Does inattententive ADHD in 10 y.o. present like this?

[Anonymous]

This is what my 5th grader tells me:

-When the teacher gives out assignments or gives instructions, her brain stops listening after a minute and she starts thinking about other things for a minute, and then goes back to paying attention for another minute, etc.
-When she's not paying attention in school, 30% of the time it is because she finds it boring and 60% of the time it is because her brain won't let her
-She pays less attention during her last class (subject) of the day because her brain is too busy thinking about what she learned in the subjects she had earlier in the day

We had a neuropsych done two years ago which mostly but not totally ruled out ADHD, and also found her moderately gifted with some executive functioning weaknesses. School says she can do the work but just has a bad attitude.

What do you think? What would you do?

[Anonymous]

I'd say she's pretty articulate. My DD who I suspect has some attention issues can't articulate at all what's going on in her head during school. Her teachers say she daydreams a lot, but does well when she focuses. Sounds like ADD to me, but I don't have the money for a neuropsych.
My research says that ADD takes so many forms that it's difficult to pinpoint, particularly in very smart kids.
My plan is to assume DD has some parts of ADD and get some sort of therapy or training for her.
Why do you need a diagnosis? There is lots of therapy available even without a diagnosis.
I'd never medicate my kid, but I'm going to try to get accommodations and some help for her from our very helpful private school.

[Anonymous]

I would look into helping her strengthen her organizational skills. There are tutors/books available.

[Anonymous]

One suggestion is to teach her to take notes. I absolutely cannot listen when someone is talking to me. I have to force myself to take notes or I will space out after the first sentence or two. My mind really has trouble doing just one thing at a time.
If she's bilingual, she can also make herself translate everything into the other language -- that also works to force you to pay attention.

[Anonymous]

I think she sounds bright and articulate. I think to a certain extent she has concentration issues and is aware of them and I think to another extent her mind wandering is perfectly normal.

You don't say what her grades are or what is being affected by this lack of concentration. Is she tanking in school? Is she just not succeeding up to expectations and you feel she could do much better? I think a 5th grader who is something of a woolgatherer could blossom into a highly organized 7th grader or 9th grader with simply the passage of a few years time and maturity.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank for your responses. At this point, I would not say that she is "tanking" in school, but I do not think she is performing up to her abilities most of the time. I'm not sure how teaching her organization would help; we do this anyway just to prepare her for junior high, but I don't see it helping attention.

In response to the first poster, it absolutely matters to me whether there is a medical reason behind this, because I would try meds to see if they help. The fact that she is articulating this to me tells me that it is of concern to her; that she notices or feels that she is different. Plus, I feel terrible sending her off to school when her teachers think poorly of her because she is not focused on desk work. I could make an intellectual argument that most teachers fail to appreciate kids who show their knowledge differently from how the teacher requests, but that wouldn't change the fact is she knows that she is not appreciated.

[Anonymous]

She could have very very mild ADHD, that will manifest itself more in middle or high school.
Try to coach her on getting organized and prioritizing important tasks, keep screens away, add in daily exercise and good sleep habits.
Stay on top of it because she might need another neuropsych eval in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She could have very very mild ADHD, that will manifest itself more in middle or high school.
Try to coach her on getting organized and prioritizing important tasks, keep screens away, add in daily exercise and good sleep habits.
Stay on top of it because she might need another neuropsych eval in a few years.

I agree with all of this. In a few years you should know if this was a normal developmental issue or ADHD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank for your responses. At this point, I would not say that she is "tanking" in school, but I do not think she is performing up to her abilities most of the time. I'm not sure how teaching her organization would help; we do this anyway just to prepare her for junior high, but I don't see it helping attention.

In response to the first poster, it absolutely matters to me whether there is a medical reason behind this, because I would try meds to see if they help. The fact that she is articulating this to me tells me that it is of concern to her; that she notices or feels that she is different. Plus, I feel terrible sending her off to school when her teachers think poorly of her because she is not focused on desk work. I could make an intellectual argument that most teachers fail to appreciate kids who show their knowledge differently from how the teacher requests, but that wouldn't change the fact is she knows that she is not appreciated.

Be careful about her articulating this or coming up with reasons why she is disappointing you, especially when a "medical" reason is a better reason than "I don't know" or "I don't care" or "It's not that important to me to do better." Your child sounds very bright and very articulate. You need to be careful about her getting a payoff of attention from you when she articulates reasons like "her brain stops listening" or "her brain won't let her," which may mean absolutely nothing more than she loses focus and stops paying attention.

Like any bright child, she's going to notice that mommy really likes those answers.

[Anonymous]

I have 2 children with attention issues.

1 is not medicated.
the 2nd is, he said... wow, I can still hear the teacher talking when I look around the room. I use to look around the room and I could not still listen to the teacher.

He takes Vyvanse.

[Anonymous]

She does sound a bit too exact with the excuses. In a way, too smart for her own good and trying to make the fool proof reason why she can't do A, B, C. She may be "bored," but such is life. We all need to do things we don't care to do.

Also, I would check in with the teacher(s) as to what their process is for assigning school work. When I was a kid, our teachers had us buy those little steno notepads. Class assignments/homework were written in the top corner of the chalkboard. We were taught to put the current date, what the assignment was, and the due date.

There are paper calendars for binders, she can do the same thing. No need for electronic devices. If she's not sure, she can always ask the teacher for clarification as to what's due when.

[Anonymous]

"She does sound a bit too exact with the excuses. In a way, too smart for her own good and trying to make the fool proof reason why she can't do A, B, C. She may be "bored," but such is life. We all need to do things we don't care to do."

OP here. I'm not giving her any extra attention for these comments, all I'm doing is listening. These responses arose during discussions about her school work and performance. Do you really thing she'd make up stories about how her brain works? She doesn't know what inattentive ADHD is - we've never talked about it. And I'm still insisting that she does better (obviously, we're talking next year at this point, since school is out).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"She does sound a bit too exact with the excuses. In a way, too smart for her own good and trying to make the fool proof reason why she can't do A, B, C. She may be "bored," but such is life. We all need to do things we don't care to do."

OP here. I'm not giving her any extra attention for these comments, all I'm doing is listening. These responses arose during discussions about her school work and performance. Do you really thing she'd make up stories about how her brain works? She doesn't know what inattentive ADHD is - we've never talked about it. And I'm still insisting that she does better (obviously, we're talking next year at this point, since school is out).

I don't she's necessarily lying/making things up, but by the 5th grade, I'm sure she's heard about ADHD or have heard other classmates talking about their experiences. She was essentially saying that she can't focus 90% of the day. There's a possibility that she may be trying to compensate for poor performance. Also, what does this really mean? Did grades drop from an A to a C? Is she all over the map b/c of interest/strength in subjects. Or are your expectations too much as to how her performance should be. Even gifted kids aren't straight As all the time.

Not being able to pay attention by the last class of the day isn't too unusual. We're all tired and thinking about something else by the end of the day. You'd also notice signs of ADHD with her at home. To get a fuller picture, I would check in with the teacher even if school is out; just touch base email just to see how distracted/daydreaming/not paying attention she seems in general during the day.

The other thing to think about is that organizational skills don't come naturally for most kids. She may need guidance on how to organize her binder, brush up on study skills even if she doesn't have ADHD.

It's possible that the evaluation missed inattentive ADHD. If it's over 3 years old, it's worth looking into, but you'd need to get a full neuropsychological evaluation. It will run about $3-4K and may not be covered at all by insurance. You may find Patricia Quinn books useful--girls/women and ADHD is her speciality:

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Girls-ADHD-Updated-Revised/dp/0971460973/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1466275652&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=patrician+quinn

[Anonymous]

New poster. I'm sure you know your daughter best but if she's having issues concentrating at school at shining bright, and at school alone, then I would write that off as a bad year either due to school or due to her developmental curve. If everyone in her life -- her teacher, her friends, her babysitter, her troop leader, her activity leaders, her neighbors, her relatives, siblings -- are complaining that she doesn't pay attention and can't get her act together, then that's when I would consider medication. If it's just school this year, then why would you medicate your daughter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster. I'm sure you know your daughter best but if she's having issues concentrating at school at shining bright, and at school alone, then I would write that off as a bad year either due to school or due to her developmental curve. If everyone in her life -- her teacher, her friends, her babysitter, her troop leader, her activity leaders, her neighbors, her relatives, siblings -- are complaining that she doesn't pay attention and can't get her act together, then that's when I would consider medication. If it's just school this year, then why would you medicate your daughter?

The OP's daughter hasn't been actually diagnosed with ADHD at this point, so some sort of evaluation needs to happen b/f medication.