Anonymous wrote:FWIW, our ADHD/Inattentive kid, age 10, does this constantly -- humming, singing, sometimes scatting instead of singing known songs, playing drums on the desk, tapping, chatting up other students, etc. DC recently said it's worse when he doesn't get enough exercise during the day. (DC needs exercise before school and lots of running at recess.) Oddly, DC is not "hyperactive" when he doesn't get exercise, i.e. he does feel the need to run around, just run his mouth.

I think, for him, it is an attention issue -- most people focus their brain on just one channel at a time, but DC can have more than one channel going at once. He is doing his math and singing a song at the same time. He is listening to you read the story while he is tapping a consistent, complicated beat with his foot. His brain is bouncing around from one idea to another and rarely in a linear fashion.

Our DC doesn't take meds. He is in a SN school though for his language learning disability, which happens also to be able to deal with the ADD issues. At home, we have learned to redirect -- fidget balls, time to play/breaks, chewing gum, and, when it's really important, gentle reminders to be quiet (when someone is trying to concentrate or on the phone or not feeling well).

DC also had trouble with instructions, but we found in a large classroom a big part of the problem was receptive language and auditory processing difficulties. He has problems hearing against background noise and so, just tunes out.

In our case, Aspergers or Tourette's are definitely not possible alternate diagnoses - it's definitely an aspect of the ADD. It will serve him great one day as his brain careens around to solve a scientific problem in the lab and he connects B and Z to do so in a way no one else would think of, but until then, it's a "weakness" to be managed.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds allot like the "diagnosis previously known as Aspberger's". Might warrant some more extensive neuropsych testing to rule out high functioning autism spectrum disorder. We were floored to recently get an ASD diagnosis at the age of 12 (only previous diagnosis had been ADHD at age 9)---many similarities to what you've described.

Anonymous wrote:Sounds allot like the "diagnosis previously known as Aspberger's". Might warrant some more extensive neuropsych testing to rule out high functioning autism spectrum disorder. We were floored to recently get an ASD diagnosis at the age of 12 (only previous diagnosis had been ADHD at age 9)---many similarities to what you've described.

Anonymous wrote:is there anything that seems to work better with this particular type of inattention? It's like she's focused on a different channel.. Right now, she's on long acting Ritalin. I like it, because there no drop at the end of the day -- everything else we tried, she used to melt into a puddle of tears and screams whenever the medicine wore off. This has been a solid, even support that never triggered trouble.

She's also *really* tired at the end of the day -- way more tired than any one of her peers. I sometimes feel like serving her coffee just to get through homework. I do offer her a sweet snack instead (fruit or chocolate).