My 7 year old daughter Kailie just yesterday saw our family doctor concerning her teachers worries as well as my own on her behaviors. For the last two years I have spoken with her teachers over her inability to sit still or pay attention, she forgets most things, whines constantly over anything, doesn't care much for speaking, can not focus on homework and is falling well behind those others in her classes. Originally we all just figured it may be a phase in her life or she was having trouble adjusting to full day school, however, it continued. At home she began being unconsolable at times, lashing out at her older sister by a year hitting her and her friends for no reasons. When we speak with her she seems almost deaf and it took many many attempts to reach her. Asking for chores forget it, I always ended up doing it myself.
Well, yesterday our doctor spoke with me of ADHD , something I never even considered having a girl. My brother suffers from this disorder and has rought havic on our lives and this worried me greatly. She is scheduled for an evaluation shortly to understand the full severity of the disorder if she has it. In the mean time I was prescribed Adderall XR. I know this is a bit backwords, but the doctor watched Kailie during the 45 minute appointment and all of her hyperness and inabilitiy to pay attention and figures treatment should not be delayed.
I was assured that if Kailie does infact suffer from ADHD then the first dose of this medication would work immediately taming her behaviors, and if she did not have it than she would actually bounce off the walls more. Well we did the first dose today and the feedback was fantastic from the school. She actually attributed to a class discussion and began playing with other girls in the class. Prior to this she played only with one other boy who also suffers from some type of mental disorder. As uncomfortable as it was to put her on "drugs" I think it would be more harmful to have her held back as they are considering doing.
My question is I currently only want her to use the meds during school hours and not at home. So I would like any thoughts on how to calm her or gain her attention at home. Anything would be appreciated.

I have a 11 year old daughter who has ADD. I have a 13 yr old son that has ADHD. They both have been medicated for 3 years now.

My daughter's ADD is much worse than her brother's. I started noticing signs in K but everyone said she would "out grow it". I wish that I would have paid more attention to my instincts vs. the teachers (which were noticing the same things I was!). Had she been able to focus during those important first years of education...she would be on the same level as children her age. Now we are playing catch up. But she is doing great on her medicine.

Collectively, we have only tried three different meds. My son is on Adderall XR and my daughter was for a while. My experience with Adderall is that when they did not take in on Saturday and Sunday, they were extremely emotional, bounced off the walls and ate as if their stomachs were never full. The "withdrawals" were not worth it. Not for us or them.

At my recent Dr. visit, he said that the school of thought has actually changed in terms of not doing meds on the weekend. Now, they recommend that you continue the meds on the weekend. They have found that the consistency produces better results. Plus, you don't send your kids on an emotional rollercoaster ride for two days.....

Trust your instincts. My husband surely had ADD, as well as my brother. We both can go back on our family tree of relatives who clearly have all the signs. Two of my children have ADD/ADHD to different degrees. I have one child who does not have any signs of it (and she is 8).

Good Luck!

My kids also have ADHD but my daughter, now 9, has just the inattentive part. As soon as we put her on meds we saw a complete turnaround and she made the honor roll this year! My older son on the other hand (he's 11) has the combined ADHD. He is on stronger meds and has done considerable well since we finally seemed to have found the right meds, but he still struggles in school. He isn't failing anymore though and actually gets some As and Bs! The kids' doctor did tell me though that he wants them, even my daughter, to stay on the meds all week even on vacations. I rarely do this though for my daughter as she is not overly hyper and doesn't REALLY need to concentrate when she's not at school so I don't see any point. I do however keep my son on his meds all year long as he absolutely drives us crazy when he doesn't get them. I don't know how much help I am to you but hopefully some. I have no suggestions on how to keep them calmer on days without meds. With my son, if he's around his sister at all at night after his meds start to wear off he torments her , and sometimes all of us, until bedtime.

Both my son and I have ADD. I only have him on one dose of Ritalin during the day. When he gets home from school he has his routine. I have found that since estabishing this routine he's much calmer at home. He is able to do his homework and interact with everyone else much better. We also try to limit the outside stimuli for about an hour after he gets home. My whole family has benefited from the quiet time. I know that my time out leaves less likely to be so snappy and anxious.

I can feel your pain, I had this at home also, my son's teacher told me in 2nd grade that he needed medication. I resisted and tried all the alternitives until I finally let them put him on concerta. He had terrible headaches, and other symptoms, but did improve. We switched a year later to straterra and that didn't work for him. Finally got him on Adderal XR and this worked great. However, the damage was already done, the low self esteem from always being yelled at by teachers and family, and the low grades reflected how he felt about himself. Then this year in Feb. I put him in Tae Kwon Do class 3 times a week, for a half hour. The change in my son is a miracle. We took him off the medicine for the summer so he'd have a chance to grow, and he's just hitting puberty so we also have had a lot of emotional problems as well to deal with . I can't say enough good about the Tae Kwon Do. His grades went from d' and f' to A's and B's. He isn't getting into trouble at home or school now, and he isn't being bullied. The tone has left his voice for the most part, and he's much less agressive with his brother , the agression level went way down in our house, his history teacher came up to me in the store last week to ask what was going on with my son. She said he's more focused, writes better, is more respectful and patient, and is like a different kid. I asked him how he felt now, he said he doesn't feel like a victim anymore, and before the meds, and Tae Kwon Do, he said he felt like a windshield with snow coming at him, out of control, He's so much happier, and as I write this, I'm crying because he's my son, and I couldn't do anything to make him better. Putting him in that class was the best thing I ever did, It is so incredibly positive.

my step sister is just like your daughter she does the same things for the whole whining and acting out thing the right thing to do would be to make her go outside for how ever long it takes her to calm down. I also have ADHD and ever since ive been in that house she has acted so much better i think it is because she has a role model and mainly because I can relate to her disorder and I can get her to do things that her mom cant get her to do with a belt. I think what would be great to do to keep her busy and out of your hair is this may cost you but beleive me it is WORTH IT!!Try to find a video game or something entertaining that one people and two or three can play that she absolutely loves.take her to the toy store and let her buy this but tell her that this is all that she will be getting for awhile(so she doesnt throw a tantrum) and when ever she missbehaves or doesnt listen which not listning is most common for example not taking a bath when asked or anything else think of your schedule and tell that if she behaves that you will play her game with her but if she continues to misbehave then take it away.This worked great for my sister but my dad was willing to spend a little more we got an old version of the X-Box and he bought us the Halo games which have gore and things but it keeps us busy for hours our dad doesnt mind because he knows we are good kids and he knows that we wont go around killing ppl because of a game so hel let us get it. we were on it for so long that we beat it in one weekend! There wasnt a problem all weekend and our parents got a break. If all else fails then I would give her her medicine my sister tryed the whole weekend thing and it doenst work she has to have her medicine EVERY day no matter what!! I hope this helps you. :D