ADDitude about Provigil for ADD and sleep issues and had told my ADD doctor I wanted to try it. It didn't seem to help. I now have a new ADD doctor and sleep doctor who work together. I am on Provigil during the day (and will be for life) to keep me from being sleepy-seemingly the opposite of what riojas2006 takes it for. I take Straterra at night so it starts working and allows me to sleep.

Sorry for having veered off onto the Provigil stuff.

Mornings are never predictable, and I've learned not to try to expect them to be one way or the other. I try to take it one moment at a time and work with what I am given. This goes for the family members with and without ADD! I also make sure I have my own checklist to keep me sane. Oh- and I also try very hard to read the comics in the daily paper at some point in the morning for my own sanity.

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