The information in this article is meant to educate and should not be used as an alternative for professional medical care. If you have prepared a plan of action that prioritizes your areas of concern, this plan will be very helpful to the physician who will be prescribing and managing medication. Your first visit will probably be dedicated to assessment. Bring your plan and any recent evaluations. Also bring a list of past medications, therapies, diets, and supplements that includes dosages, dates used, and effects, if any.
Responsible doctors take a top-down approach.
Medication is prescribed only for symptoms causing the most distress, preferably after nondrug alternatives have been tried or in concert with such treatments. We bring them to your attention now, however, because it's important to look at the roots of problem behaviors before medicating. In fact, head-banging is often associated with ear infections, and may go away if the underlying infection is treated rather than the behavior. Likewise, hyperactivity in some children is related to an unresponsive sensory system, and can be ameliorated with sensory integration therapy as well as with stimulant medications. Unlike Ritalin, sensory integration has no side effects to worry about.