Kid turns 7 in 2 months. What is normal level of “exuberance”?

[Anonymous]

Could be ADHD. He sounds really annoying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Could be adhd but I think you would also see the forgetfulness and/or spacey behavior. For example, my 8 year old will go in to the bathroom to brush his teeth, stand there for awhile, then come back out and say "what am I supposed to he doing?". I can also imagine or have lived with all of those other scenarios you listed. He has been medicated for 2 years and it helps but it's not 100%.

Not necessarily, that's only true if a person has the inattentive part, some people just have the impulsive/hyperactive part. That said, agree with PPs that if ADHD it would likely show up in school in some fashion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be adhd but I think you would also see the forgetfulness and/or spacey behavior. For example, my 8 year old will go in to the bathroom to brush his teeth, stand there for awhile, then come back out and say "what am I supposed to he doing?". I can also imagine or have lived with all of those other scenarios you listed. He has been medicated for 2 years and it helps but it's not 100%.

Not necessarily, that's only true if a person has the inattentive part, some people just have the impulsive/hyperactive part. That said, agree with PPs that if ADHD it would likely show up in school in some fashion.

Np. I don't think a parent would always know whether it's showing up in school. The parent is not there to see the kid, and the teacher may not report issues if there are bigger issues that they are addressing in the class. The ADHD symptoms might be overlooked by comparison, or not be clear if the kid presents as mostly inattentive in school.

I do, however, agree with idea that symptoms should appear in multiple settings. If I were OP, I don't know that I would look into an evaluation just yet, but it's definitely something to learn more about and keep in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be adhd but I think you would also see the forgetfulness and/or spacey behavior. For example, my 8 year old will go in to the bathroom to brush his teeth, stand there for awhile, then come back out and say "what am I supposed to he doing?". I can also imagine or have lived with all of those other scenarios you listed. He has been medicated for 2 years and it helps but it's not 100%.

Not necessarily, that's only true if a person has the inattentive part, some people just have the impulsive/hyperactive part. That said, agree with PPs that if ADHD it would likely show up in school in some fashion.

Np. I don't think a parent would always know whether it's showing up in school. The parent is not there to see the kid, and the teacher may not report issues if there are bigger issues that they are addressing in the class. The ADHD symptoms might be overlooked by comparison, or not be clear if the kid presents as mostly inattentive in school.

I do, however, agree with idea that symptoms should appear in multiple settings. If I were OP, I don't know that I would look into an evaluation just yet, but it's definitely something to learn more about and keep in mind.

He is pretty attentive and can focus on tasks and works hard on things. The issue is more when he doesn’t have a set task at home. It’s driving everyone crazy. To be fair, we are also a couple of introverts who do not like a lot of noise and chatter to begin with. But I’ve never met a kid who talks more constantly (just based on seeing my cousins and seeing other kids during play dates. Maybe they talk more at home?).

[Anonymous]

Do you parent? I know a kid who is like this and the parents basically gave up around age 1. He's now 8. So it's been an ongoing, essentially unchecked thing since no discipline is ever involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you parent? I know a kid who is like this and the parents basically gave up around age 1. He's now 8. So it's been an ongoing, essentially unchecked thing since no discipline is ever involved.

And to clarify, if their kid was climbing a tree, instead of telling the kid to get out of the tree or revoking any privileges for not listening to get out of the tree, they just stand around laughing that their kid is in the neighbors tree. That's what I mean by no parenting or disciplining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be adhd but I think you would also see the forgetfulness and/or spacey behavior. For example, my 8 year old will go in to the bathroom to brush his teeth, stand there for awhile, then come back out and say "what am I supposed to he doing?". I can also imagine or have lived with all of those other scenarios you listed. He has been medicated for 2 years and it helps but it's not 100%.

Not necessarily, that's only true if a person has the inattentive part, some people just have the impulsive/hyperactive part. That said, agree with PPs that if ADHD it would likely show up in school in some fashion.

Np. I don't think a parent would always know whether it's showing up in school. The parent is not there to see the kid, and the teacher may not report issues if there are bigger issues that they are addressing in the class. The ADHD symptoms might be overlooked by comparison, or not be clear if the kid presents as mostly inattentive in school.

I do, however, agree with idea that symptoms should appear in multiple settings. If I were OP, I don't know that I would look into an evaluation just yet, but it's definitely something to learn more about and keep in mind.

He is pretty attentive and can focus on tasks and works hard on things. The issue is more when he doesn’t have a set task at home. It’s driving everyone crazy. To be fair, we are also a couple of introverts who do not like a lot of noise and chatter to begin with. But I’ve never met a kid who talks more constantly (just based on seeing my cousins and seeing other kids during play dates. Maybe they talk more at home?).

It sounds like he is desperate for attention and also needs more structure. Many kids that age can’t just hang out without being given structure and an activity/routine. Our boys were older than 7 before we stopped having to leave the house on weekends at 7am so they could run around at the playground for hours. Are you guys possibly so introverted/quiet that you ignore him a lot, so he has to amp up his behavior to 11 just to get some feedback? Negative attention is also attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Could be adhd but I think you would also see the forgetfulness and/or spacey behavior. For example, my 8 year old will go in to the bathroom to brush his teeth, stand there for awhile, then come back out and say "what am I supposed to he doing?". I can also imagine or have lived with all of those other scenarios you listed. He has been medicated for 2 years and it helps but it's not 100%.

Not necessarily, that's only true if a person has the inattentive part, some people just have the impulsive/hyperactive part. That said, agree with PPs that if ADHD it would likely show up in school in some fashion.

Np. I don't think a parent would always know whether it's showing up in school. The parent is not there to see the kid, and the teacher may not report issues if there are bigger issues that they are addressing in the class. The ADHD symptoms might be overlooked by comparison, or not be clear if the kid presents as mostly inattentive in school.

I do, however, agree with idea that symptoms should appear in multiple settings. If I were OP, I don't know that I would look into an evaluation just yet, but it's definitely something to learn more about and keep in mind.

He is pretty attentive and can focus on tasks and works hard on things. The issue is more when he doesn’t have a set task at home. It’s driving everyone crazy. To be fair, we are also a couple of introverts who do not like a lot of noise and chatter to begin with. But I’ve never met a kid who talks more constantly (just based on seeing my cousins and seeing other kids during play dates. Maybe they talk more at home?).

It sounds like he is desperate for attention and also needs more structure. Many kids that age can’t just hang out without being given structure and an activity/routine. Our boys were older than 7 before we stopped having to leave the house on weekends at 7am so they could run around at the playground for hours. Are you guys possibly so introverted/quiet that you ignore him a lot, so he has to amp up his behavior to 11 just to get some feedback? Negative attention is also attention.

+1. He may just need a lot more physical time and/or a different daily routine at home. Many ADHD kids can hyperfocus, but that's generally on areas of interest, not just any set task.

[Anonymous]

My kid with ADHD talks intensely. It’s pretty remarkable and probably her most obvious symptom now. Also interrupting and dominating conversations. It’s an impulse thing that has improved slightly with medication.

Her behavior was flagged early on at a school that expected girls to sit and be quiet and put up with a lot more from boys. In general expectations for activity/hyperactivity are very different for girls and boys at this age, and repeatedly over time I have seen boys were behaving similarly without notice or consequences. I strongly suspect at least a couple of those boys ended up with ADHD diagnoses but it took a little longer because teachers expect less from boys. I say this as the mom of a son and a daughter and someone who knows a lot of kids with ADHD from various social skills classes and things we’ve done over the years.

All that to say if your son has had teachers of the oh boys are just active variety over the years you may not have a sense of what his behavior is like at school. My kid is very academic, focuses well on work and has consistently been a top student even pre medication and IEP etc.

It sounds like you guys are struggling with him whether it’s due to ADHD or just needing a different approach. I would do some reading about adhd and see if you see some signs. When my daughter was diagnosed a lot of things made sense that hadn’t been on my radar before as Adhd things … difficulty falling asleep, times of intense/hyperfocus. It’s an interesting diagnosis and more than just hyperactivity. If you think he’s a typical kid maybe look into parenting classes like the PEP classes or some thing. It’s ok to need extra help.

[Anonymous]

Your examples sound a lot like what my child with ADHD would have done at that age (and like my neighbor’s son who definitely has ADHD imho but mom hasn’t figured it out yet). Plenty of kids that age do things like this here and there, but the difference with the ADHD kids is the frequency and intensity.

[Anonymous]

I was one of the previous posters with a kid who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and is now medicated.

His third grade teacher didn't think he had ADHD just said it was clear he was young for the grade (and a boy) and needed additional executive functioning support. However, the ped who diagnosed him said by a certain age it shouldn't be obvious your kid is young--six months between 5 and 5.5 is sometimes obvious, but six months between 7 and 7.5 should be a lot less obvious.

[Anonymous]

Actually to me it sounds more like missing social cues, and or defiant behavior. Try the special needs forum.

[Anonymous]

Could be ADHD but you also sound rigid. Let the kid be quirky for God's sake.

[Anonymous]

We have a similar issue with our 6 yr old. Definitely the nonstop talking, that's probably the thing that wears me down the most. But also some of the social issues like just announcing stuff to strangers or wanting to show them an ouchie or tell them what's going on in their life, or interrupting phone calls to announce her presence.

We do suspect ADHD but haven't been through diagnosis yet because it hasn't been an issue at school yet and my understanding is that they generally don't medicate at this age unless it's very severe, so either way we're just talking about working with her on impulse control, social skills, and other behavioral skills. I have an appointment with our ped in a couple weeks to discuss next steps-- if diagnosing now might get her OT that could help, we'll pursue that.

I do think the comments on this thread about how it's a reflection of parenting are off base. My kid is an only who gets tons of 1:1 time with both parents, has both structure and limits, tons of physical activity, etc. This is just who she is. Parenting is that obviously important but it doesn't produce this kind of hyperactivity or lack of social awareness. Some kids are just like this.

[Anonymous]

I bet it's a handful of things:

-Possible ADHD
-It sounds like you are talking at the behavior but not actually drawing boundaries. Kids don't just stop because you tell them it's not a good idea.
-if you are drawing boundaries sometimes you aren't consistent
-You are bewildered by his energy and have no clue how to interact so he's craving even more than you can give him