10 years old...one active kid!

I don't know if I buy into ADHD being as commonly diagnosed as it is now, I still hold that sometimes it is just lack of discipline children.

My oldest has been diagnosed with lead poisoning. This happened under the supervision (or lack of) by his parents, primarily his father, who left a box of lead bb's out, and at 18 months the baby ate some of them. Looking back, the oldest has alway had a fixation with things in his mouth. I believe this started when he was first born...born with strep B complications, he was not fed orally until he was about a week or so old, as he had pneumonia and the medical staff were concerned that he would aspirate the food. They kept a pacifier in his mouth, and from the point that he could grab, everything went into his mouth and we struggle with that today. Especially paper and plastic.

Lead poisoning can "mimic" ADHD symptoms so I went surfing to see what behavioural things we can impliment to help. Since we started the SOS, that has helped, even moreso since I got him a set of headphones. When he uses them the work goes much smoother.

He wants to excell in school, but as I sit here and he has had problems getting his work underway, and now is at 30 minutes working on the same problem, his sister is distracting him, which does not help, she is not doing it intentially, she is just working on math and tends to talk herself through it. The youngest is playing on the floor in the living room, and the oldest, I see him trying to ignore the distractions around him, his head jerks to the "newest" sound and thoughts of what he was doing are gone.

He has perfectionist tendancies and would rather fight doing the problem rather than doing it wrong. I see this predominatley in spelling and have been looking for alternate ways to get that done.

Below, I found this "Bill of Rights"...wow...that is my oldest to a "t"...


Bill of Rights for Children with ADD

HELP ME TO FOCUS ...
Please teach me through my sense of touch.
I need "hands-on" and body movement.

I NEED TO KNOW WHAT COMES NEXT ...
Please give me a structured environment where
there is a dependable routine. Give me an
advance warning if there will be changes.

WAIT FOR ME, I'M STILL THINKING ...
Please allow me to go at my own pace.
If I'm rushed, I get confused and upset.

I'M STUCK, I CAN'T DO IT! ...
Please offer me options for problem solving.
If the road is blocked, I need to know the detours.

IS IT RIGHT? I NEED TO KNOW NOW ...
Please give me rich and immediate feedback
on how I'm doing.

I DIDN'T KNOW I WASN'T IN MY SEAT! ...
Please remind me to stop, think, and act.

AM I ALMOST DONE? ...
Please give me short work periods with short-term goals.

WHAT? ...
Please don't say "I already told you that."
Tell me again, in different words.
Give me a signal. Draw me a symbol.

I KNOW IT'S ALL WRONG, ISN'T IT? ...
Please give me praise for partial success.
Reward me for self-improvement, not just for perfection.

BUT WHY DO I ALWAYS GET YELLED AT? ...
Please catch me doing something right and
praise me for the specific positive behavior.
Remind me--and yourself--about my good points
when I'm having a bad day.

{Author Unknown}

Then I found this...

Teach self-monitoring. Help your child become aware of the things that distract her. With time and practice, she'll get to know what being distracted feels like, and will recognize when her attention is drifting. ADDers benefit from positive affirmations, such as "I will pay attention to my work" and "I will stay focused until I'm finished." Teach your child to repeat these as needed to encourage herself to keep going.

This we already do, but additional reinforcement always helps....Biblically...self-control which Titus teaches us to teach the young men. It may just take longer with him. The most relevant statment I read was "it is not that they cannot pay attention, it is that they pay attention to everything."

I see this when we are around people. The oldest has a hard time when there are a group of kids versus when it is one on one playtime. Or at church when there is a smaller class. (Once, in a bigger church, he walked out of the classroom and there were so many kids no one noticed, he ended up exploring the whole church and it was not noticed until I came to get him.) In Awana when he was a "cubby" they actually assigned one teacher to him specifically because he would complete his assignment and leave. I think this would probably hold true to a point even now.

Then I found this:

Homeschooling an ADHD child can be a real challenge. Here are some of the issues we deal with regularly in our home:


•Distractibility - cannot keep on task when given an assignment
•Frustration - low frustration levels when given an assignment that is confusing or repetitious
•Boredom - easily bored with repetitive tasks like spelling and handwriting, or math facts
•Clueless - unless you are working with a gifted child, you will reach times where the information just isn't understood
•Careless - sloppy work and careless mistakes
•Endless school days - unaware of the concept of time and prove this by taking 3 hours to complete 5 math problems
•Insanity - can drive even the sanest parent to question their sanity
•Noise - 3 or more children chattering away at the same time, tapping pencils, rolling desk chairs across the floor; child 2 distracts child 1 while child 3 has disappeared to who knows where
•Grace - God's grace is sufficient, for His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV)

My first thought....someone has been in my house watching...especially under the noise and insanity headlines! I have know for a while that my oldest is a uniques and different child. This explains how different he is.

I pray that God will give me the ability to remember this as I interact with this child daily.