ADD questions

[Suzybearybake]

I have a 10 year old son whom we suspect of having ADD. I was wondering what currirulum choices have worked for others with ADD boys of this age. I specifically was wondering about history, literature,foreign language,logic, and writing. He is very impulsive, has a very low frustration tolerance ,and fights me on everything. Does a textbook (BJU) approach work better or something less structured (Truthquest)? What programs/ publishers have worked for you? We have tried and stopped Latin twice. PL and LC worked until we hit LC2. We have tried Children's Powerglide Spanish and are now giving Rosetta Stone a try. We have not had any success with writing but are going to try IEW this year. I am planning on doing Logic Detective in 7th and the Traditional Logic 1&2 books in 9th. Any wisdom or tidbits of experience gleened knowledge would be very much appreciated.

 

This should probably be a separate post,but I was reading some posts and wondered if there was any corrolation between allergies and ADD. My son is blonde and very fair. He has HUGE tonsils, eczema, chronic nosebleeds, and some kind of scalp condition that scabs up in areas and resembles craddle cap. He has been to the doctor but they really have not done anything or told us what the problem is other than simply saying he is sensitive and will hopefully out grow it. Does anyone know anything about what things to eliminate or test for? What does it sound like to you?

[Claire]

I would suggest reading the book "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp. Your library may have it. This book explains how food intolerances and allergies can affect behavior and attention.

[Ottakee]

I 2nd the book on food allergies/intolerances.

 

I would also suggest consulting with an ENT for the overly large tonsils. If they are affecting his sleep that can cause ADD symptoms. Our ENT said that he has seen quite a few ADD kids "cured" when they had their tonsils removed. They weren't sleeping well at night and had sleep apnea. The surgery fixed that.

 

Now, allergies and tonsils/sleep apnea aren't the only cause of ADD behavior but meds for ADD aren't going to help the allergies or sleep issues if that is the real problem

[Suzybearybake]

We spoke with the doctor about removing tonsils and he refused to even refer us to a specialist unless the child had at least 5 major ear infections or throat infections within the year. By that time , the doctor decided if the antibiotics helped there was no need to worry about the tonsils. They are still abnormally huge.

[Ottakee]

Ug, can you self refer to an ENT? Call your insurance and complain? Find a different doctor? IF the tonsils are causing problems with sleep then that should be dealt with even if there are no infections. All 3 of my kids (all adopted and from 2 families) had their tonsils removed and none of them were due to infections.

 

Does your son snore? Seem congested much of the time? Seem to stop breathing or not breath easily at night?

 

I am SO blessed by our family doctor group. We mostly see a nurse practioner but sometimes a family practice doctor. They have been wonderful for us getting referrals, etc.

[Suzybearybake]

Yes, he does snore and is very nasal. He seems to sleep soundly but is all over the place(tosses, tears up bed, kicks). He goes to speech therapy because his speech is very rapid and blends together. He does not separate his syllables and is very difficult to understand. We will be ordering the Doris Rapp book via interlibrary loan today. We live in a very small town with only a few doctors available and most of them are not open to alternative medical treatments. How to I locate someone who might be more receptive? Our insurance is terrible .We have to pay the first $1500 out of pocket, so extensive testing might not be an option either.

[Ottakee]

Can you just call and ENT and ask how much it would be for a consult and to have his tonsils/adenoids removed? I am not sure on the cost but they might give you a cash discount and payment plans. Or you might want to apply it to your deductable.

 

The overly large tonsils can affect speech as well. Our ENT said it was like trying to talk with a mouth full of marbles. Removing the tonsils for our then 7 1/2 year old son made a HUGE difference in how understandable he was. It also helped with the sleep. We had just adopted him at that point but he didn't have infections---just overly large tonsils.

 

I would ask the speech therapist to check out his tonsils and see what they say. Maybe if the speech therapist calls the doctor they might give you a referral. If he is overly congested, the tonsils and adenoids can cause fluid to build up in the ears which can lead to slight hearing loss and not as clear speech as well.

 

Will your insurance pay for you to go to a bigger town/children's hospital? We get most of our care at a children's hospital 45 minutes away and some of our care at one 3 1/2 hours away.

 

If you can get in, tell the office staff right away that you have terrible insurance and need just the basics done. Make sure to mention it to the doctor as well. That can really cut down the costs.

 

Hope you can get some help. This just makes me appreciate what I have.

[Tami]

I will try to answer some questions on the curriculum part. Additionally, it is generally helpful to cut out corn syrup, refined sugar, preservatives, and artificial colors (like the kind in Kool-Aid or suckers) and serve high protein meals and snacks. Some people use the Feingold diet with success, but we simply cut out lots of junk from our diets and it's been a good change for the whole family.

 

AS far as schooling, here's some principles I've used for choosing materials.

 

*keep it interesting - use something that captivates the imagination or emotions

 

*keep thing fresh, alternate content areas, and surprise them once in a while

 

*keep it short - limit the number of subjects per day to reflect the child's tolerance to academic work and focus. This means not doing everything every day, and going for quality over quantity. Long math lessons may be modified by only doing the evens, for example.

 

*keep it structured - have a set academic routine or rhythm every week, and stick to it Keep it do-able and on the 'light' end. It is better to add more when you have been successful than to drown in an unrealistic schedule

 

*keep it open-ended - allow for choice with books (we use a book basket), assignments (we have dd choose which Country Report Project she would like to do), give at least 3 choices for reinforcment/assessment. Example: To report on the country of "Kenya," either make a scrapbook page on a topic of interest, make a collage of Kenya's animals, choose a Country Report Project for Any Country project, or create a timeline book of Kenya's history.

 

In general, I plan to be done before lunch time or right after lunch time. Diligence will earn her productive free time, where she can pursue topics of interest (from an approved list). This is not leisure time, but part of her learning day. I also like to plan afternoon romps as a reward for work well-done. Little, immediate rewards are the key.

 

THere is a ton of help for Christians (including a very helpful Yahoo group) at this site: http://www.christianadhd.com/adhomeschool.php

 

Even if you are not a Christian, you may find the Modified Child Directed Learning method invaluable. If you are feeling frustrated, burned out, and like no learning is occuring, try it for a week! We have used it for years when we need a break.

 

For tutoring ideas, I suggest "Right Brained Child in a Left Brained World" IT will give you many ideas! ALso, "Learning In Spite of Lables" by Herzog and "The Myth of ADD" (great book, horrible title).

 

You can see what we are currently doing, curriculum-wise, at my blog.

 

May God strengthen you and give you wisdom on your journey.