Our ADHD Journey.

I knew absolutely nothing about ADHD until this last year, and yes I was once one of those people that thought your kid just needed more discipline until BOOM my 15 year old daughter got diagnosed then BOOM my 6 year old daughter got diagnosed and now we are waiting on my 2 year old son to be diagnosed, which there is not doubt that he has ADHD. It hits you like a wall, having one child with ADHD is hard enough but 3?!? It impacts them all in different ways and you have to maneuver through life figuring out how to handle each child and how it impacts there life. How do you figure out if they are acting up because of the ADHD  or just because they are being bad?!? ADHD is so much more than kids not being able to pay attention which for a lot of kids that is the main problem but it also can impact their moods and relationships. When my 15 year old daughter got diagnosed it all made sense, she had always done not that great in school, didn't pay attention and just gave up so easy.  I don't know why it took so long but once she was prescribed Adderall she did a complete turn around. She went from D's and F's to straight A's! She became more confident and started to love school.

My 6 year old we have been so far able to function without medication, when school starts again we are going to set up an IEP so she has resources to help so we can go without meds as long as possible. She was always extremely smart and when the ADHD started to impact her learning I was so devastated. They said she was below average in school and I knew that was not possible because she would come home from school and breeze through the work like nothing. Her memorization is unbelievable and she picks up stuff so quickly. The teacher was just not equipped to help her the way she needed and now that I know more I can make sure she gets what she needs to exceed.

My 2 year old son that will be 3 in a few months, well I don't see many other options for him. I do not want to medicate him until he can tell me whether or not he feels OK on it and right now he cannot do that. So we are going to try every option possible before medication. He is a constant ball of energy and you might think that is normal for young boys, but it has impacted his speech. He has gotten hurt because of it, he doesn't pay attention to what he is doing just runs runs and is loud and intense always. Instead of him focusing and pronouncing words he just spits out whatever and you can't understand him, he is super smart though and I am terrified that the ADHD will impact his learning.

The 2 most important things for an ADHD child is a proper diet and a strict structured environment. It took awhile before some family understood why I would be so strict with what the kids eat and with discipline but it really helps so much. My life is my kids and they come before anything, their happiness and education is first before anyone or anyone's feelings. Because I am a young mom I do get judgement, people think because I'm young that I must not discipline my kids and I must feed them out of a box and can. Or I am mean because I don't let them drink pop and eat packaged snacks. It's a lose lose so I just do what I know is right.

The best advice I have for anyone going through this is stick to your guns, research as much as possible and just do what you feel is the best for your kids because your the ONLY one that knows.

I also highly recommend this book. It gives you very good advice and even a meal plan and recipes to get you started! 

I would love to hear anyone's stories about their journey or experience with ADHD!


Jay Gordon's Website

My Facebook