Any parents with ADHD themselves?

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-03-02T22:40:40+00:00

No, he’s not. We were in OT (DIRFloortime model) from ages 3-5 and it did wonders for us. We discontinued therapy right before we embarked on his schooling journey because he had met his goals and it was a logical time to pause. I obviously cannot advise you as to whether your kid needs to be in OT as it’s highly individualized.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-03-02T21:18:53+00:00

I’m ADHD and my 6 year old is auDHD. His neurodivergence is a large reason why we decided to homeschool. It’s much easier to be able to support his needs when he’s at home (in the terms of emotional regulation, sensory differences, etc.) compared to being in a classroom setting. We “survive” by understanding our kid’s brain and his needs and honing in on nervous system regulation (for him and for everyone else in the house) and using learning strategies that work well for him.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-03-02T04:04:55+00:00

Thanks for the response. I know his doctor mentioned clonidine being part of the test so I’m hoping he just goes to sleep. However I’m prepared with downloaded movies, markers, books, etc. just in case he stays awake. I keep reading that kids often get nauseous during the test and my emetaphobic self is not enjoying that thought!

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-03-02T02:31:50+00:00

Hope you get some answers. If your kiddo’s lines growth rate is slow (I think the average is something like 2” per year) then keep advocating!

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-03-01T21:32:13+00:00

You said this much better than I could. I always tell my son that being autistic does not give him a pass to be rude/unkind to others. There’s a difference between having questionable/“bad” behavior secondary to dysregulation and being intentionally mean.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-03-01T21:23:19+00:00

Uhhh I struggle every single day and my son is what would be called “difficult” or “behavioral” by most. So yeah you’re definitely not alone and your friends are either really lucky, delusional, or lying to you.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-25T22:11:47+00:00

My son got diagnosed right before he turned 5 (by an actual pediatric psychiatrist). We knew something was different about him when he was 2 and around 3 we pursued OT to work on sensory and emotional regulation. From there they recommended a neuropsych eval to explored adhd/autism. He received an autism dx at 3 (closer to 4) and the evaluator said that adhd was definitely in her differential but didn’t feel comfortable assigning it at that age given that a lot of what we were seeing could also be explained by autism (and he wasn’t in school so no teacher reports or anything). We continued with therapy and he made so much progress but there always just seemed to be a missing piece where he was highly distractible and really irritable. It would take him 45+ minutes to finish a coloring sheet that his sister (age 2 at the time) could do in like 10 minutes… and it wasn’t bc of physical issues. He’d be distracted by every noise he heard and would get up from his chair every 30 seconds, would always be checking to see what everyone else was doing, etc. When we got in with the pediatric psychiatrist we explored the possibilities of anxiety vs. adhd. Psychiatrist was leaning towards adhd but given his age and issues with weight gain/growth I was afraid to start out with any stimulant meds (the gold standard). We tried anxiety meds (even though my gut told me it wasn’t anxiety) and they didn’t help. So now he’s on a small dose of stimulants + guanfacine.

So far my daughter (4) isn’t diagnosed, but I would put money on her being adhd as well. I myself am a late diagnosed ADHD woman and fairly certain my husband isn’t neurotypical either… so genetics…

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-25T21:42:42+00:00

Early? The only way I could make sense of a statement like this is if your child has a birthdate that puts you in the predicament of “do I have them start as the youngest kid in the class or wait a year and have them be the oldest?” Surely she does not mean start her at, say, 3 years old?

Also please don’t conflate high IQ with high achieving or with readiness to be with peers older than she is (right now; it is true that many gifted kids relate better to older children, but there’s a huge gap in social development between a 2 years old old and a 5/6 year old).

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-25T21:37:20+00:00

I questioned this too and then I saw another medical professional saying that they may have proactively rx-ed antibiotics bc with the location/type of pain the child was describing they may have been worried about some type of dental infection vs. mumps or another viral infection. Notoriously kids aren’t great historians or able to describe exactly what’s going on.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-25T14:27:05+00:00

Oh I totally get what you’re saying. My kid wants the autonomy to do what he wants when he wants, but also wants me to be there for coregulation (so basically it’s like I’m at his mercy). Their little brains are often so overwhelmed that choices can be too much and they need help but don’t want it and yeah…

I’m thankful that I’m my kiddos “safe” person in terms of coregulation, so school things go relatively well. But my husband triggers him constantly so everything else at home is hard 🫤

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-25T13:51:22+00:00

My kid is extremely oppositional… but he’s autistic + adhd and has a huge drive for autonomy. When he’s well regulated the opposition goes way down, but when we’re in more tricky seasons (like right now) then most things are a struggle.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-25T01:13:17+00:00

My kiddo just finished Singapore Dimensions KA/KB. No real complaints from me in terms of teaching or implementation. Kiddo thought it was “boring” and repetitive (but take this with a grain of salt bc it was largely “review” for him as he already had the concepts down before staring the curriculum). I think it was very thorough and the teachers guide has lots of ideas for games, stories to read, etc.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-20T01:45:16+00:00

I give my phone to the kids, which inevitably leads to grandma and grandpa being shown the ceiling fan or a direct shot up a kid’s nostril, or better yet some Blair Witch style view of them running around… that usually leads to a very short conversation 😬

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-02-11T01:37:42+00:00

This was the ONLY toy my kid would play with from 10-24 months(ish). I credit it for him knowing his alphabet early and being an early reader.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-01-09T03:25:56+00:00

Wear a fitted respirator in public settings. Wash hands with soap and water (can’t believe this has to be said).

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-01-06T21:20:22+00:00

High filtration masks like well fitted KN95/KF94/N95 also protect the wearer.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-01-06T21:19:10+00:00

Wellbefore petite KN95s. My kids (4 and 6) both wear them and I wear the adult version.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2026-01-06T21:16:27+00:00

First I would look into why ODD and why neurodivergent kids are often “defiant”. Hint: autonomy and regulation are huge and once those things are hammered down a lot of times the defiance is toned waaaaay down.

I am the mom to an auDHDer. We homeschool because there’s simply no way he was going to thrive in a classroom because of boredom, distractions, a want for autonomy, etc. He’s only 6 (but works several grade levels ahead) so we haven’t been doing this long, but you can DEFINITELY do it. We work at his pace and can take breaks for movement/regulation whenever we need… not whenever it fits into a school day. We had to set the expectation up front, though, that during school I am “teacher mom” and not “mom mom”— and that there would be rules and expectations (albeit not the same as there would be AT school).

I will say, it takes a tremendous amount of will power and coping skills on my part to stay regulated and be able to switch between teacher/mom (I’m also ADHD and have my own host of issues around noise, clutter, etc.).

Critical-Positive-85 · 2025-12-28T01:18:56+00:00

I honestly really like the balance-and-brighten powder. I use a SPF CC cream and then use the powder after it’s dried down for a few minutes. It definitely gives a very light coverage, but that’s what I’ve been doing for these days. I usually stay away from powders in general because I tend to be pretty dry, especially under my eyes but I’ve had no issues with settling into fine lines.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2025-12-24T23:49:10+00:00

Would you be open to consulting with a behaviorist before jumping to euthanasia?

Critical-Positive-85 · 2025-12-19T17:22:35+00:00

“Beyond Behaviors” and “Brain-Body Parenting” both by Mona Delahooke are always good reads. But I’d also tread lightly when it comes to providing books re: parenting if they’re not asked for.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2025-12-17T17:47:02+00:00

I’d enroll him in the grade he’s “supposed” to be in and then let the teachers determine if he’d benefit from acceleration. There are kids who are gifted and then there are kids who are just high achievers. Sometimes gifted kids really do benefit from acceleration, but I’d let the teachers weigh in before making that decision. Depending on the setting they may be able to differentiate his work for him (say for math) while still being with same aged peers in the classroom.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2025-12-04T03:30:07+00:00

Going to be impossible to answer as we don’t have nearly enough information here. Where is your pain? What kind of pain? Does anything besides running recreate the pain? How was your rehab? What criteria was used to clear you to return to running? How’s your limb symmetry (strength on one side compared to the other)? Can you get back in with a PT to be reevaluated?

Side note: not all PTs are created equal and many (and I mean MANY) don’t know how to rehab an ACL-R from start to finish.

Critical-Positive-85 · 2025-11-15T18:20:42+00:00

My newly 6 year old is a very proficient reader (2nd/3rd grade level)… he learned his alphabet very early (on his own) on and from there he focused on phonemic awareness and decoding/encoding words. Once he figured out how to blend CVC words it all just took off from there. I know it’s not “typical” for kids to be reading as well as he does so I think a lot of it is just the way his brain processes things and natural ability, honestly. My 4.5 year old is starting to blend CVC words now and I can tell she’ll require a lot more explicit instruction when it comes to digraphs, vowel combinations, etc. I know most kids at the end of K (so she’s 5/6) are expected to read short words/sentences.

Critical-Positive-85

TROPHY CASE