younger sib to Adhd child
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Anonymous
| 9 year old son has Combined type ADHD, and is extremely bright. His ADHD manifests in difficulty writing, sitting still, and hyperfocusing with reading or electronics/tv. Younger sister is 5. They are very different in personality, strengths, etc. She is in pre k now. To me, she exhibits some signs oHll, but in a different way than he does. She does not have the hyperfocusing at all ( which my son had from very young, with tv watching at age 2). She doesn't have inattention either, which I know is more common in girls. What she does have is difficulty sitting inher seat for meals, short attention span for activities in general, extremely picky eating ( but no other sensory issues) and repeated cues to stay on task, like doing morning jobs, even with a Jobs chart. Since I only have the older child to compare with, I don't know if this is normal 5 year old behavior or if this is signs of ADHD. I think that with my son, his issues became more apparent in 2nd grade as the academic challenges increased. Thoughts? |
Anonymous
| What does her teachers say? As you already know the behaviors you describe can be typical for 5. |
Anonymous
|
similar situation here, younger son seems to have the same issues you describe -- sitting still for meal time, assigned tasks, etc. Yet this is also the kid who has always been able to focus for long periods of time on his cars and building blocks, and who simply knew when he had too much tv and walked away. By himself, he has great on-task behavior and always has a plan he follows through.
My take is that younger siblings start to copy their older sibs, and just at about this age (4 or 5), they start clueing into some of the social behaviors. I happen to think that executive functionning is one of my younger child's strengths, but I'm also at a loss looking for ways to protect that "super-power' from the daily ADHD grind we go through with his otherwise really bright older sis. I'd be grateful for resources on dealing with ADHD siblings... or simply advice! |