Experiences with ADHD in Preschool
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Anonymous
| ^ okay. I disagree. I actually think ASD is wildly overdiagnosed. I think ADHD is misunderstood. |
Anonymous
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So we had a full neuropsych tab childrens when our son was 4. We were concerned about mild ASD or combined (but more inattentive) ADHD. We started meds at 5 at a very low dose under close guidance and saw improvements in his social skills, which is what we wanted more than anything. Now at 6, the meds seemed to be having more negative than positive effects, so we stopped. He is doing very well in his mainstream public K without meds or even a 504 at this point (we tried and they wouldn't commit until watching him in class first for a while). Anyhow, this is a kid who would have been a slam dunk for "something" at ages 2-4. But man therapy and maturity have made a huge impact. When I help in class and see other boys his age, they are all wild and all over the place.... that said, one kid stood out the most and clearly had more needs (and I since chatted with his family and that was confirmed as we shared past docs, etc...).
Anyhow, I think identifying potential diagnoses as early as possible is crucial because the therapies can make a big difference for some kids. But I agree that knowing the classroom impact is hard to predict. I suspect that when the academic demands increase, we may need to revisit meds. Fwiw, ADHD runs heavily in my family so this is not unexpected. Both my parents I believe went undiagnosed and made very negative and impulsive decisions throughout life. I did too but am also very goal oriented and am motivated by grades, etc... (more than ever learning for learnings sake...always lost on me), so I have done quite well. Though my grad school notebooks had more doodles than notes... |
Anonymous
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As others have said, perhaps the issue here is that you did a neuropsych exam, which are generally not considered reliable at this age, instead of going to a developmental pediatrician?
We went to KKI at around age 3.5 for a diagnosis. My son's hyperactivity was high, but not a danger to himself. However, his impulsivity and personal space issues were a huge problem. We started at a preschool when he was 2.5, and 5 months later had to move cross country. Thank goodness we did because they were getting ready to kick us out if we didn't pay for a full time shadow. We moved to DC and ended up in a very supportive school. But my son, since forever, has always been the kid who had "special needs" whenever he is among other children. In that, for years, you could not leave my son with other children because he would scare or hurt them. The developmental pediatrician doing the diagnosis said he had severe adhd but not as severe as some kids she sees. Had he been a genuine danger to himself or others (she used the example of the kid who tries to get out of their carseat and out of the car in a moving vehicle), we would have medicated at age 3. Because his "danger to others" was not injuring other kids (it was hitting, etc, but not hard enough to inflict injury) the ped said to wait. Shy of his 5th birthday, we had reached our threshold with school drama. I went to my ped with KKI diagnosis in hand and he described it as the "Cadillac" of testing. He said, had I come in with concerns of ADHD, he would have sent me through a lot of hoops to flesh out the issue, but with the KKI diagnosis we were already there. My son was legitimately different than other kids at at 2, 3, 4, and 5. (I posted in another thread that he was different at 3 weeks old, but that's another story). Other kids can look more hyper and all over the place, but my kid was the only one with legitimate "special needs" so to speak. We are medicating now and it has been wondering. The same spazy, hyper kid but like a whole new person. So yea, not hard to diagnose kids at age 3, 4, and 5 who have moderate to severe adhd. However, I cannot fathom that any parent of a kid with mild adhd would raise the issue with a doctor or psych. If the only issue is that the kid moves around a lot or has trouble focusing, does a parent really seek out a whole evaluation?? So when people ask their doc at age 4 about adhd, I assume these are by definition going to be the moderate to severe cases and should be taken seriously. I think the mild cases start cropping up more in academic settings because -some- parents want a reason why their kid isn't doing well in school. But no similar motivation exists in preschool. In sum, talk to your ped to see if she thinks adhd can never be diagnosed at this age. If they think the answer is that it cannot, then yes, seek a new doc. If they just don't like the neuropsych, then that's a reasonable answer. |
jjconcern
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| I would agree with the comments recommending a second opinion which can be accomplished by another professional looking at all of the former test results and reports and their own observation rather than redoing the assessment, As a school psychologist trained in neuro-psych testing and a mother of an ADHD son, I've found that symptoms of ADHD can be diagnosed by a young age but often accompany other diagnoses and you may need to wait until your child gets older for the diagnosis to become more clear. Meanwhile providing a structured home environment with good supervision is very important, i.e. regular bedtime and mealtimes. Balance of outdoor play and quiet time, etc. Physical exercise is beneficial to any ADHD person at any age. There are many resources available that deal with this issue such as in books or websites. One I have found very helpful on parenting and working with special needs children is Focus on The Family.com . I would look for another pediatrician as another comment expressed as there are other ways to express disagreement with an issue than to discount another professionals work and it shows a lack of humility and unwillingness to learn from others on her part. I would be interested in a follow up as to what you find out in the future about his diagnosis. |
Anonymous
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I'd be skeptical of focusonthefamily.com as it's run by a highly conservative group.
While I agree with some of the stuff in the previous comment, simply waiting for a clearer diagnosis and filling the time with physical exercise and time management doesn't provide much help for the many 4 year olds with true adhd issues. In our case, it didn't matter if my son ran around a park like a maniac all day or watched tv for 8 hours. The end result was the same: a kid with major symptoms of adhd at a young age. Suggesting physical exercise and a strict bedtime as part of the solution for a 4-year old with adhd sounds like something a conservative Christian organization would suggest. |
Anonymous
I will note - we have tried behavioral therapy with my son since he was 4, and OT since he was 3. He's 5.3 now, and we just started 5 mg on focalin and its the first time I've been hope that some of the behavioral stuff we are doing might help. |