's follow-up

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

As some of you may remember (although it was a while ago) we were going to

have 's assessed to see if she might have ADHD. This was an ongoing

question that has plagued us for a few years. I thought that things were

getting better during kindergarten. Then during first grade, her teacher and

the spec ed dir wanted to have her assessed through the school. I went along

with it and it was inconclusive. There were things there, but it was hard to

tell if it was due to the hearing loss or to ADHD.

So at the end of the school year I was able to find a psychologist in our

general area that works with deaf/hoh kids. (Sorry Barb, I would have loved to

come out there, but we just couldn't afford it). We video taped a few days of

school for her to view, and the teachers and I filled out different

questionnaires. I also supplied the psychologist with all of the reports from

's triennial, which was done in May. Short version is that she has

diagnosed within the ADHD spectrum. She has the hyperactive/inattentive

parts of it. Now for the long version (don't blame you if you stop reading

here).

I believe I mentioned before that I was quite happy with the results of

's triennial. I really enjoyed watching the faces of the staff as they

read the results. And it proved things that I have felt to be certain all

along. Our psych also did some similar types of testing that was not included

in the triennial (she said it should have been, but I'm guessing our district is

too cheap). All results show a large discrepancy between the verbal and

nonverbal results. 's non-verbal scores are considered to be high

average/gifted where as her verbal scores are low average. Our psych wasn't too

crazy about some of the things her first grade teacher did (I wasn't too crazy

about last year either), but she tried as gently as she could not to show any

biases. Her teacher was fairly inflexible and very hard nosed. Not that this

couldn't be a good thing, but it's not a good fit for first grade, and a worse

fit for . She felt that some of the difficulty we

saw with 's grades last year and some of the pushing of ADHD was due to

this style of teaching. So we have several accommodations that she wants us to

try in the classroom and at home. She feels that is borderline ADHD and

in the right environment she could excel. Since we are starting a new year with

a new teacher (who I like much better) we are in a wait and see mode. If things

don't get better, then we will look into medication. Of course we also can't

let get bored because that brings on some of her inattentive " symptoms " .

The whole process was very interesting. It confirmed some of the things I

knew, or felt I knew. It also helped to explain some of the things that I've

witnessed do in the past. Then there is the side benefit that I have

learned to get around Chicago and suburbs by train (the road construction here

is AWFUL!)

Just thought I'd let you know what was going on.

Debbie, mom to , 7, moderate SNHL and , 4, hearing

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were

and ask why not. G.B Shaw

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

All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done faster.

[Guest guest]

Our HOH son (almost 12yo) has ADHD as well as Asperger's Syndrome.

It took us a long time to get those diagnoses, because it was relatively easy

to attribute the symptoms (not paying attention, acting out, not picking up

social cues) to the fact that he couldn't hear well, despite the fact that he

has had hearing aids since he was an infant.

Our son's ADHD is hyperactive/impulsive-type. His ability to pay attention is

actually remarkably good--he's had several teachers who have told us that they

have frequently asked him to summarize the class discussion, and been surprised

when he actually could, even thought it looked at the time like he was off in

his own world during the class discussion. He just started at a new middle

school (6th grade), and I'm now working on convincing his teachers that " fiddle

toys " actually improve his ability to pay attention to what's going on during

class, and that taking away his fiddle toys is more likely to lead to him

" spacing out " and not paying attention to what's going on.

He does take ADHD medication, and it helps *tremendously.*

Kiminy

Deb DiAnni babydewe2@...> wrote:

Hi everyone,

As some of you may remember (although it was a while ago) we were going to have

's assessed to see if she might have ADHD. This was an ongoing question

that has plagued us for a few years. I thought that things were getting better

during kindergarten.

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

Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+

countries) for 2¢/min or less.

[Guest guest]

Deb,

You were really vague in your post and I would love to know specifics...what

kinds of things did do that led you to believe she had ADD? What

kinds of things does she do that were not hearing related? What kinds of

interventions are they going to implement now that they weren't doing

before? How will this make things easier?

We're way too new in the game to be confounding everything with testing

Bobby for attention problems and I am so not ready to add another med in

there, but I wonder what benefit it has knowing this kind of information.

What does the school do differently than they are doing with a hearing

impaired kid? How does it work out for their benefit in the long run? I'd

love to know because then maybe I woudn't be so stubborn about keeping my

mind open to the idea later down the road.

Thanks for your help, and for sharing this information,

Trish (mom to Bobby, 6 yrd old, just started kindergarten, hearing loss from

ototoxic meds given for heart surgery, mod/sev SNL in R ear and high freq

loss in L, wears two Oticon Tego Pro BTE aids, and here's the most important

part, has most likely had this loss since one of his surgeries at 3 months

old, but he was only diagnosed last year and has only worn hearing aids for

about 6 months. So we are seeing LOTS of attention problems but it might be

because there are so many gaps in his understanding...

Trish

Visit Trish and Bobby's Marathon website at

http://www.firstgiving.com/bobbymarathon

's follow-up

Hi everyone,

As some of you may remember (although it was a while ago) we were going to

have 's assessed to see if she might have ADHD. This was an ongoing

question that has plagued us for a few years. I thought that things were

getting better during kindergarten. Then during first grade, her teacher and

the spec ed dir wanted to have her assessed through the school. I went along

with it and it was inconclusive. There were things there, but it was hard to

tell if it was due to the hearing loss or to ADHD.

So at the end of the school year I was able to find a psychologist in our

general area that works with deaf/hoh kids. (Sorry Barb, I would have loved

to come out there, but we just couldn't afford it). We video taped a few

days of school for her to view, and the teachers and I filled out different

questionnaires. I also supplied the psychologist with all of the reports

from 's triennial, which was done in May. Short version is that she

has diagnosed within the ADHD spectrum. She has the

hyperactive/inattentive parts of it. Now for the long version (don't blame

you if you stop reading here).

I believe I mentioned before that I was quite happy with the results of

's triennial. I really enjoyed watching the faces of the staff as they

read the results. And it proved things that I have felt to be certain all

along. Our psych also did some similar types of testing that was not

included in the triennial (she said it should have been, but I'm guessing

our district is too cheap). All results show a large discrepancy between the

verbal and nonverbal results. 's non-verbal scores are considered to

be high average/gifted where as her verbal scores are low average. Our psych

wasn't too crazy about some of the things her first grade teacher did (I

wasn't too crazy about last year either), but she tried as gently as she

could not to show any biases. Her teacher was fairly inflexible and very

hard nosed. Not that this couldn't be a good thing, but it's not a good fit

for first grade, and a worse fit for . She felt that some of the

difficulty we saw with 's grades last year and some of the pushing of

ADHD was due to this style of teaching. So we have several accommodations

that she wants us to try in the classroom and at home. She feels that

is borderline ADHD and in the right environment she could excel. Since we

are starting a new year with a new teacher (who I like much better) we are

in a wait and see mode. If things don't get better, then we will look into

medication. Of course we also can't let get bored because that brings

on some of her inattentive " symptoms " .

The whole process was very interesting. It confirmed some of the things I

knew, or felt I knew. It also helped to explain some of the things that I've

witnessed do in the past. Then there is the side benefit that I have

learned to get around Chicago and suburbs by train (the road construction

here is AWFUL!)

Just thought I'd let you know what was going on.

Debbie, mom to , 7, moderate SNHL and , 4, hearing

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never

were and ask why not. G.B Shaw

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

All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done

faster.

[Guest guest]

Deb - I know you're relieved to finally have some answers for . I

know we were with Tom. Just bummed you didn't come out *here*! But it

is better to work with local folks...

Trish - our Tom (who is 14) also has ADHD on top of his hearing loss.

We say he's doubly blessed . Tom's diagnosis was perhaps easier

to determine because of having a younger brother who is also deaf. At

first we too thought that Tom's behaviors were because of his hearing

loss. I mean - he couldn't focus well in school but he couldn't hear

well, right? We called him the " minute man " because he'd go from toy to

toy to toy at home. Then you'd watch Sam (younger ds) play with Brios

by the hour. We came to the conclusion that something was going on that

hearing loss wasn't explaining in first grade - and actually got to that

conclusion about the same time as his school team.

Having Tom diagnosed as early as he was has helped immensely - even Tom

will tell you that his ADHD is more of a problem then his hearing loss

at this point. We have chosen to medicate - which believe me isn't a

magic bullet at all - and it's helped but helping more is working with

Tom on structure and strategies. I want Tom to own his ADHD as he owns

his hearing loss and he really is doing better with it. For example, he

and his teachers have worked out a hand signal to use in class when he's

wandering. It IS hard to add one more " thing " to a kid with hearing

loss but in the end, it's so good to know earlier than later.

Barbara

Trish Whitehouse wrote:

> Deb,

>

> You were really vague in your post and I would love to know specifics...what

> kinds of things did do that led you to believe she had ADD? What

> kinds of things does she do that were not hearing related? What kinds of

> interventions are they going to implement now that they weren't doing

> before? How will this make things easier?

>

> We're way too new in the game to be confounding everything with testing

> Bobby for attention problems and I am so not ready to add another med in

> there, but I wonder what benefit it has knowing this kind of information.

> What does the school do differently than they are doing with a hearing

> impaired kid? How does it work out for their benefit in the long run? I'd

> love to know because then maybe I woudn't be so stubborn about keeping my

> mind open to the idea later down the road.

>

> Thanks for your help, and for sharing this information,

>

> Trish (mom to Bobby, 6 yrd old, just started kindergarten, hearing loss from

> ototoxic meds given for heart surgery, mod/sev SNL in R ear and high freq

> loss in L, wears two Oticon Tego Pro BTE aids, and here's the most important

> part, has most likely had this loss since one of his surgeries at 3 months

> old, but he was only diagnosed last year and has only worn hearing aids for

> about 6 months. So we are seeing LOTS of attention problems but it might be

> because there are so many gaps in his understanding...

>

> Trish

> Visit Trish and Bobby's Marathon website at

> http://www.firstgiving.com/bobbymarathon

>

>

> 's follow-up

>

>

> Hi everyone,

> As some of you may remember (although it was a while ago) we were going to

> have 's assessed to see if she might have ADHD. This was an ongoing

> question that has plagued us for a few years. I thought that things were

> getting better during kindergarten. Then during first grade, her teacher and

> the spec ed dir wanted to have her assessed through the school. I went along

> with it and it was inconclusive. There were things there, but it was hard to

> tell if it was due to the hearing loss or to ADHD.

> So at the end of the school year I was able to find a psychologist in our

> general area that works with deaf/hoh kids. (Sorry Barb, I would have loved

> to come out there, but we just couldn't afford it). We video taped a few

> days of school for her to view, and the teachers and I filled out different

> questionnaires. I also supplied the psychologist with all of the reports

> from 's triennial, which was done in May. Short version is that she

> has diagnosed within the ADHD spectrum. She has the

> hyperactive/inattentive parts of it. Now for the long version (don't blame

> you if you stop reading here).

>

> I believe I mentioned before that I was quite happy with the results of

> 's triennial. I really enjoyed watching the faces of the staff as they

> read the results. And it proved things that I have felt to be certain all

> along. Our psych also did some similar types of testing that was not

> included in the triennial (she said it should have been, but I'm guessing

> our district is too cheap). All results show a large discrepancy between the

> verbal and nonverbal results. 's non-verbal scores are considered to

> be high average/gifted where as her verbal scores are low average. Our psych

> wasn't too crazy about some of the things her first grade teacher did (I

> wasn't too crazy about last year either), but she tried as gently as she

> could not to show any biases. Her teacher was fairly inflexible and very

> hard nosed. Not that this couldn't be a good thing, but it's not a good fit

> for first grade, and a worse fit for . She felt that some of the

> difficulty we saw with 's grades last year and some of the pushing of

> ADHD was due to this style of teaching. So we have several accommodations

> that she wants us to try in the classroom and at home. She feels that

> is borderline ADHD and in the right environment she could excel. Since we

> are starting a new year with a new teacher (who I like much better) we are

> in a wait and see mode. If things don't get better, then we will look into

> medication. Of course we also can't let get bored because that brings

> on some of her inattentive " symptoms " .

> The whole process was very interesting. It confirmed some of the things I

> knew, or felt I knew. It also helped to explain some of the things that I've

> witnessed do in the past. Then there is the side benefit that I have

> learned to get around Chicago and suburbs by train (the road construction

> here is AWFUL!)

>

> Just thought I'd let you know what was going on.

>

> Debbie, mom to , 7, moderate SNHL and , 4, hearing

>

> Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never

> were and ask why not. G.B Shaw

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things done

> faster.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Deb,

I'm glad to hear that you were able to find some answers.

I know this has been bugging you for a while. ;-)

, Fl

Deb DiAnni wrote:

>

> Hi everyone,

> As some of you may remember (although it was a while ago) we were

> going to have 's assessed to see if she might have ADHD. This

> was an ongoing question that has plagued us for a few years. I thought

> that things were getting better during kindergarten. Then during first

> grade, her teacher and the spec ed dir wanted to have her assessed

> through the school. I went along with it and it was inconclusive.

> There were things there, but it was hard to tell if it was due to the

> hearing loss or to ADHD.

> So at the end of the school year I was able to find a psychologist in

> our general area that works with deaf/hoh kids. (Sorry Barb, I would

> have loved to come out there, but we just couldn't afford it). We

> video taped a few days of school for her to view, and the teachers and

> I filled out different questionnaires. I also supplied the

> psychologist with all of the reports from 's triennial, which

> was done in May. Short version is that she has diagnosed within

> the ADHD spectrum. She has the hyperactive/inattentive parts of it.

> Now for the long version (don't blame you if you stop reading here).

>

> I believe I mentioned before that I was quite happy with the results

> of 's triennial. I really enjoyed watching the faces of the

> staff as they read the results. And it proved things that I have felt

> to be certain all along. Our psych also did some similar types of

> testing that was not included in the triennial (she said it should

> have been, but I'm guessing our district is too cheap). All results

> show a large discrepancy between the verbal and nonverbal results.

> 's non-verbal scores are considered to be high average/gifted

> where as her verbal scores are low average. Our psych wasn't too crazy

> about some of the things her first grade teacher did (I wasn't too

> crazy about last year either), but she tried as gently as she could

> not to show any biases. Her teacher was fairly inflexible and very

> hard nosed. Not that this couldn't be a good thing, but it's not a

> good fit for first grade, and a worse fit for . She felt that

> some of the difficulty we

> saw with 's grades last year and some of the pushing of ADHD was

> due to this style of teaching. So we have several accommodations that

> she wants us to try in the classroom and at home. She feels that

> is borderline ADHD and in the right environment she could

> excel. Since we are starting a new year with a new teacher (who I like

> much better) we are in a wait and see mode. If things don't get

> better, then we will look into medication. Of course we also can't let

> get bored because that brings on some of her inattentive

> " symptoms " .

> The whole process was very interesting. It confirmed some of the

> things I knew, or felt I knew. It also helped to explain some of the

> things that I've witnessed do in the past. Then there is the

> side benefit that I have learned to get around Chicago and suburbs by

> train (the road construction here is AWFUL!)

>

> Just thought I'd let you know what was going on.

>

> Debbie, mom to , 7, moderate SNHL and , 4, hearing

>

> Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that

> never were and ask why not. G.B Shaw

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> All-new Yahoo! Mail - Fire up a more powerful email and get things

> done faster.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Kim,

Fiddle toys were one of the suggestions our psych had made.....now to see if

they follow the suggestions.

I'm glad to hear that the med have helped him. I'm ok with them, but my

biggest concern is that is quite thin, and she eats ALL the time. They

tell me that the meds can cause appetite supression and she needs everything she

eats (I think she's got her dad metabolism, instead of mine which has me gaining

weight at the sight of a chocolate cake).

If we go the med route, you know I'll be back here asking all sorts of

questions

Debbie

Some men see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things that never were

and ask why not. G.B Shaw

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

Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small

Business.

[Guest guest]

My son has been diagnosed with ADHD. At first I was reluctant to go along with

the district's assessment of him with this problem because I didn't want another

label, but when he started Kindergarten and quickly started getting into a lot

of trouble because of his impulsivity, we decided to take him to a behavior

specialist. That therapist quickly referred us to a psychiatrist for a meds

evaluation. It was pretty obvious to both of those people that Neal had ADHD.

I knew his behavior was different from other hearing impaired kids since I had

been working at his preschool for three years and saw that no one else behaved

like Neal, so for me it was just a matter of letting go of my fear of the label.

Having the diagnosis has been helpful in dealing with the school. Neal has a

full time aid with him and it's about 99% for behavior. She does help him with

hearing on the playground and such, but the district wouldn't have provided her

if that was all she was there for. Having the diagnosis and having him on

medicine also make it so that the school is more lenient. If I tell the teacher

that we are working on his meds (which is what we did two weeks ago), she can

take that into consideration and, while not just letting him get away with

stuff, realize that he really can't help it right then. Basically, if your

child has ADHD, it's another area that he or she may need accommodations for, so

knowing that and dealing with it can help your child make it in a mainstream

setting. If we hadn't figured this out and dealt with it, more than likely Neal

would be placed in a special day class for behavior problem kids by now (which

would actually have meant that I would be home schooling right now because that

would not be a good placement for him in my opinion.)

Rhonda

Mom to Audrey, 9 1/2, hearing; and Neal, 7, CII at 2.9 years

<

>

[Guest guest]

At an IEP addendum meeting last week, I said that Neal has, " Bonus issues. " lol

<

.

Rhonda

Mom to Audrey, 9/2, hearing; and Neal, 7, CII at 2.9 years

[Guest guest]

Our son (12 in October) also has

ADHD--hyperactive/impulsive type, but NOT inattentive

type. He tends to multi-task, so it doesn't always

*look* like he's paying attention, but several

teachers have told me how amazed they are at how well

he follows what's going on in class, even while he's

doodling, playing with a fidget toy, etc.

I have to remind teachers regularly though that he is

NOT inattentive because of the ADHD. If he isn't

following what's going on in the classroom, it's

either because his hearing aid batteries are dying, or

because there is too much background noise. He almost

always has spare batteries with him, but he also knows

that he can hear better without hearing aids

(mild/moderate impairment) than he can with dead

hearing aids, and I let the teachers know this as

well. He also has no problems with asking teachers or

others to repeat something that he didn't hear well

the first (or second, or third...) time they said it.

Kiminy

--- Rhonda Savage mom2savages@...> wrote:

> My son has been diagnosed with ADHD. At first I was

> reluctant to go along with the district's assessment

> of him with this problem because I didn't want

> another label, but when he started Kindergarten and

> quickly started getting into a lot of trouble

> because of his impulsivity, we decided to take him

> to a behavior specialist.

__________________________________________________