Childcare

[tarheelbluegirl]

Hello,
My daughter is almost 10 yrs old and was diagnosed with ADHD in the beginning of 3rd grade. She is going into 4th grade. This summer she had been busy with summer school and then summer camp. But these last 2 weeks of summer vacation, she and her sister are home with a non family member sitter. I have such high anxiety about leaving her home with someone that doesn’t know what kind of anger and emotional issues she can have. Today was her first day and she had an outburst and was being really mean. Does anyone have any tips on how to help? She is currently taking Adderall 10mg and clonidine 0.1mg. TIA

[BRLK]

Has she been on those medications for an extended period of time? If not did you notice her anger/emotions change upon starting them? Adderall made my son very aggressive. Clonodine made him tired which in turn made him irritable, sensitive and emotional. I’m not anti meds by any means. He now takes vyvanse instead of adderall and straterra instead of clonodine and has for several years. Different meds have different effects on each child so it may not be that for your child, but thought I would share our experience.

[tarheelbluegirl]

She had been in Adderall and clonidine pretty much the whole summer. We give Adderall in the morning and clonidine at night. She has always been impulsive and easily angered so I don’t think it is the medicine doing it. Moods are up and down for her.

[BRLK]

I’d still talk to her doctor about it. My son is off the hook impulsive and extremely moody as well but after lots of trial and error with different medications and combos we found one that helps with both those issues tremendously. If the meds are not helping with both inattention and impulsivity you might consider exploring other options. He was dx at 6, we began the medication road at 7 and he’s 11 now. I can also say that my son tests every new authority person’s limits. Every teacher, every sitter, every camp counselor, etc so it’s possible she’s just trying to see where the boundaries lie with this new person in her life. It’s not easy – best wishes to you and your family.

[Penny Williams]

Here are some childcare tips for parents of kids with ADHD:

Sitter Strategies

I would definitely talk with the caregiver about her behavior and how to best handle it.

Then, here are a couple articles on anger in children with ADHD and how you can improve it:

When His Anger Overpowers Logic — and Love

Take A Deep Breath: Teaching Kids to Control Emotions

I really like the Zones of Regulation program for teaching emotional awareness and control too. We did it with my son’s OT, but you can also do it at home (we had to do it at home too, of course).

Penny
ADDitude Community Moderator, Author & Mentor on Parenting ADHD, Mom to teen w/ ADHD, LDs, and autism

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