Reply to Teacher tells me five year old boy doesn't pay attention, might be ADD

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[quote=Anonymous]1. I would take the opinion of a teacher with a grain of salt. I was also told by a teacher (kindergarten) that my child likely had ADHD because of lack of attentiveness in class. I stressed about it a lot, and one thing I wish someone had told me then was "this is one data point." So: this is one data point.

2. I would not decide whether or not to evaluate him based on the teacher's directions. She is not a neuropsychologist. She doesn't know. She has given you the useful info she has (that his attention issues feel like an outlier to her for this grade level). That's it.

3. I would take a look at some of the questionnaires for ADHD and see how well you feel these symptoms fit your child. Incorporate the teacher's feedback into your assessment, but don't limit it to that. One thing you didn't mention in your post was whether he does this kind of thing at home -- do you have trouble getting him to focus? Does it impact how he interacts with other kids? Has it impacted things like pre-literacy learning? These would all be signs leaning towards early evaluation.

4. The downside of early evaluation is that these things change, especially for younger kids who may "outgrow" what initially appear to be ADHD symptoms. This is why professionals often recommend waiting until age 6 except in cases where the symptoms are more severe. It sounds like your son might be on the bubble. Early evaluation won't hurt and could be beneficial. But be aware that you might have to go through it again sooner than expected if his behaviors change a lot in the next year. This may also impact whether insurance pays for an eval.

In the end my DD got a "mild" ADHD diagnosis but is borderline, which wound up being not very helpful. The more useful assessment was that she has some sensory issues for which we can do OT, and that has helped with some of the issues that the teacher thought might have been ADHD. We may have to evaluate again in a few years. For us, waiting until 6 was the right choice because it gave her some time to mature a bit and some of what the teacher identified as problem behaviors, she outgrew.

The biggest thing is that this need not be a major source of stress unless it is inhibiting his ability to learn, make friends, or enjoy life, which it sounds like it is not. In that case, thank the teacher for the input, make an independent decision about whether to evaluate now or wait a bit and see how it goes (neither are incorrect) and try to remind yourself that your son is doing fine. This is not a diagnosis, it's a suggestion. Try to treat it as such.[/quote]

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