Are these inattentive ADHD signs?

[Anonymous]

A year ago, we had a private psycoeducational exam completed on my 3rd grade son. We did so because he was struggling with spelling and writing in school, in spite of tutoring interventions. His diagnosis was written down as something along the lines of ‘other specified learning disability-writing’ due to his spelling challenges despite interventions. Truthfully, the diagnosis never really made sense to me and the guidance was to continue OG tutoring, along with some classroom accommodations. The evaluation did not diagnose him with ADHD, but we were told that it was something that we should monitor. At this point, he has had three years worth of OG tutoring and 5 months of writing tutoring and we are not seeing any improvements. My gut is telling me that he has inattentive ADHD and his issues with spelling and writing stem from it. He is being reevaluated next week, but I’m hoping some more seasoned parents can help me figure out if my gut is leading me in the right direction. Do the issues below sound like inattentive ADHD to those of you with kids that have been diagnosed with it?

- Constant sugar and carb cravings
- low energy
- complains that he is bored frequently
- zero patience or persistence when things aren’t easy
- inconsistent grades. The teacher says he is solid in math and frequently demonstrates his knowledge in front of class but he brings home Bs on his tests b/c he didn’t finish the problem, skipped over a problem completely or made simple arithmetic errors.
- skips capitalization and punctuation in writing
- refuses to write by hand or type, in favor of voice-to-text functionality.

If this does turn out to be diagnosed as inattentive ADHD, would medicine help with the lack of patience and persistence, etc? Thanks, in advance.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it probably would. But the food cravings/low energy thing is interesting. It's not always present with ADHD, so I'd maybe dig a little deeper into that topic.

Is he lacking in fine motor skills? How is he physically?

[Anonymous]

OP here - His handwriting is sloppy and he lacks consistent letter spacing in his writing. Physically he is in the lower quartile for weight, but upper quartile for height, so tall and skinny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - His handwriting is sloppy and he lacks consistent letter spacing in his writing. Physically he is in the lower quartile for weight, but upper quartile for height, so tall and skinny.

This is my DS. A lot of what you describe is my DS who is ADHD inattentive. He was originally on Adderall and it worked well for him, but he lost too much weight because of the appetite suppression and sped up metabolism. He's been on Concerta for at least at year.

His handwriting is just starting to improve, but the capitalizing the correct letters is still very much a work in progress at 12 years old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - His handwriting is sloppy and he lacks consistent letter spacing in his writing. Physically he is in the lower quartile for weight, but upper quartile for height, so tall and skinny.

How is his physical health? Muscle tone, fine motor generally, sleep, allergies, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - His handwriting is sloppy and he lacks consistent letter spacing in his writing. Physically he is in the lower quartile for weight, but upper quartile for height, so tall and skinny.

How is his physical health? Muscle tone, fine motor generally, sleep, allergies, etc?

I would say his physical health is good. His Pediatrician has never noted any concerns with muscle tone, coordination, physical health milestones, etc. He has no known allergies, but has suffered from night terrors since he was a toddler. The night terrors seem to be triggered when he is overly tired, but do not occur if we keep to a strict bedtime routine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - His handwriting is sloppy and he lacks consistent letter spacing in his writing. Physically he is in the lower quartile for weight, but upper quartile for height, so tall and skinny.

How is his physical health? Muscle tone, fine motor generally, sleep, allergies, etc?

I would say his physical health is good. His Pediatrician has never noted any concerns with muscle tone, coordination, physical health milestones, etc. He has no known allergies, but has suffered from night terrors since he was a toddler. The night terrors seem to be triggered when he is overly tired, but do not occur if we keep to a strict bedtime routine.

A lot of what you describe is consistent with sleep deprivation. Are you 100% sure there's no apnea or other problem interfering with sleep?

[Anonymous]

He actually sounds more like my son who has dysgraphia than my daughter who has ADHD. It’s also possible to have both as it’s not uncommon to have co-occurring disorders.

[Anonymous]

meds won't necessarily help with low frustration tolerance. But a lot of these symptoms do sound like ADHD. Read 'Scattered Minds' and see if it resonates?

[Anonymous]

Having an ADHD inattentive kid would say maybe, but also would check all the basic are covered - enough sleep, protein, enriching activities?

[Anonymous]

Completely change his diet

[Anonymous]

What diet is suggested here? High protein?

[Anonymous]

I would get him into OT for the handwriting. He needs to learn to write and eventually type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:meds won't necessarily help with low frustration tolerance. But a lot of these symptoms do sound like ADHD. Read 'Scattered Minds' and see if it resonates?

Curious here…why won’t meds help with low frustration tolerance?

[Anonymous]

My adhd hyperactive/inattentive older kid can write/spell really well without medication. My suspicious adhd hyperactive/inattentive younger kid has problem with writing and spelling, no official diagnosis yet.