ADHD after starting middle school?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone noticed their child showing more signs of ADHD after starting middle school?

My son recently got a bus referral for throwing papers out the window (this happened right before a school break). This is his second bus referral this year and his fourth referral overall. If he gets in trouble again, he’ll lose bus privileges for the rest of the school year.

Last year (5th grade), he only had one referral—for being involved in a food fight. Toward the end of that year, he wasn’t getting formal referrals but would still get in trouble in class and occasionally miss activities. In earlier years, we’d get a couple of notes home each year about misbehavior.

Now in 6th grade, he’s had a few lunch detentions (we don’t have an exact count since we don’t always find out when they happen, and he hasn’t been keeping track). It feels like it’s getting harder for him to manage or “mask” behaviors that might be related to ADHD.

The confusing part is that his grades are still good, so it’s not affecting him academically—at least not yet.

Is this kind of change common with ADHD as kids get older, especially during the transition to middle school? Or could this just be typical growing-up behavior? He does seem to check a lot of the ADHD boxes.

Would love to hear others’ experiences—thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

DS was diagnosed with ADHD in 2nd grade - it was obvious and it came with learning differences. DD is in middle school and has not had learning differences, but the older she gets the more we all agree she probably has it too. It's more clear in certain areas - such as math. We will be getting testing done this summer.

[Anonymous]

My DD is 6th grade. Still great in school. But shes become thoughtless and leaves destruction everywhere she goes (and doesn't seem to notice). We do have adhd in the family, but I was wondering if recent behavior was puberty.

[Anonymous]

Mine was diagnosed in 6th grade. She’s in 8th now.

[Anonymous]

My son’s behavior issues ramped up in middle school. More kids, less supervision, hormones, whatever it was. We noticed a change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone noticed their child showing more signs of ADHD after starting middle school?

My son recently got a bus referral for throwing papers out the window (this happened right before a school break). This is his second bus referral this year and his fourth referral overall. If he gets in trouble again, he’ll lose bus privileges for the rest of the school year.

Last year (5th grade), he only had one referral—for being involved in a food fight. Toward the end of that year, he wasn’t getting formal referrals but would still get in trouble in class and occasionally miss activities. In earlier years, we’d get a couple of notes home each year about misbehavior.

Now in 6th grade, he’s had a few lunch detentions (we don’t have an exact count since we don’t always find out when they happen, and he hasn’t been keeping track). It feels like it’s getting harder for him to manage or “mask” behaviors that might be related to ADHD.

The confusing part is that his grades are still good, so it’s not affecting him academically—at least not yet.

Is this kind of change common with ADHD as kids get older, especially during the transition to middle school? Or could this just be typical growing-up behavior? He does seem to check a lot of the ADHD boxes.

Would love to hear others’ experiences—thanks in advance!

My kid was not diagnosed until he basically failed 9th grade. Looking back, it should never have taken that long. He started hating school in 2nd grade. We moved schools and tried different things, but he never "looked like" ADHD. However, when I saw his evaluation and diagnoses, it was so obvious! He was impulsive (sounds like some of what you are describing) and didn't know how to stop when he was pumped up in a social setting.

He was not bouncing off the walls, he did not get in much trouble. He was able to mask and get by in private school, I think public middle would have been a different story. Late middle school he did get flagged and met with learning specialist some.

Highly recommend an evaluation now! High school has been awful academically because he has basically refused support. I think that would have been much easier to develop earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son’s behavior issues ramped up in middle school. More kids, less supervision, hormones, whatever it was. We noticed a change.

Thanks, it seems like this happening too. I believe we are going to start the evo part

[Anonymous]

Okay but first examine his screen time, the number of hours of sleep he gets, his nutrition and the friends he is hanging out with.

If he is going to bed the same time as before but getting up an hour earlier to get to school on time, or even going to sleep later now that he’s older, maybe that’s part of the problem.

If he had no phone in ES but now has one in MS and has access to excess screen time and tik tok type influences, maybe that’s part of the problem.

If he’s going to 7-11 after school with his new found freedom and buying high sugar and artificially colored slurpies and sodas, maybe that’s the problem.

ADHD rarely appears out of nowhere. There are often signs and it’s not just if someone gets in trouble.