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5 year old...ADD?

I'm hoping some of you can give me some advice.  I have never wanted and still do not want to but my son on medication but I took him to his primary care doctor and he dianosed him with ADD in like 5 minutes and wants me to put him on Ritalin.  

The information that I gave to the doctor was that my son hates school.  He has visited the nurses office 13 times since starting Kindergaren in August.  Only about 4 of those were actually needed.  Also when we first put him in school he was having major behaviorial problrms and his teacher put him on a disapline plan (which of course didn't work).  I found that my son was actually much happier in the more advanced K/1st grade class and his behavior changed drastically,  

However, there are still issues and the other item I provided to the doctor was that my son was sent to the principal 5 times for disrespect and telling the teachers no.  Then Dec 1st - 3rd, there was an incident everyday,  The first kid he was teasing and kidding around that he was going to stab him (kidding or not my kid knows better than that),  Day 2 he is sent to the health offive by the teacher because he just could not stay awake in class.  Dat 3 he gets sent to the principal again for disobeying a substitute teacher, telling her no and running away from her.

Oh and anther thing I forgot to mention is the week prior to the 1st, he start throwing thantrums like a baby again,  Throwing himself on the floor, crying and whining with the classic folded arms and dirty look and the words you don't love me,

What is bothing me about all this is that he is extremely smart, vrty atyiculate, teacher, kids, and anywhere we go, he's the greatest.

Is this really a case of ADD, or is there other way?
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Avatar universal
I can definately understand what you are going through.  We have many of the same problems.  I have a 6 year old stepson and he was diagnosed with ADHD and ODD.  He was getting in trouble a lot in school with being physical with other children and disrespecting teachers.  He is also very smart and does well with the academically when he is able to focus.    At home he can very defiant and disrespectful.

Which is why as a last resort we did put him on medication.  We tried many other things first but eventually had to resort to the medication.  We saw his attention span and reading greatly improve.  He is doing much better in school now with the combination of meds and behavior plans and charts.  

We still have issues we are working on and bad days but school is going much better.   If you would like me to share with you what behavior plans we use i will be happy to.  

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Please share your behavior plans!
Hey there.  I've been through a lot of things and put some behavior plans in place with my son.  Tell us about yours and we'll try to help!!  It helps to have a few specifics about what is going on!  You can post here OR start your own thread by going to the top of the page!
I agree with Specialmom, with more information we can help.  Behavioral plans depend on the child's age and the teacher willingness to participate.   If your child is young, plans that are done only at home are usually not real successful.   However practicing changes in behavior at home can really help!
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