April's Story
April is a young old girl. She is an intelligent girl who seems to have few difficulties with her academic performance. At home, April completes her homework each night and turns it in to the teacher the very next day. According to her mother, April's strongest area of behavior is her ability to finish her homework assignments on time.
Socially, however, April appears to be struggling tremendously and her mother feels lost as to how to help her daughter with her apparent behavior problems. She frequently interrupts others while they are speaking and talks excessively for the majority of the day. When April's mother attempts to give her some sort of instructions, April purposely disobeys her mother's requests. She is extremely defiant of adults and intentionally seeks to start arguments with them whenever possible. Her temper is uncontrollable and unpredictable most of the time. Her temperament and overall mood can appear to others as extreme "ups" and "downs." She may be excessively happy at one moment and severely disturbed and irate the next moment. This cranky emotional state pushes April into "temper tantrums." Her behavior interferes with her relationship with adults and peers and has profoundly impacted the relationship between April and her mother.
In addition, April's "lack of follow-through" is a difficult symptom for any parent to deal with. The majority of the time, April has difficulty following through with instructions. It seems she is easily distracted by other things around her or by random thoughts in her head. This also causes her to frequently lose or misplace things. April's inability to selectively focus her attention on certain things leads to an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and worry. Her mind is bombarded by various thoughts and ideas and she is unable to filter out the most important ones. April's mother has also expressed concern about her daughter's many sleepless nights. April seems to either have trouble falling asleep or sleeping through the entire night without waking up.
April's mother began to notice some of these symptoms when April was about three and a half years old. Eventually, April was professionally diagnosed with ADHD in kindergarten. Since that time, she has tried various drug medications, but her symptoms of ADHD are still prominent and debilitating. Her mother feels frustrated and confused as to how else she can try to help her daughter. She wants help from her child's doctor to determine if they are using the right medication combinations for April or if she has some other problem in addition to ADHD. April's doctor recently recommended "coaching" from a therapist skilled in behavior management strategies and April's mother is considering trying this.