Kimberlee, age 6, was just diagnosed with ADHD in addition to her diagnosis of DS.
Has anyone had any experience in this area? We are seeing the doctor tomorrow to discuss medication and it is really scary when you read about the side effects of the meds. Any info. would be greatly appreciated

how did they know to test for this? Was your child hyper or something?

Kimberlee was evaluated at a local developmental pediatric clinc who made the determination that she has ADHD in addition to her diagnosis of Down Syndrome. Of course, her activity level has been a concern for quite some time.
She is a VERY busy little girl! We really did not want to begin medication without a complete and thorough evaluation. She has just started taking Adderall 2.5 milligrams. We haven't seen much change - slight improvement in attending. We made need to increase it but we wanted to start slowly to avoid any overmedicating.
If anyone has any experience with children with DS who had also been ADHD, I would love to hear from you.

Once you have one of the dual-dx's you will find very little support on the Down syndrome boards or in the DS organizations IMO. Since my son has aspects of the autistic syndrome I found I could relate much better to parents in the autism community... though we (ds) still tend to be a subgroup who don't completely "fit in" with either group! lol Start checking out the autism message boards and look for those with A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. and lurk for awhile to see if that particular board is a good information and support source. May I also suggest you go over to yahoo and check out the groups there? Email evesmother@aol.com and I'll give you a link to the yahoogroups. I found one there for ds-autism which is an email group for parents of kids with Down syndrome and autism... so it's possible you can shop through the groups and find one that feels right. Certainly I found the parents in ds-autism have a better understanding of medications than most people I've met! (I do not medicate my son BTW) Has your child had all the other usual tests..ie: thyroid, celiac, etc? Much can be done with diet for kids that have cerebral allergies (and some of those can cause hyperactivity)... but many Drs. don't believe in cerebral allergies because they can't push drugs at something that eliminating an allergen can extinguish! There is some talk of magnesium helping to calm.. and of B6. Others believe they see a difference with Cod Liver Oil! Sometimes ADHD is a false diagnosis for kids with autism who are reacting to some stimuli. And sometimes ADHD is dx'd instead of FAS.. which is then detrimental to those children, as you might imagine. Then there are kids with the various types of sensory problems who might be dinging around because they need a different type of therapy. Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open..and good luck!

Hiya, i am new to this board. I also have a daughter that is 7 1/2 yr old and she has DS and just recently dignosed with ADHD. We have her on ritilan 5mg 3 x a day. I have seen a difference in her. The side effect is the lack of eating but that ok she was a big eater anyway. Not that you could tell. She also having some major stomach problems so we are heading back to the dr and see if the ritialn can be the cause of it. I would like to try concerta with her but she can't swallow yet. Would love to talk to you or anyone else about the ADHD and DS. You can email me at cynthiamedrano@yahoo.com or IM me on yahoo at cmedrano99

Good day
Cynthia

My son James was diagnosed as add attetion deficiet disorder. we tried ritalin that just made him very moody. then we went without medicine for a couple of years but he wasnt getting anywhere in school because he wouldnt stay on task. Now i have him on dexedrine and this seems to be working. the only side effect ive noticed is a slight weight loss.
Hazel
Ps my son James has mosiac downs also

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My son, Austin was treated for ADD when he was 8 years old. He was on ritalin, 5mg, twice a day, morning and lunch. It helped his behavior tremendously, even allowed him to participate in regular sports such as baseball, swimming, even the middle school football and basketball teams. At age 15, he decided he didn't need to take the medication any longer. It began to give him headaches. Although he never has learned to read or reach any level of mathmetic ability, he works full time as a grocery carry out, rides the Bus to work, even attended a 1 1/2 year college program in New Mexico. He was always "mainstreamed" as we called it way back then and the ritalin allowed that to happen. Otherwise his behavior would have been intolerable and was for the first 3 years we tried him in regular classes. It was a good move for us, hope it works for you. Austin is 23 years old and just a joy to have around.