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What to Do if You Suspect Your Child Has ADHD

October 18, 2016 by

If your child is showing signs of hyperactive behavior and you have noticed that they have a difficult time staying focused or paying attention to certain things, you may be wondering whether or not it is worth having them screened for ADHD. Most experts will agree that it’s usually quite difficult to determine whether or not a child has ADHD until they are around six or seven years old, so if your child is younger, it may be worth waiting until they are this age in order to see whether or not they are still showing ADHD-like symptoms. Many younger children are often a little bit hyperactive, and will grow out of this trait over time. However, if you are worried and still want to have your child evaluated, here’s how to go about it.

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Finding a Professional

If you are concerned that your child may be suffering from ADHD, it’s important to make sure that they are evaluated by a qualified professional. It’s a good idea to start off by visiting your pediatrician or family doctor when you go see someone for help, as they will be able to refer you to specialists and other health professionals who work with children who have ADHD. Your family doctor or pediatrician will also be able to run some preliminary screenings in order to ensure that any other potential health conditions or causes are ruled out.

What to Expect

If you have never been to an ADHD evaluation before, it might be a little daunting for both you and your child if you are unsure what to expect. Usually, an ADHD evaluation or screening will consist of a thorough screening of your child’s family, personal and medical history, along with interviews with your child, yourself, and perhaps a teacher from their school. Along with this, there is usually a physical examination of your child carried out in order to ensure that any other physical causes of ADHD-like symptoms are ruled out. Once the evaluation is complete, you will be asked to return for a follow-up meeting.

Ongoing Treatment and Support

When it comes to managing ADHD, it’s important to ensure that your child is given the right ongoing treatment and support. Many children who are diagnosed with ADHD will be able to recover from the disorder before they reach adulthood with the right therapy, treatment and support. Your doctor or pediatrician may be able to refer your child to regular counselling and other talking therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or Psychotherapy, which can often be very useful when managing and learning to live with the symptoms of ADHD. Along with this, it’s important that you support your child as well as possible by taking part in their treatment and asking advice about how to change your home life and environment to make things easier for them.

If you think that your child may be suffering from ADHD, it’s important to take them to a professional in order to find out for certain.




All Eyes On You

April 6, 2011 by

We were out to dinner last week and I was facing a table with a tween and her parents. I kept glancing at them because I was curious about the girl’s behavior. I look at Sabreena and see polite, kind, sweet, chatty, happy and relaxed. I was looking at this kid and I saw grumpy, arrogant and dismissive. Her mother was chatting with her and all the girl did was roll her eyes and shrug her shoulders.

Dessert time came for the other family and mom wanted to share her sundae with the girl. The spoon came up to the girls lips and she did something that shocked me; she roughly shoved her mother’s arm out of the way and gave her a check to the body. I tried to quickly glance away but the mom caught me. Before I turned away I noticed the mom just laughed it off but when she saw that I noticed what really happened she quickly started disciplining her daughter. I could hear Mom say how disrespectful she was being and she needed to cheer up and have a good time. Tears started rolling down mom’s face. The daughter’s attitude didn’t change. This was her normal self, her normal behavior. Me noticing the interaction had no change in how she treated her family and the situation.


Rob and I are strict and we expect certain behavior and respect but we also are fun and open and talk to our kids, all of them, about almost anything. The second Shaun rolls his eyes at me we’d be having a serious conversation about it right in the restaurant. I have no problem disciplining my children wherever we are. Sometimes I’m subtle and to the point talking quietly in their ear, sometimes I’ll engage some tough love and hope embarrassment in front of others works. This mother knew her daughter was in the wrong but for whatever reason wasn’t going to deal with it until she thought she was perceived as “not in control” of her child. Maybe she was so used to the disdain and withdrawal from her kid that she didn’t know how to react differently. Maybe she was putting on a show that there was nothing wrong with her relationship and laughing it off was how she kept things calm outside the home.

Do you parent differently outside the home when all eyes are on you?












I Disclose




We are headed in the right direction

February 7, 2011 by

We finally had our meeting with Shaun’s teachers, filled out some evaluation papers and met with the doctor.

Shaun indeed has ADD(no surprise). Thankfully there are no other issues to deal with such as violent or aggressive tendencies or an inability to learn. His teachers sung his praises about his intelligence and eagerness to participate and how sweet he is. The problems are his lack of focus, careless mistakes and following through on tasks. We have those same challenges at home along with emotional outbursts; crying.

We’ve started him on medication on Sunday. I hope to see some improvements by week’s end.   Along with his medications we need to work on some behavior management. Unfortunately we are a yelling family; we know we need to change this but especially more now. A month ago we just thought he was being a pain in the ass but now that we understand better what is going on we can handle it much better. I’m just happy to  know my boy isn’t broken.

Thank you everyone for your kind words, support and well wishes. We will keep you all updated with the progress, challenges and changes going on.




My Boy Cries Waaaaayyyyy To Much!

January 21, 2011 by

Our only son Shaun who is 7 cries all of the time.  He cries when you tell him what we are having for dinner.  He cries when you tell him to drink water.  He cries when you tell him he can only have one topping on his ice cream.  He cries when you tell him it’s bed time.  He cries when….ok I think you get the picture.  I have NO clue why he cries so much. Is it a boy thing?  I am only asking because Sabreena our now 15 year old daughter never cried as much as Shaun.  I don’t think Shae who is 3 cries as much as Shaun.  It is really baffling to me.  It doesn’t matter if you are nice or mean he cries either way.

It is so frustrating and it drives Melinda and I nuts.  It’s so out of hand lately and we have no clue what to do so he won’t cry.

Do you have any boys and if so do you have any advise?  Heck, even if you don’t have any boys but have any advise we’ll take it.