Hi Carol, my name is Kaylene and I too have a son with ADHD. He is also 10. I am having the same difficulties as you described in your post. I have tried just about everything that I can think of to get Mitch to do the exercises. He doesnt try and gives it a half hearted attempt to do them and I it so hard to figt a 10 year old about doing it with determination. Everyday I struggle with the feeling of giving up and chalking it up to a very expensive mistake. Mitch was on Ritalin LA 50g and he was bad tempered and angry and not following any instructions from anyone. He then started to talk about killing himself so we made the decision along with his teacher and pead. to take him off the meds. The first few weeks were a nightmare. Now it seems like a blur as I think I've tried to block it out. But in saying that we stuck to our decision and kept him of the meds and the school made alot of changes to accomadate Mitch to help him through this hard time. And now I'm happy to say that he is still med free and is doing quite well. He has put on a little bit of weight so now his ribs aren't showing, but most of all he has settled down and started to be a normal 10yr old boy(well as normal as you can get!!!). I didn't realise how far he has come until I read your post. We have decided to stick with it until Christmas and if the centres arent open by then I think we will start weaning him off the exericses. We have went and priced the trophys and will get one when it gets closer to the time and engrave it and have a family party with friends to celebrate the completion.
There are a few tricks I have to get him to do them. One is that I try to make it as fun as possible for him. I say I couldn't do that and give it a go and make a fool of myself and he wants to help me do it better and keeps showing me how to do it by him doing it hence actually doing the exercise. Also I let him listen to music if he is on mental tasks. He has to sing the words to the songs while doing the exercises. That means listening to his music really loud tho. Another is if he wants to go somewhere we have to do the exercises before we leave or we don't go. That will mean that you will be late for a few things so pick things that its ok to do that with. But the old favorite of mine is a simple and easy bribe. Money, lollies,watching movies, spending time with just him for 1\2 hour afterwards, a bedtime story, picking what we have for dinner tonite, something from the canteen at school. anything that you know he wants and asks for all the time. I even get his nanna or dad to do it with him sometimes just to break the feeling of him being alone doing them.
By the way have you actually tried the exercises? Some of them do make you feel a bit funny afterwards and I tell him I know how he feels and he seems to relate better to me once he knows I know how he feels after doing them.
These are a few of my suggestion but I know its hard. You have to find what it right for both of you and stick to it. He will benifit for it for the rest of his life. Hang in there I know its hard. If you want to chat (sorry I forgot to tell you I'm in brisbane) you can send me a email [ edited ] Good luck and dont give up!!