I have some questions....

[Guest guest]

Ann wrote---

Hi all.......I was wondering if anyone whos child has been diagnosed with ADD

or other learning difficulties could share with me some intial signs that

brought you to test your children. Thank you,

----

Hi Ann - my older son, Tommy, has ADD. He was diagnosed just about a year

ago when he was 6 (at the end of first grade). The diagnosis was hard to make

initially because so much of the hearing loss masks the ADD stuff (one of the

questions on the questionnaire was " doesn't listen well " - was this hearing or

attention?).

But things we noticed that were compelling were the attention factor - trying to

get him to " settle " on anything was really difficult (it was like trying to

catch a butterfly flitting from flower to flower with him). He had a really

hard time making transistions from place to place or thing to thing - getting

dressed for recess was a nightmare, for example, mornings were awful. Evidently

the transition thing is quite normal for ADD kids - they finally get settled on

something, which is hard for them, then you make them move on so they resist.

If he couldn't figure things out easily, he'd just " check out " - daydream, etc.

Also he had no organization skills at all. Tom doesn't have the hyperactive

part of ADD - so if it weren't for a lot of vigilance on our part and his school

team, he's the kind of kid who might have blended into the wall....

Tommy is now on a low dose of ritalin twice a day and that with a lot of

intervention and strategies for helping Tommy have helped so much. Now, for

example, if he can't figure out how to spell a word, he knows to find a book

that has the word in it. Or with cleaning up, instead of telling him to clean

up the play room (which is onerous at best!), I'll tell him " first clean up the

beanie babies " . When he's finished with that, then he looks for all the Pokemon

toys. That he can deal with - it's focused for him.

It was so hard at first to know that not only did he have the hearing problems

but also ADD, but a year down the road it's much easier. What a difference this

year is from last - Tom is thriving, happy, doing well in school. Having the

diagnosis has helped that immensely.

If you have questions, please let me know.

Thanks

Barbara

[Guest guest]

Barbara,

Thank you so much for your response......I know my question was

very broad, I was rushing out the door and just thought I would find some

place to start asking some questions. Anyway a little background and what

we are seeing may help....... Holly is now 6 and was hooked up in December.

When Holly was born because was Profoundly hearing impaired she had her

first ABR at about 3 months. She had normal hearing in one ear and a

moderate to severe loss in the other. She has LVA so over the last 6 years

the progression finally brought us to her needing the implant. Her last drop

in hearing was rather large and happened over night....it was in November, so

we had five months of kindergarten under our belts by that point. She seemed

prior to that to be progressing wonderfully, working with the IT teacher on

things like her phone number etc. Anyway I guess in the last few months we

have all began to see things that are worrisome, and although a few labels

have been thrown out, no one really seems to know what's going on. She has

wonderful language and is very close to age appropriate but....Although her

language seems to continue to grow and she is able to express herself with

ease.....follow class instructions ect, she is struggling through some things

that at this point should be easy ie....She cannot remember how old she is,

they go over and over what month it is and she does not remember from day to

day. She can count but gets stuck at 13 always....She will count to 10 fine,

but if you show her numbers from one to 10 she does not know what they all

are.....so we have all worked on this from the day school started...still

does not get it. She does not seem to me to be hyper, although in some

situations like during AV therapy, she seems to have a hard time sitting

still and focusing, but at school she sits and does what she is told. She

can sit at home for hours and color a picture or play with her sister, she

though can't sit through dinner without jumping up 100 times to act out her

day LOLOL. It is at this point just strange to see what she is learning and

not understand why she isn't learning other things. I sat with her for an

hour the other night and said " I am 6 years old " she repeated it over and

over, five minutes later I said " Holly how old are you " she said " 9 " . I

don't know if this will help any....or if I have even explained well enough

what we are seeing...Thank you again for your answer....

Ann

[Guest guest]

Hi Ann

My daughter Sabreen was in first grade when her teacher first mentioned

that she might have ADD. I observed her in class numerous times and since

she wasn't particularly hyper I wasn't sure if she had ADD. But she did

have trouble following directions. In second grade her teachers would

complain about her lack of focus and how she would often get off track.

They mentioned how she would drop her pencil and then it would take her 5

minutes to retrieve her pencil and figure out what was going on. At home

she would also have trouble completing normal routine tasks. I too had

trouble with Sabreen in the mornings and getting ready for school each day.

She would brush her teeth and then sit down and read or get distracted.

Her teacher was heavily suggesting that we put her on medication, but I had

serious reservations about going the medication route. We tried several

forms of behavior modification at school and at home, which didn't work

consistently, so eventually we put her on medication. The medication

seemed to help at school, the teachers seemed pleased with the results.

But to be honest with you in Sabreen's case I'm not sure it really made

such a big difference. I still have to sit with her for at least one hour

each night to complete her homework, she still forgets homework assignments

and books. She tends to be pretty lackadaisical regarding cleaning her

room and other chores, which may just be that she's a kid. Overall

Sabreen's doing well in school, but I still have trouble getting her to

stay on track and am considering increasing her medication or trying some

alternative.

Hope some of this information was helpful to you.

Take care,

Shabana

I have some questions....

From: Barbara.T.Mellert@... (Barbara T. Mellert)

Ann wrote---

Hi all.......I was wondering if anyone whos child has been diagnosed with

ADD

or other learning difficulties could share with me some intial signs that

brought you to test your children. Thank you,

----

Hi Ann - my older son, Tommy, has ADD. He was diagnosed just about a

year

ago when he was 6 (at the end of first grade). The diagnosis was hard to

make

initially because so much of the hearing loss masks the ADD stuff (one of

the

questions on the questionnaire was " doesn't listen well " - was this hearing

or

attention?).

But things we noticed that were compelling were the attention factor -

trying to

get him to " settle " on anything was really difficult (it was like trying to

catch a butterfly flitting from flower to flower with him). He had a

really

hard time making transistions from place to place or thing to thing -

getting

dressed for recess was a nightmare, for example, mornings were awful.

Evidently

the transition thing is quite normal for ADD kids - they finally get

settled on

something, which is hard for them, then you make them move on so they

resist.

If he couldn't figure things out easily, he'd just " check out " - daydream,

etc.

Also he had no organization skills at all. Tom doesn't have the

hyperactive

part of ADD - so if it weren't for a lot of vigilance on our part and his

school

team, he's the kind of kid who might have blended into the wall....

Tommy is now on a low dose of ritalin twice a day and that with a lot of

intervention and strategies for helping Tommy have helped so much. Now,

for

example, if he can't figure out how to spell a word, he knows to find a

book

that has the word in it. Or with cleaning up, instead of telling him to

clean

up the play room (which is onerous at best!), I'll tell him " first clean up

the

beanie babies " . When he's finished with that, then he looks for all the

Pokemon

toys. That he can deal with - it's focused for him.

It was so hard at first to know that not only did he have the hearing

problems

but also ADD, but a year down the road it's much easier. What a difference

this

year is from last - Tom is thriving, happy, doing well in school. Having

the

diagnosis has helped that immensely.

If you have questions, please let me know.

Thanks

Barbara

---------------------------

[Guest guest]

My (hearing) 7.5 year old second grader forgets her homework assignments and

books. She also tends to be pretty lackadaisical regarding cleaning her

room and other chores-unless I say, I am going to clean up her room and I

walk in with a paper bag. She knows at that point, I am going to put it all

in the trash. I thought these were more on the normal side of childhood

since I have different friends calling all the time about homework

assignments too. Phyllis