Good to see we've come so far in treatment/diagnosis/parenting. If we all look at these posts its easy to see we're a frustrated community of parents who aren't really sure if we're heading in the right direction. Obviously the medical arena is failing us as well. Good luck to you all as we continue to look for answers and serve as an advocate for our kids.

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Our son is 9 years old and has all the symptoms of ADHD and possibly ODD. We have known this for years now-we have tried everything in the books with consequences, rewards, medication (concerta-two different dosages) and we are presently meeting with a therapists to find out what else to do next week. Nothing is working. Everyday he gets in trouble at school for shouting out or arguing with his teachers with his opinion and he gets punished but he doesn't seem to care what gets taken away from him because he will continue the behaviors and not work towards getting them back. We have tried rewarding him for small good things he is doing to show him he can earn stuff back but doesn't matter-we provide him with everything he needs and could possibly ever want but we don't feel the love in return from him. He has a high IQ but his grades are declining simply because he is rushing through his work and not reading all the directions. The teachers are aware of his condition but seem to have lost patience and respect for him. What do we do???? We love him so much but he is making our home a sad to place to be in. The concerta we had him on made him lose a lot of weight (even though we forced him to eat and snack throughout the day) and it also made him sleepwalk, feel bugs crawling on him, and have a hard time sleeping. Now that he has been off of it he has put on weight and looks much healthier. Any suggestions about any other meds such as adderall since it is a non-stimulant? Please give us your input!

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I happened upon this site while doing research for my own family. My 12 yr old son has ADHD and its horrible. He has been thru tons of stuff-death, my divorce, dating, a new stepfather who was a total disiciplinary and now we are in the phase where he has to have the last word everytime. Always has to be right, always makes his presence and feelings known. Very noisy. Backtalking, and now cursing me and my oldest daughter who has just returned home from foster care. He doesn't like men and listens good enough around them until he learns how to push their buttons. This is what happened with my ex-boyfriend/kids stepdad. Spanking seems to make it worse and I talked with therapist and she confronted him and all he did was blame everyone else involved. I feel like a very bad parent. He has really good days even without medicine and really horrible days where all I feel like I do is yell at him. I know thats bad but I am a single, disabled mom of 3 kids-ages 14,12, and 11 mos. I know he is smart and not applying himself as I have been told. He is so funny and lovable too. He is also a mamas boy since dad skipped out and was never around anyway. He has been physically, mentally, emotionally abused by his father along with me and my oldest daughter. But my son is scaring the baby to death with these outbursts and yelling fits of rage. I have even had him attack or intimidate me and my oldest and others when we supposedly "provoked" him. This is what his grandma said. But she gets the good kid and I get the devil. I hardly see how telling him "No!" or "Stop!" or "Listen" is provoking him. I even explain things to him but it never fails. And if someone at school upsets him we catch hell at home because he takes it all out on us. How do you deal with these problems? And how do you create a Rules and Chores Chart that is fair to all involved. Because right now I have been doing it all alone and rarely if either or the two oldest ask to help. It seems the less I have the more they want and we don't even have cable or tv. We have a computer and internet, 2 phones, a vehicle, a little money, and DVDs and VHS and a stereo. What am I doing wrong with this kid? I tell both kids to stop arguing because it escalates to the physical or close to it and I get referee. When I tell them to stop in a stern voice I get ignored. Help me please. I don't know what else to do but I have defiantely gotten rid of the Playstation 2 and games because all he wanted were the R ones like Grand Theft and Call of Duty and such. Am I raising another Hannibal Lecter? Pray for me. God Bless.

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