ADHD and DS - Down Syndrome Message Board

Kimberlee's Mom · 03-15-2001, 10:09 AM

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

mslinda · 03-16-2001, 07:04 AM

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

Kimberlee's Mom · 03-20-2001, 09:23 AM

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.

hpearl41 · 02-04-2002, 08:56 PM

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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utw · 02-05-2002, 07:39 AM

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.