My ADD House: Recognizing Medication Needs Adjustment

It’s been quite a month.  It started as a slow simmer-with my 9-year old whining, teasing , and running in the house, (not much different than any other 9 year old.) Then the teachers began asking, has anything changed at home?  Why?  …Just, he seems very talkative.  He’s not finishing his work.

A couple of weekends pass- more poking, more arguments with siblings, now fists are thrown, more screaming- the start of the rapid boil. Frequency and intensity increasing… more screaming and slammed doors. A soccer ball is kicked thru a window.

And finally the boil over, a firework is set off in the closet,  gunpowder smoke fills the hallway.  There is a panicked dump of his brother’s clothes over the burnt hole in the carpet, followed by a mad shrieking run through the house to hide behind a chair.  ”Why do you always accuse me, when something happens! I DIDN’T DO IT!”

Medication for ADHD in my house has always been about safety.  We work very hard on learning skills, but when impulsivity gets in the way of a child or family’s safety, I draw the line.  All the signs have been there for a couple of weeks: irritability with siblings, inability to focus in class, reactionary temperament- and now the impulsive acts – with firecrackers and soccer balls.

To manage ADHD, you need skills. For some kids, a good healthy diet, plenty of sleep, regular exercise, a patient role-model is all they need to quiet their mind and allow them to learn those skills.   For others, learning to manage ADHD despite healthy living habits,  medication is needed, to settle their mind long enough to hear the plan, let alone enact it. Hopefully with maturity and skill attainment, this nine year won’t always need medication, but till then, let’s keep us all healthy and alive- it’s time for more medication- as well as some education and practice with fire safety!