Signs (rolling around, not keeping hands to self, talking all the time, etc) were there in PK. But we chalked it up to being immature, a boy, etc.

It came to a head in 6th grade when he fell behind his peers, was constantly in trouble for talking/walking around the class, and his grades fell.

We did a full neuropsych in 6th and started meds. Best decision we did.

Our child also checked out of nonpreferred subjects in K. Also was distracted by talkative children sitting near her in 1st so had trouble finishing assignments in class. Neither teacher suspected ADHD though. We did.

We never suspected it. We thought he had an auditory processing disorder because he didn't seem to understand what was said to him a lot of times. He had no behavioral issues, was social and liked school. Yet, teachers said he seemed to check out during larger group activities. He did great in small group. He and his OT thought, perhaps, he was having challenges with auditory discrimination so we had him tested. It was the audiologist/SLP that ruled it out and said he presented as a child with ADHD. We were shocked but turns out he was correct.

I first had concerns about DS in 3rd grade. He'd always been impulsive and had difficulty focusing on reading. We had some meetings with the teacher and school counselor who also observed him in the classroom. They ended up telling us he was just young for grade (summer birthday) and very outgoing and they felt his behavior was not out of range for his age so we did not pursue further evaluation. But he never seemed to really outgrow it and finally we had a neuropsych in 9th grade when he quickly started failing a couple classes. Diagnosed with clearly ADHD-Combined. He's just really smart, has good social skills, and teachers tend to like him so he'd managed to skate by with As&Bs until the challenges of HS overwhelmed his weak executive function skills and attention problems.

Looking back at our struggles with rule following at home and having to keep on him so much about homework, and knowing a lot more know about ADHD, the signs are clear and I really regret not pursuing the independent evaluation much sooner. He spent a lot of years feeling like the bad kid in the classroom. Once he started medication he told me he felt a lot calmer at school and that plus working with an executive function tutor helped him gain a lot of confidence in his abilities.

Very early on, as a toddler, we were worried he had autism. At two he would sit on the floor staring into space and not react when I called his name and waved my hand in front of his face. In preschool he would daydream and couldn't listen to directions. No "boyish" (do you mean running around, pushing and yelling?) behaviors, on the contrary - he was very calm and quiet, which makes sense when you understand that he wasn't really present (he was thinking in his head).

At 4 he said "I have a TV in my head that I can't turn off" and he was diagnosed at 6 with ADHD. He couldn't remember multi-step directions in class and was so slow he could never finish any task, even with extra time. I had to repeat requests maybe 25-30 times before they percolated through his daydreams and short-term memory issues. He failed 4th grade English because he could never remember to turn in the homework he had spent hours doing at home (painful!). He went through a full neuropsychological evaluation and it was determined that he had severe inattentive ADHD. Symptoms of that and Asperger's can overlap, but we did not pursue a supplemental HFA (high-functioning autism) evaluation. I suspect he's mildly Asperger's as well, since some men in the family have those tendencies. The meds for ADHD worked miracles, and he was able to focus in class and is now medicated as a teen and doing well in school.

My son had a lot of delays so it was clear from when he was a toddler that something was wrong. By kindergarten we knew one of the issues was ADHD. I always started with my pediatrician. For the ADHD, we did either the Conners or the Vanderbilt. If you need more extensive testing you can also get a neuropsych done. We started with medication at age 8 and it was life changing.

Not until my 6th grade DD complained to her therapies and me that she was daydreaming and felt like it was hard to pay attention. I had no clue! No teacher had ever mentioned she seemed to be struggling (or complained about behavior). But looking back I see some red flags.

Since he was our oldest, we really didn’t know until his Kindergarten teacher started telling us that she had to repeat almost all directions for our son because he was either daydreaming or doing something else (obsessive reader). Preschool was great, it was the structure and many transitions in Kindergarten and first grade which brought it to light. It effects his speed processing as well so his first grade teacher got IEP meetings started quickly. He’s technically gifted so it was easy to see he wasn’t reaching his potential.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:I'm pretty sure my third grader is showing signs that inattentive ADHD may be an issue for him. But it's such a tough one since a lot of it can just be blamed on kid (especially boy) behavior. When did you suspect inattentive ADHD? What were the tell tale behaviors? And were you right? If so, what was the first stop on your path to getting help?

ADHD+Combine type here but it was when she was 4ish. She started taking medication in 2nd grade.

I'm pretty sure my third grader is showing signs that inattentive ADHD may be an issue for him. But it's such a tough one since a lot of it can just be blamed on kid (especially boy) behavior. When did you suspect inattentive ADHD? What were the tell tale behaviors? And were you right? If so, what was the first stop on your path to getting help?