Re: ADD/ADHD again

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/26/2006 1:45:53 P.M. Central Standard Time,

babydewe2@... writes:

I don't know how the tests are being given, so I'm not sure if that is where

the problem lies. However her teacher seems to think it's more from a lack

of attention to what is going on, not that she's not capiable of doing it.

Debbie,

You may want to connect with Sue (from our board) who has a son with ADD.

She can also give you the resources for testing.

I would imagine it is tough to determine how much of what is missed is due

to hearing loss and how much due to attention span. As a child, I can

remember lots of times I would space out in the classroom because it was so much

work to be on task and understand everything that was going on. I would space

out and daydream at times when the information around me wasn't clear enough.

Or heck, maybe I do have a touch of ADD too!

Putz

Illinois Families for Hands & Voices

_www.handsandvoices.org_ (http://www.handsandvoices.org/)

_www.ilhandsandvoices.org_ (http://www.ilhandsandvoices.org/)

Email: support@...

[Guest guest]

<<I'm wondering how did you determine it was time to look into getting it

diagnosed and how or who did the diagnosing? I'm sure I can say something to

our ped about it and he may prescribe her something, but I'm not so sure this is

the best way to go. I don't want to have to medicate her unless it is

necessary, but how do we discover if it is? >>

With Neal we knew it was time when there was already talk of kicking him out of

his mainstream Kinder class and putting him in a special day class after a few

weeks of school (because of his behavior). We knew he didn't belong in a

special day class. Our pediatrician never did think Neal had ADHD (we had been

battling with his behavior issues his whole life). He wouldn't have given us

medicine. We went through the self referral counseling services with Kaiser and

saw a social worker, who then referred us to a psychologist. We brought Neal's

journal from school with examples of the behaviors he was having in school, as

well as a copy of the district's psychological evaluation in which they found

him to meet the criteria for ADHD. The doctor looked at those things, asked

questions, and had Neal draw some pictures. We went home from the first

appointment with the psychologist with medicine. She said she doesn't usually

give medicine so easily, but that it was clear to her that Neal needed it. I

used to be a person who was very against medicating Neal or any child, but I

have changed my tune completely. Now my opinion is that if you think your child

might benefit from medicine and a doctor agrees and prescribes it, the way to

find out if you are all right is to try it and see. If your kid is one who

truly needs the medicine, you will know it right away. There was an immediate

change in Neal. Before his meds, he was in the Principal's office probably 5

times (in only a few weeks of school). He hasn't been back since. Every once

in a while he still has on off day, but nothing like the days he had been

having, and overall it has changed his life. And I want to stress that he is

not the slightest bit " zombie-like " or " altered " in any negative way. It's one

little pill in the morning. Now that I see what it does for him I wonder why I

was so afraid of that little thing. LOL

Rhonda Savage

Mom to Audrey, 8, hearing; and Neal, 6, CII at 2.9 years

" Hard does not mean impossible. "

[Guest guest]

Hello, Deb:

Our sons' best friend (he doesn't have any hearing difficulties) was

recently diagnosed with ADD, and is on medication (and it's made all the

difference in the world). He didn't show true signs of issues until first

grade, and then his mom had him tested through our school. Based on the

results, he wound up going onto a mild dosage of medication, and it's like

working with a different child for his teacher.

If you'd like me to, I could certainly ask her to e-mail you directly.

Hang in there.

Kris

Mom to (Unilateral SNL, Left Side) and Ethan (hearing)

_____

From: Listen-Up [mailto:Listen-Up ] On Behalf

Of Deb DiAnni

Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 1:45 PM

To: Listen-Up

Subject: ADD/ADHD again

Hi everyone,

I know that there are a few parents out there that have kids

with ADD/ADHD and a hearing loss. After much thought, we are starting to

think that maybe we should have looked at to see if this might be the

reason for her " lack of attention " at school.

_____

[Guest guest]

> From looking at the paper it's hard to determine...is not listening

> or not hearing? What is being done to make sure heard the

> directions? We ask the teacher and she tells us that she is using the FM

> and says she makes sure that heard....but who is really to know?<

From loads of experience with JD, I can tell you that hearing something is

not the same as understanding it. In fact, at Sunshine Cottage School for

Deaf Children, they never would ask " Did you hear me? " or " Did you

understand me? " They would ask " What did you hear me say? "

Also, for JD, homework was not to be given orally only, but also had to be

written on the board (or given to him in writing).

ADD/ADHD is difficult to separate from the problem being caused due to

hearing. With JD, we actually had the evaluation in place (behavioral

evaluation, a huge questionnaire for me to fill out, questionnaires for

teachers to fill out, and actually had a Rx for meds that I had just filled

when I noticed a change in his behavior. The change was due to his just

having his CI turned on. Never did have to give him even 1 of the pills,

once his hearing situation was cleared up, the behavior and attention also

cleared up. Comments from teachers turned from complaints to compliments.

Please understand that I'm not trying to push the implant (I think they're

great if they're right for the child) just showing what a change it made for

us.

Hugs to all,

-Kay

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/30/2006 4:04:24 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

babydewe2@... writes:

I'm wondering if is sometimes not paying attention because she is

getting tired of listening. isn't coming home tired enough to fall

asleep, but she definately likes having the down time either playing on the

computer or coloring.

Ian used to come home exhausted. Sometimes he'd nap and sometimes he'd

vegetate in the living room, playing with his Brio or watching Power Rangers. At

the same age, our daughter came home needing a snack to recharge her and all

she wanted was to be outside running around. Not Ian -- listening is hard

work!

I don't think many people, even close family members, realize how hard it is

to listen and then process the information. I was talking to another mom

earlier today and she mentioned a statistic that said hearing kids spent

something like 70% of their school-time energies processing information, but our

kids use that to access the info. My thought was: and then they still have to

process it!

Ian was very, very tired as he got use to using his aids and FM and

everything. Now he takes things more in stride, knows how to pace himself. It

also

helps that his TOD time is at the end of the day. He still has down-time right

after he gets home from school. Usually that consists of a PB sandwich and

his math homework, which he finds easy. But there are still days when we find

him dozing on the couch.

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/29/2006 7:17:51 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

Parentsofdeafhoh@... writes:

This is just one example, there are a lot more that I can remember and so

much of my education was " filling in the blanks " when I got home and could

look

through the books.

,

Ian loves the internet. He comes home and uses it to fill in the blanks.

He'll ask us questions if he needs a more contextual explanation -- things with

social impact that need a more expanded explanation But more often than not,

he uses the internet as a research tool.

And a really wonderful thing about this is that our daughter has followed

his example and now does her own online research as well. They ask for help

with some searches, especially when the sites results they get are very

academic, college and graduate level stuff.

Even going back to elementary school, we have encouraged Ian to come home

and fill in those blanks. As a result, I think a lot of D/HOH kids develop

study skills that are better than some college kids. I know I didn't bother with

that kid of research until I was in college.

Best -- Jill

[Guest guest]

,

I'm glad that you shared that. Not having a hearing loss myself, I can

" think " I know how difficult some things are for , but I have no way of

really ever knowing. I think it's very easy for the teacher to see a child who

hears ok and thinks that because maybe nods in agreement or begins her

work with the other kids that gets it. What you've reminded me is that

although she may appear to " get it " , she may indeed not have a clue what is

going on.

Debbie

Parentsofdeafhoh@... wrote:

In a message dated 1/28/2006 10:52:38 A.M. Central Standard Time,

babydewe2@... writes:

I'm glad you brought up the question of her langauge. It's not " on par " ,

she's about a year behind in most of her language skills. I wonder if maybe

how the teacher is addressing the class is confusing to and

doesn't speak up or ask questions.

Some hard of hearing kids can do great when they get language in the context

of what they understand or when it is a subject they know about. When new

material is introduced, lots of language can be lost in the process, even when

a lot is understood. For example, looking back, I remember a time when a

teacher introduced the concept of voting and explained Democrat and Republican.

I understood none of the process at the time. One by one, I saw the

students going up and going into a booth and then coming out. I had no idea

what

was going on and asked the teacher. She explained something to me, but I

still didn't understand. There was something about going into the booth and

choosing something. So I went in and picked a circle to fill out. No clue

what

was going on.

This is just one example, there are a lot more that I can remember and so

much of my education was " filling in the blanks " when I got home and could look

through the books.

Putz

Illinois Families for Hands & Voices

_www.handsandvoices.org_ (http://www.handsandvoices.org/)

_www.ilhandsandvoices.org_ (http://www.ilhandsandvoices.org/)

Email: support@...

[Guest guest]

I'm wondering if is sometimes not paying attention because she is getting

tired of listening. isn't coming home tired enough to fall asleep, but

she definately likes having the down time either playing on the computer or

coloring.

All these things that I know about, but seem to have forgotten. I'm so glad

I have all of you to remind me of these things.

Like I told Tawnya, I'm going to see if I can come in and observe in

class. I think it's the only way that I'm going to feel more confident about

what needs to be done.

Thanks,

Debbie

pcknott@... wrote:

Does the TOD do any preteaching, and is her curriculum tied to what the

mainstream class is learning?? Exhaustion can be a problem as well. Our kids

put forth so much effort into listening all day long that they often just give

up and quit listening at different times of the day. And it is physically

exhausting.

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

and ask why not. G.B Shaw

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

Bring words and photos together (easily) with

PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail.

[Guest guest]

Hi Kay,

Oh, I know that you're not trying to push an implant. I appreciate you

sharing stories about things that have happened with JD. Knowing that being

able to hear better helped him so much in class, makes me wonder if that is part

of the problem in 's class. I really think that having 27 kids in her

class is a large part of the problem. But I won't know until I see it for

myself.

Debbie

Listen Up! wrote:

The change was due to his just having his CI turned on. Never did have to give

him even 1 of the pills,

once his hearing situation was cleared up, the behavior and attention also

cleared up. Comments from teachers turned from complaints to compliments. Please

understand that I'm not trying to push the implant (I think they're great if

they're right for the child) just showing what a change it made for

us.

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

and ask why not. G.B Shaw

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

Bring words and photos together (easily) with

PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! Mail.