Our road to ADHD Diagnosis

Our seven-year-old has had behavioral and learning issues since around 18 months of age. He hit his physical milestones early, but his speech was behind, he started to head bang around 18 months as well. My MIL was a headbanger, so we just made sure we could keep him as safe as possible until he outgrew this.

Around age 4, we got an autism spectrum diagnosis from the school. This was a school diagnosis and not a medical diagnosis, but we pursued behavioral, and speech services. Covid came about and issues seemed more pronounced. Fast forward to earlier this year, and Our sons’ doctor said “is he always moving like a windup toy?” or something to that effect. He was. We never thought any thing of it, we didn’t know how much energy kids should. This was especially true for my personal knowledge because I grew up in a family where many kids struggled with hyperactivity.

We weren’t initially open to the idea of medication, but our son was struggling to catch up in school, seemed to get further behind in some topics, and was struggling to make friends… the latter which was just truly heartbreaking. We decided to put him on the lowest dose of ADHD medication (our kiddo takes a medication called Focalin XR)… A 5 mg dose, once daily made ALL the difference in the world. The teachers noticed, we noticed. We felt guilty that we could have gotten him medicated a year sooner and we’d deprived him of that for no other reason than having some jaded view of children taking medication.

We have taken him up to a 10mg dose, he’s not a zombie… he’s just happy now. He has friends now. I remember seeing a child hug him in what looked like an aggressive way and I asked the teacher if Cole was struggling to make friends, because the child stopped hugging him when he saw me notice….and she told me that the child that hugged him loves him and missed him when he missed a day of school, and I was just so moved that I sat a cried. I cried because it was his first friend apart from his brother (I also feel like a jacka$$, because what face did I have to stop that child from hugging my kiddo? lol)

This medication was a Godsend!

Our son has a medical diagnosis of ADHD now. He does NOT have an autism spectrum diagnosis. There are features that exist in both diagnosis.

Here are some common symptoms of ADHD and related issues our kiddo had:
– Impulsivity
– High, constant energy
– Fidgety
– Unable to focus on tasks (our kiddo did this selectively, he could focus on drawing or playing with LEGO for hours on end).
– Won’t wait their turn
– Interrupting
– Talking non-stop
– Having zero sense of self preservation
– Sleep issues
– Anxiety

If you’re uncertain, I 100% recommend getting a medical diagnosis! There is a kiddo in my son’s class that had identical issues as my son. He is still unmedicated and that kiddo has started getting in daily fights and still hasn’t made any friends… he’s been bullying my kiddo too. I feel bad for him… the earlyish diagnosis was everything for us.