Prior to a diagnosis did you suspect ADHD?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My younger child who has not been tested has poor emotional regulation, low frustration tolerance, is hyper sensitivity to feedback/criticism, self critical, and has low self esteem. I don't know if it's ADHD or what. Both girls. She's not inattentive or hyperactive. But she seems depressed if nothing else but she's only 5 yrs old!

That's really tough. Even 5yo's can have anxiety and depression though. A lot of that would have described my DC when he was 5yo. He has ADHD and anxiety and they feed into each other. The stress of K brought out both and we ended up having to pull him out of public K to put him in a more supportive school environment. It's heartbreaking listening to your Kindergartener talk about not being around much longer and hurting himself. I would really encourage you to do a full neuro-psych for a definitive diagnosis and a starting point for treatment -- especially if she's starting public K in the fall. K is now generally a lot more pressure than it was 20 years ago and sensitive kids can have big problems. Our DC is in 2nd now and between more maturity, support at home, medication, and a small, supportive school environment he's doing worlds better.

I also always recommend this book -- http://www.amazon.com/What-When-You-Worry-Much/dp/1591473144 -- What to do when you worry too much. We have read it so many times over the last couple of years and it really does help.

Thank you. This is good to know. I will also look for the book.

She's in public K now. She's a bright shining star in school. These seem to be home behaviors. It's like her school persona and her home persona don't match. Her teachers have no idea what I'm talking about and in fact called a meeting with the principal and DH and I recommending we put her in 2nd next year and not 1st. Her preschool teachers also told us to skip K but my understanding was FCPS isn't into grade skipping so even this meeting surprised us. She is intellectually advanced about 2 grade levels (her reading is DRA 30 and her math is at end of year 2nd grade) but I'd say emotionally on par with her age and maybe even a bit deficient so grade skipping is out of the question. The fact that she can be positive and well behaved at school makes me question what is going on. At home she is a nightmare and seems to let it all come out. DH worries sometimes that she will be a danger to herself as she ages. I think he's being a bit dramatic but a piece of me wonders . . . We're hoping she gets into AAP in 2nd and MAYBE the intellectual stimulation may help. I don't know. I'm at my wits end and the cost f testing isn't just too expensive such that we don't want to pay it, we honestly don't have it. We scraped it together for DD1 (who is in AAP) and are trying for DD2.

[Anonymous]

Yep. And it was confirmed as mild ADHD. DC has impulse control issues that although lessening as DC grows older have not lessened at same rate as his classmates. DC also has a motor that doesn't stop until bedtime. DC has significant attention issues and needs to take breaks etc. to understand material. Finally, DC has always taken the immediate path of least resistance and been wholly unable in most circumstances to see the long-term consequences of behavior - both good and bad.

[Anonymous]

No, it started out as depression, and we eventually suspected anxiety which was confirmed through testing. Treated that and the impulsiveness continued so we added ADHD. The anxiety is the bigger issue.

[Anonymous]

9:27, are you OP? The fact that they aren't seeing symptoms at school is the reason you didn't get an ADHD diagnosis. The symptoms have to be in multiple environments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:9:27, are you OP? The fact that they aren't seeing symptoms at school is the reason you didn't get an ADHD diagnosis. The symptoms have to be in multiple environments.

Yes, 9:27 is me the OP. Just to be clear, the child we had tested and found not to have ADHD but perfectionism is older DD (who some people ask me if she has ADHD despite a non-diagnosis and who seems very disorganized and inattentive to me). The child I describes as only having issues at home is younger DD who we have not had tested, due to this being her first year in school (K) and lack of money. But let's say we have younger DD tested, because she controls where she acts up (home not school), does this mean she does not have ADHD? But she could still have anxiety or depression or something else, correct? I don't know if how she is is something about her make-up, normal 5 yr old defiance, or a failure on our parts as parents to raise her. Her sister was never like this so maybe we are doing something wrong in raising them the same way. I honestly have no idea.

As for my older DD who was found not to have ADHD. When is being antsy, disorganized, and being a bit flighty ADHD and when it is just they way they are but not ADHD? She was fiund not to have ADHD but she is certainly in motion all the time, and her desk and room are a mess and she sometimes forgets things, and she's ditzy. IQ is 145 but you wouldn't know it if you just met her. She presents a little spacey.

[Anonymous]

OP, the way I understand the DSM, there are certain boxes that have to be ticked for someone to fall into a certain diagnosis. If a person is just short of the line for official diagnosis, many of the same techniques to deal with that diagnosis (e.g., social skills, OT, CBT, visual schedules, whatever) may still be useful if you don't cross the line into that diagnosis.

I recently read this book and found it helpful - it's kind of about kids that may or may not fall into a diagnosis but are quirky in some ways:

http://psychcentral.com/lib/book-review-8-keys-to-raising-the-quirky-child/

[Anonymous]

When DC was in preschool, friends and family would casually remark, sometimes kids are both gifted and have a disability. They knew first, I knew accepted later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:27, are you OP? The fact that they aren't seeing symptoms at school is the reason you didn't get an ADHD diagnosis. The symptoms have to be in multiple environments.

Yes, 9:27 is me the OP. Just to be clear, the child we had tested and found not to have ADHD but perfectionism is older DD (who some people ask me if she has ADHD despite a non-diagnosis and who seems very disorganized and inattentive to me). The child I describes as only having issues at home is younger DD who we have not had tested, due to this being her first year in school (K) and lack of money. But let's say we have younger DD tested, because she controls where she acts up (home not school), does this mean she does not have ADHD? But she could still have anxiety or depression or something else, correct? I don't know if how she is is something about her make-up, normal 5 yr old defiance, or a failure on our parts as parents to raise her. Her sister was never like this so maybe we are doing something wrong in raising them the same way. I honestly have no idea.

As for my older DD who was found not to have ADHD. When is being antsy, disorganized, and being a bit flighty ADHD and when it is just they way they are but not ADHD? She was fiund not to have ADHD but she is certainly in motion all the time, and her desk and room are a mess and she sometimes forgets things, and she's ditzy. IQ is 145 but you wouldn't know it if you just met her. She presents a little spacey.

I think we all feel, as parents, that we could do a better a job, but please don't blame yourself. I would add that it's not uncommon for kids to hold it together at school and that just makes the behavior at home worse because they have to release the stress and anxiety somehow.

[Anonymous]

I suspected at about 4, and we had him evaluated when preschool had concerns. Until about 8 I was told that while my son met some criteria, he did not meet the standards for a diagnosis and we should "watch him." I always thought he had ADHD. In third grade, he had a really difficult year and the teachers called us in for a meeting. I took him back to the behavioral ped we took him to when he was 4, and then he was officially diagnosed and medicated. I was not at all surprised. I'm glad we were given a more conservative approach, because while he had behavior problems on preschool and kindergarten, it did not really affect him academically. The medications helped him tremendously once we started them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspected at about 4, and we had him evaluated when preschool had concerns. Until about 8 I was told that while my son met some criteria, he did not meet the standards for a diagnosis and we should "watch him." I always thought he had ADHD. In third grade, he had a really difficult year and the teachers called us in for a meeting. I took him back to the behavioral ped we took him to when he was 4, and then he was officially diagnosed and medicated. I was not at all surprised. I'm glad we were given a more conservative approach, because while he had behavior problems on preschool and kindergarten, it did not really affect him academically. The medications helped him tremendously once we started them.

This is simular to our experience, only DC is just finishing 1st grade and was just diagnosed a couple weeks ago. Preschool teachers mentioned kid was very distracted during "table times," oblivious to the need to work on the paper (or whatever) in front of her. But they thought she'd grow out of it. I suspected ADHD as a possibility, but it wasn't until the second half of first grade that the I felt she had enough of the behaviors on the checklists I found online to likely have it. We are not medicating at this point, per the peds recommendation, because grades are excellent and social skills are good, but I suspect we probably will in later grades as classes require more organization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had our daughter tested at age 15 and the results showed ADHD and mild anxiety. I'd suspected this for years but put off my suspicions because DH didn't believe in ADHD. He was wrong and admits as much now. Lesson learned to follow my gut instincts on these things.

I could have written this post, word for word, except my son was 14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, the way I understand the DSM, there are certain boxes that have to be ticked for someone to fall into a certain diagnosis. If a person is just short of the line for official diagnosis, many of the same techniques to deal with that diagnosis (e.g., social skills, OT, CBT, visual schedules, whatever) may still be useful if you don't cross the line into that diagnosis.

I recently read this book and found it helpful - it's kind of about kids that may or may not fall into a diagnosis but are quirky in some ways:

http://psychcentral.com/lib/book-review-8-keys-to-raising-the-quirky-child/

Thank you for this book recommendation.

[Anonymous]

We didn't get a dx until age 7 but I suspected since age 4. DS is a pretty textbook case also and the past year has brought out anxiety and depressive issues as well. It wasn't until we went through the hell that was first grade that I pushed for testing and a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

No. DS had an ASD/Asperger's diagnosis so we thought the running around in circles and some of the other repetitive behaviors were stims. Once DS was diagnosed with ADHD and medicated, the hyperactive behaviors disappear at least until the medication, Focalin XR, wears off.

DS also has stimming behaviors from the ASD but they are not nearly as problematic as his unmedicated ADHD whirling dervish behaviors. He also is not impulsive or has issues with emotional regulation. No anxiety issues according to his neuropsych eval.