Melatonin is great, I got some for DS but then he never needed it so I took it instead. All you feel is 20min after you take it, you feel very sleepy and heavy. There is no hangover at all, and it is just a really nice way to get to sleep.

The biggest issue is that it is really expensive (think that it is about $1 per tablet?). And that you need a prescription for it from your doctor. We also had to wait a week for our chemist to get it in.

Thanks for that link above, I am now about 98% sure my DS does NOT have ADHD, after being diagnosed a year and a half ago - he doesn't do most of the things they listed there. He was on meds for a year but has been off them now for the entire first term and his teacher is happy with him. He does sit by himself (highly distractable to other children) but he can focus and get his work done. He has the occasional impulsive stupidity that can get him into trouble but I think now that has got to be on the normal spectrum of behaviour?

So now I don't know if he ever had it or whether he has just outgrown it now that he is 10yrs - but I guess it even says on the meds insert to trial them off it at intervals to see if behaviour has improved.

Well.... After having testing done (IQ, Brain reactions and learning) it is confirmed that DS6 has ADD, with his main problem being impulsiveness. He scored a very high (114) for Verbal Reasoning, yet is low in reading?? He is not interested and can't sustain the attention . . . He is in year one again, becuase we have moved to Australia and is still a low reader.

I feel bad as I am a teacher, yet struggle to help him! The Paed recommends Phonics for him (school uses this too). He is unmedicated and I will see the Paed again in 6 months to reassess. He seems to think that once DS6 is more comfortable with his reading then he may react better in class and feel more confident.

Does anyone else have a similar prob?

Just reading back and yes he had the Connors Test. I can also relate to the "What were you thinking?" It makes me feel sad when he looks at me blankly . . . Last week he put his hand in an outdoor sand ashtray thing (outside Aussie plazas) I MEAN YUK!!!! Why??????

Another was last week when he put DD3s face under a tap and held it there!! When I shouted he got a fright and was more concerned that he didn't check whether the tap was hot or cold???? WTF!! Anyway.... just relating to the paper and lighter story really.

Does anyone do the fishoils or had any success?

we changed M's diet completely last year - took out anything with additives and preservatives and 'flavour' in it - gave him fish oil once a day. his teacher said she noticed a slight improvement and so did my SIL... but i didn't see it? i didn't think he was calmer, just, different... like, i bought F a cranium fort thing that had foam poles.. usually i would expect M to leap around like a crazy person and maybe break it like that. instead he sat inside and sawed up four of the poles with a plastic toy picnic set knife i was all WTF WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?! and he was all 'oh i don't know' and i get that it is an ADHD thing (act first, think later) but it doesn't really make it any better, yanno? so he was less 'hyper' but i didn't really think he was that DIFFERENT.

also i have liked all M's teachers but i am coming to realise that when they say he is 'better' they don't mean that he is necessarily achieving better or they are assisting him to go further in the areas he is good in, just that he was less of a pain in their ass that day, which makes me a bit GRRR.

we did the connors thing as well, but i've recently had M reassessed - same thing as you vickie, cognitive ability/iq and stuff. mostly because the teacher he has refuses to advance him any at school because she thinks he has a comprehension problem and i want to be able to wave something in her face and say SEE HE IS SMARTER THAN YOU THINK SO START TEACHING HIM LIKE THAT or something.... he is dead bored in class. he is alright at most things and excels at reading, maths, and computers, but lacks the focus... like he will just get distracted and stop doing something in the middle of it, like, oh, a spelling test? or the like. which means sometimes he can score well and sometimes he scores at the bottom. he has masses of focus for things he likes but none for anything else.... and even with things that he WANTS to do (or says he wants to do) he just... can't concentrate. like, he wants to learn the drums but he doesn't practice (he spends the whole time spinning on his seat or staring at the drums off with the fairies or, i downloaded him a metronome thinking that might help his rhythm so he spends the whole time playing with the ipod... making the volume go UP, making the volume go DOWN etc etc) and at his lesson he spends most of the time rolling around on the floor instead of actually DOING anything.

it is weird, he has always been really active (not in the sports sense, just running everywhere and being twitchy etc). this year i have found that he is less 'hyper' but the inattention thing is AWFUL, like one thing decreased and that caused something else to increase. getting him to do anything makes me want to bang my head against a wall... even having a conversation with him, i will make him look at me and keep it short and then get him to repeat it back to me and half the time he will go 'uhhmm, i don't remember what you just said'. yesterday i asked him to put raffle ticket money in his bookbag- about three feet away in the lounge. money had to be in this morning... before school i am putting his lunch in his bag and i check his book bag and there is no money because he put it on the coffee table instead of his bag. i am all, FFS! if i had not checked it it would not have gone in the draw and thats ten people who would have missed out because he can't remember ONE SIMPLE INSTRUCTION for LESS THAN A MINUTE.

and then amid all the frustration he tells me that he doesn't want to go to school because he can't find anyone to play with at lunchtime and my heart totally breaks for him, because no one wants their kid to be that kid that no one else wants to be friends with because they're a bit different

anyway, the fish oils thing doesn't hurt and some people have had success with it and honestly i reckon anything is worth a try if you're not looking at medication at this point in time.

Teacup - I can relate to all that you are saying! DS6 too is bored and school and also wants to learn the drums etc, but again will not practise - maybe like his reading. . . I too get him not wanting to go to school. He is just newly diagnosed but he is know as being rough or too full on. When the other kids need a break, DS doesn't. That is the main struggle.. He is an energiser battery that keeps going with eagerness and escitement.

Just noticed you are in Tauranga. We lived in early Pyes Pa and DS went to Greenpark School. What area are you in?

we are in otumoetai

the practice/focus thing.. drives me potty! i am bribing him with bionicles and he still struggles to sit and do it, even tho i only ask him to do 15 mins at a time. then again, he can't concentrate for an entire conversation... i am probably expecting too much

Yeah I wonder that all the time too . . .

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