At What age do they dx ADHD (Inattentive type)?

[Anonymous]

So, my dc is 5 and doing a private pre-k program this year. He has speech and language issues, sensory avoidance and CAE( Childhood Absence Epilepsy). I feel like a lot of his issues are sort of tangled together. For instance, he has some auditory processing issues but his absence seizures are not completely eliminated with the meds yet so we wonder how much is processing and how much is the seizure getting in the way of processing during school. He also is very easily distracted. Even eating a meal is torture because he gets so sidetracked by any sort of noise or distraction. I do have to remind him to take bites to keep him focused.

I was a first grade teacher in a former life, so my teacher side feels like maybe this is some sort of a attention issue in addition to the other issues we have. Since we are still working out the meds dosage to eliminate the seizures we have been taking a wait and see attitude to see if that will help with his processing at school.

If your child was dx with an attention disorder of the inattentive varitey, what were the signs? I feel like the line between sensory and ADHD is so blurry. And I also worry about adding more meds into the picture. Is that pretty standard for this type of dx?

Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

What type of speech and language issues, if you don't mind my asking?

[Anonymous]

Have they ruled out aspergers?

[Anonymous]

yes, they have ruled out ASD.

Speech was initially for some sound production (at age 3) but he also gets help with language processing. He is very social but sometimes has a hard time keeping a conversation with peers going. He gets speech in his preschool classroom during his school day. Followimg multi-step directions is very difficult for him so I know that is something they help with during his school day.

[Anonymous]

I am not expert at all, more in a similar situation. I tried to get my son who is 4.5 into an NIH study on ADHD. They take kids as young as 4 but didn't take him for the reasons you described. It can be too hard with a young child, who is not in a typical classroom setting, to really separate the causes of attention issues... or to figure out one primary cause. I think the diagnosis can be more clear if hyperactivity and impulsiveness are also big factors. The woman with whom I spoke said things would be clearer by first grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not expert at all, more in a similar situation. I tried to get my son who is 4.5 into an NIH study on ADHD. They take kids as young as 4 but didn't take him for the reasons you described. It can be too hard with a young child, who is not in a typical classroom setting, to really separate the causes of attention issues... or to figure out one primary cause. I think the diagnosis can be more clear if hyperactivity and impulsiveness are also big factors. The woman with whom I spoke said things would be clearer by first grade.

Well, at least I am not alone! Thanks for the post.
This is why I wonder if it is ADHD or not. He isn't impulsive or hyperactive (actually the opposite). So I guess we just wait it out for a while more until he is in elementary school.

[Anonymous]

I've been told it is really hard to get a good diagnosis before 6 1/2.

[Anonymous]

Your ADHD Diagnisis child is not hyperactive? Does your doc know that is what the "H" stands for in ADHD?...LOL!!

Honestly now <more serious tone>, it is so hard to tell exactly what is going on in our children until is is practically obvious. As time goes on, it will be easier to tell.

I'm still having a hard time figuring out where on the spectrum we are....moderate or severe....I haven't a clue, really. There are aspects of my DS that are genius, yet he cannot be left unattended. He can speak, but he cannot speak his mind or hold a conversation. Does this make him non-verbal or verbal? It's things like that which make the process of getting a diagnosis so difficult.

Have patience, work with his strengths, and identify areas for intervention. That's all you can really do anyway, right? The answers will become obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not expert at all, more in a similar situation. I tried to get my son who is 4.5 into an NIH study on ADHD. They take kids as young as 4 but didn't take him for the reasons you described. It can be too hard with a young child, who is not in a typical classroom setting, to really separate the causes of attention issues... or to figure out one primary cause. I think the diagnosis can be more clear if hyperactivity and impulsiveness are also big factors. The woman with whom I spoke said things would be clearer by first grade.

I agree. My DS was diagnosed in kindergarten. Going into K, we knew he had some speech delays, hypotonia and sensory issues but had no idea that he had ADHD (primarily inattentive/impulsive). He's now in second grade and the lines between the root cause of behaviors can still be blurry and what starts out as a symptom of one disorder can morph into another. It's more clear now than when he was in kindergarten (and before K, we just didn't have a clue) but I think it's going to be something that we'll be struggling with for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your ADHD Diagnisis child is not hyperactive? Does your doc know that is what the "H" stands for in ADHD?...LOL!!

"ADHD" is the current diagnostic label. Over the last hundred years, other terms were used including, "brain damaged syndrome," "minimal brain dysfunction (MBD)," "hyperkinetic impulsive disorder," and "attention deficit disorder (ADD)." Science recognizes three subtypes of ADHD (inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined). A diagnosis of one type or another depends on the specific symptoms (i.e. the "diagnostic criteria") that person has. For those who may have been diagnosed with ADD, the corresponding diagnostic category, using current terminology, would mostly likely be "ADHD, Predominantly Inattentive Type." Based on OP's description, that is the likely diagnostic label that would apply to her DS.

[Anonymous]

DS was diagnosed at with ADHD inattentive at age 6.

[Anonymous]

DS diagnosed at 6 w/ inattentive. Younger brother much earlier w/ hyperactive combined.

[Anonymous]

Inattentive gets diagnosed later than hyperactive, because the former is less overt. Girls tend to get diagnosed later than boys, because they usually are the inattentive type.

[Anonymous]

Interesting....I was diagnosed at 6 with ADD inattentive (early 80's...pretty uncommon diagnosis way back then especially for a girl). My daydreaming was so intense that they thought I had absense seizures. I had a few EEGs and no seizure activity was discovered. OP, was your child's seizures documented by eeg? Severe inattentive ADD can look a whole lot like absense seizures.

[Anonymous]

My child was diagnosed with ADHD inattentive at age 6, although it was really pretty obvious at age 5.

The "symptoms" were inability to attend (obviously!), very easily distracted, often preoccupied (looking forward to something, dreading something, or just mulling over something of unique interest that had absolutely nothing to do with matter at hand). Working memory was very limited which made more complex tasks, such a composing a story for dictation and later on, writing, almost impossible. These items affected not only his ability to remain "there" for schoolwork, but also his social interactions as he could not stay with another child's interaction ... he would sort of stop listening half way through their sentence and thus could not stay on topic, respond appropriately or even really hear what was actually said. The lack of hyperactivity does make it bit harder to diagnose ... the child quietly sitting in his place at school (in his own private Idaho!) doesn't raise the red flags as easily as the one running around being disruptive.

Medication made an immediate, obvious improvement.