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[quote=Anonymous]Tougher to get an ADHD diagnosis for a young girl, in our experience, even if you try.

1) Executive functions tests for that age group are simply less reliable.

2) Most teachers will stay out of the fray,or actively push back against even an ADHD investigation, unless there is real disruption to the classroom, or if the child is so far behind that her scores will start to impact the school.

They will not suggest evaluations, will invoke transition times, will pretty much do anything to avoid having the extra work of creating evaluation forms and following up with a special needs requirements (IEP or 509). (In our case, even though or child was completely uninvolved for most of her day in school, and had major meltdowns every morning just thinking about going to school, her teacher even blamed us ('what is hapening in YOUR home?') rather than cooperate with our investigations.

In addition, your girl is likely to behave much better at school than at home -- simply because she is a social child who likes to please, and is surrounded by peers. So in some cases, the teachers simply have not seen it, and have not evaluated the true potential of a child who meets the standards despite her distraction.

3)That leaves your word, alone. Doctors want to see multiple sources corroborating the reported behavior, in addition to the tests. For a young child who is not disruptive and does reasonably well in school, chances are you will not get a positive diagnosis at this age.

Now what would you do with a diagnosis? Mostly make sure your child meets her true potential. Medication or not, there are approaches to teaching that work really well with children with ADHD. Montessori education, for instance, is an excellent tool. You can choose to find a good Montessori school through 3rd grade, giving yourself a chance to better understand your child. With 3 successful years of great success and the experience of going deep into any one subject, you can petition for enrollment in an AAP center in public school. Much of the Montessori work builds executive function -- so you'd get a lot of the benefits of both school and therapy into one. But it has to be a really good school.

Along the way, you decide if and when medication is needed. My college-age niece calls it "eyeglasses for my brain".

In public schools, you can set up some accommodations. It can be as simple as preferential seating in front of the class, or having her work at an independent table for some assignments. Discreet reminders from the teacher can keep her on task, immediate feedback on her work can enhance the learning. The school counselor can keep an eye out next few years, as ADHD kids tend to polish off their big-girl social skills a bit later, exposing them to bullying and feeling left out. Having a school counsellor on the look out, maybe even participating in a 'friendship circle" will be a valuable tool.

The point is: it will be tough to find positive diagnosis for a younger inattentive girl. But it may be worth while, as too often, the first few years of school guide where the child is headed. And for a bright, well educated young child slogging it through rehashing of the alphabet and counting in K and even 1st grade, life at school can be incredibly boring, building her adhd up.

My advice in moving things forward is to talk often with your child's teacher and counselor, express your concerns, build their awareness of the large untouched potential your daughter may have, despite meeting the grade. Don;t take "she's doing great, by the state standards" for an answer.

Our child, who was doing 2nd grade math before K and was easily reading with fluency and intonation by the start of the 1st grade, always had straight 4 in all the core subjects, and her teacher kept pushing back on the suggestion that she may know more than she shows (K and 1st grade), or that she has attention challenges (2nd grade). Despite functioning well above grade, no advanced services were offered, and her teacher evaluation, heading into the AAP pool was very poor. That evaluation provided us with the best glimpse on what was really happening in school, not the report card. Because it showed the deep discomfort surrounding DD in school, her lack of confidence and the failure of the teacher to really get her out of her shell.

I still don't have all the answer, but I do know the caveats of the early years with ADHD...[/quote]

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