Help for 8yr old son with ADHD/SPD

Hi There,

I am hoping someone may be able to help with homeopathic treatment for our 8-year-old son who has been diagnosed with ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder. We live in the south east of the UK.

We do not know where to turn, as we do not wish to medicate with stimulant medication such as Ritalin, which is the only treatment path we have been offered.

My son is 8 years old. He was diagnosed at age 7 with combined type ADHD and Sensory Processing Disorder. We sought assessment for him ourselves after his school kept raising issues with his inability to focus and concentrate. Issues also with leaving his seat often, even in assembly, chatting & talking excessively. This is to the point it is having an effect on his learning. They say he is very bright but cannot concentrate enough to focus on any task, so his progress is suffering. He also hates writing and will do anything to avoid it.

He was born by caesarean section and weighed 8lbs 5oz at birth. He had colic quite badly as a baby so we took him to a cranial osteopath, which seemed to work! He is of average height and build with a slightly protruding tummy and lax muscle tone. He has blonde hair and blue eyes and often has dark circles under his eyes and looks pale. He rarely feels the cold and cannot bear tight or restrictive clothing. He becomes hot very quickly and sleeps in pyjama bottoms only with no covers. He sweats from his head at night and can often feel like a mini furnace. He dislikes the dark and is often afraid of things especially at night. He takes a long time to fall asleep and quite often wakes in the night, although can self settle and return to sleep. He says he hates sleeping alone and often when he wakes he will come into our room. He is a kind and charming boy, very loving and very protective of his family and friends. He loves hugs, but also finds it too restrictive to hug for long and will then start to wriggle or move away. He will often do things that he thinks will please you and likes to help around the house. He has done the washing completely independently before now and tidies his room independently too. He is also obsessed with lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners and will spend hours testing different models (he has a collection of 20+ vacuum cleaners and 6 lawnmowers), taking them apart and putting them back together. He also likes to watch videos of them being tested or used or watch them being fixed, stripped down and reassembled. At home he is generally well behaved (normal behaviour for an 8 year old) and gets on well with his brother, although they do fight like most siblings, but it is not excessive and in fact he is more accommodating and gives into his younger brother more often than the other way around. He has never been an aggressive child and does not like rough play. He does not climb or do dangerous things excessively and is in fact more cautious over trying new things. When younger he would start to climb a climbing frame and then get scared and would not go up or down. It used to take ages for us to either lift him down or persuade him to come down. He was also afraid of rope or swing bridges and rope ladders. He does however love bouncing and swinging and plays on his trampolines and swings in the garden a lot. He also has very very sensitive hearing and will generally hear things the rest of us cannot hear. This also means that sounds that are at normal volume for us are very loud to him and sometimes painful (e.g fire alarms). He is very stubborn and will hardly ever be persuaded to do anything until he decides or does it on his own. For example, a few years ago he asked for the stabilisers to be taken off his bike. He then would not get on it, even if we held onto it (especially if we held onto it). Then he had a friend round who got on his bike and rode it round the garden. The next day my son got on his bike and rode it round the garden himself! He does have trouble listening to and following directions (or remembering them) and if he has something fixed in his mind he will do it, even when you’ve told him not to face to face! It appears as if he blanks out anything and everything else so does not hear or take in what was said to him. He struggles to wait his turn in conversation so will interrupt others to say what he wants to say. He also struggles with queuing. He loves animals especially dogs and will go up to any dog often forgetting to ask the owner if its ok to do so! He is personable and charming and almost acts like a little grown-up at times. He is very sociable and confident and will talk to anyone; as a result most adults outside school seem to like him. At school the teachers seem to either love him or hate him, there is no middle ground! He makes friends easily and has lots of friends outside school. Inside he seems popular but often says he plays alone or that no one will play with him. The teacher reports him as not having many close friends in school and few supporters in class! His classmates quite often like to get him into trouble because it is easy to do. He will basically do things they tell him to, even if he knows they are wrong because he thinks it will make them laugh or make them like him. He is impulsive and quite often acts the class clown and will act in a silly manner when he is with friends. This is more noticeable when in a group of friends or when out with friends or family that are similar to him – they seem to wind each other up to fever pitch and his voice will get louder and louder and he often shouts, become a little rude and stop listening completely and act up! He also has a very loud speaking voice (no volume control), so you can always hear him above everyone else! He is very sensitive and empathic and hates to upset people. He is very aware of hurting other’s feelings and hates to think he has done so, although sometimes he will do this unthinkingly because of acting silly or due to lack of impulse control! His self-esteem and self-confidence are very easily knocked and he will think he is stupid and bad and not good at anything. He has even told us in the past that we need to change him for a better boy, which breaks our hearts! He has started to take things personally at school when a teacher corrects his behaviour and then his tone becomes inappropriate or he will challenge with ‘what me?’ or ‘it wasn’t me/I didn’t do anything’! He sometimes seems absent when looking at you as well, as if he is not really present and will then physically shake himself to bring himself back into focus!
He loves music and dancing and learns the words to lots of songs and moves to dances but cannot hold a tune himself and is not very co-ordinated (no natural rhythm). He uses music to calm himself for sleep at night and likes to listen to music when doing homework. He is basically a mass of contradictions but is such a lovely, loving and charming boy that its heartbreaking to see him struggle at school and with his classmates.

I am hoping you may be able to suggest some homeopathic treatments that may help calm and quieten him and enable him to focus and control his impulsiveness, lower his hyperactivity and reduce the sillyness with others or when out!

I do apologise for the length of this post but was trying to think of everything that may help with understanding his issues.