Hi I was just wondering if anyone has had their child tested for Add or adhd at the age of 4 ?


Lori

Our pediatrician said he was too young to be able to tell.

Hi
A friend of mine (diaganosed at age 7) had her youngest child tested at age 3 and was confirmed ADHD. Her other child, 14mths older, is ok.
:) Kimmmie

I was four years old when my mom took me to see the pediatrician and he walked in, took one look at me, and said, "You know they have medicine for that, right?" I didn't get formally diagnosed for ten years, though.

Marie

my daughter was diagnosed about 6 months ago and she is 4. she is in daycare so it is easy to compare her to other children in the same environment and know that she is different.

I was wondering if I may ask what made you have your four year old tested?


I have a friend who is wondering if her son has add or adhd. And I am trying to find some help for her. To make a decision.

she is having alot of trouble with her son in day care and with other people and herself.

I have a 8 year old who has add and she was diagnoised two years ago. But she is nothing like this little boy. and So I myself am not sure how to help her make the decision.

So I am here trying to find her the help she needs.

Thank you for any info you are willing to give.

Lori

Our child was diagnosed at 3 1/2, but after talking to about 3 other doctors, and taking our time reading up on the meds we didnt start treatment until he was 4.


Michael

Hello,

My son was officially diagnosed ADHD at 4 yrs old. As of that time he had been "asked to leave" from 4 seperate daycares. It was really a bad situation because we were constantly getting calls from daycares about Ryan saying your son is doing this or that and please pick him up.

My son is a very sweet loving little boy but he's hyperactive...he can't sit still for any length of time. When the other kids would be coloring quietly he'd be running around the room doing summersaults.

We were very concerned about giving him medication and made the mistake of listening to family members advice about giving him medication...the problem was these family members knew virtually nothing about the subject had had done no research...they had just heard things and had to let us know. To combat the problem we spent a lot of time and money seeing a child psychologist. The result was that we learned some tricks and techniques for more effective parenting and protecting his self esteem but really nothing that made a difference in daycare or in his public behavior which was our main problem.

Finally we saw a child psychiatrist and took their advice and started him on Concerta....The results were dramatic and wonderful. He's had virtually no bad symptoms except occasional appetite dimishment. On the positive side he can function very well in class...he's in kindergarten now and doing great....in fact...as of today he's had almost 4 weeks of perfect behavior in school....amazing.

I don't know if you're having the same problems but if so, I'd recommend finding a good child psychiatrist who takes the time to give a thorough exam and is very conservative on medication. Also, talk to the school counselors about support groups and other resources that are available. I had thought support groups would be silly but they are actually very informative...especially to parents new to adhd. You'll learn what other parents have done to cope and see that a lot of people have it a lot worse than you.

Good luck

i dont know if you will get this but i took her to the doctor because she was having a hard time going to sleep. she would lay in bed for hours and she wasnt getting enough rest. she couldnt sit still to watch movies anymore and she couldnt even color in her coloring book for more than five minutes. at school she was having alot of problems with listening and she couldnt sit still for timeouts and she was just a ball of energy, more than the other kids. so i took her to the doctor and i have it and her father has it so they said that she had it and started her on medicine and she has been doing ok since then. she still has her moments but she can sit still in class and concentrate on her work now. so i think thats it. i am just glad i got her straight now so its fixed before she starts real school. let me know if you have any more questions.

Mine was 6. Growing up ADD, I was on the lookout for it. He's not as severe as I was. I did'nt fit in and other kids did'nt accept me. I was an oddball and was treated accordingly. I was shocked and delighted when he started pre-school and was invited to other kids parties and played well with everyone and kids would come to the house and be bummed if he was'nt there to come out and play. The only negative effect I can see with his ADD is that he's unfocused at times and disorganized and he loses things as fast as he aquires them(ie:jackets, hats, watches). I think he'll do better with it than I did.

Mine was also diagnosed at around 4 years old. He had a full medical examine and a full psychological workup. We then did occupational therapy and psycho-therapy for a year before finally starting him on Ritalin. I would also really recommend working with a therapist and/or psychiatrist because the medication opens doors to learning...we still have to teach them.

Kim

My son was diagonsed with ADHD at 5 (he is now 6). However, I started suspecting that something was wrong at around age 3; he just couldn't sit still for any length of time and was constantly running around and couldn't control himself around friends his age - he was much more aggressive and active than they were. It wasn't until he went to a more attentive preschool at the age of 4 did I get further confirmation or support for my suspicions. They noticed that he couldn't sit still and pay attention like the other kids in class. It took almost 1 yr of getting the diagnosis confirmed with a psychiatrist and testing by the school district. Now, we're in the process of tweaking his medication so that he can function in school. It's definitely a learning process we're going through.

My son was diagnosed last year at age 8.

My daughter was diagnosed at three with ADHD and at four with OCD, she is now five and in kindergarten she is doing somwhat better but still has problems she is taking Ritalin, Focalin, and Luvox. Some doctors might say its to early to tell, but have the daycare make out a paper about his behavior in class or write any concerns they may have and take it with you it will help the doctor in diagnosing your child.

Trevor was 3 years old, we took him in because he would stay up all night wandering around the house, Making sandwhiches, plugging in irons, moving furniture. He was completly out of control, aggressive, high pain tolerance, big for his age, no remorse, hurt people, no anger control and just always hyper and loud.

i was diagnosed with it when i was in 1st grade.

yes my 11 year old was tested and diagnosed with adhd when he was 4 unfortunately they wont give medication such as ritalin dexedrine etc until a child id 6 my other son sami is 4 and is being assessed on 30th jan 2005 so it is possible

My son is 4 and has adha/odd hi is on adderall it took awhile to find the right dosage but hes like a different kid now.

My son was 9. He's always had it I think but it has gotten so much worse the older he has gotten. When he was younger he was just yelling out answers in class and a little daydreaming. I would ask his teachers when they brought this up to me if they thught it was ADD. Oh no, they'd always answer. He's just a little immature for his age. If only I'd gone with my gut back then maybe we wouldn't have to deal with all of this lack of self confidence and self esteem issues.

Our doctor diagnosed it in my daughter at about 3 y.o. We refused medication until about half way through 1st grade. She was struggling to keep up, wouldn't stay in her seat, pay attention, etc. She would use the excuse she wanted to give the teacher a hug as a reason to get up. The teachers loved her, she just wouldn't sit still. She is in 4th now and still struggling but she remains seated and doesn't disturb the other kids. Which is good and bad, good because she is behaving, bad because teachers tend to overlook students who don't cause trouble or are star pupils. Sort of a middle child syndrome. Fortunately the Resource Teacher and Principal love her and bend over backwards to help her out. We don't medicate on weekends, summer, etc. We want her to have a chance to be herself and at least get some experience of dealing with life without medicine.

My son was diagnosed at 3, but it was obvious way before that.

My daughter is 4 1/2 and was just "officially" diagnosed with ADHD last week. There may be additional diagnoses as well so we are waiting on additional test results before starting medication(s). My daughter was "unofficially" diagnosed at 19 months by a growth and development pediatrician at Arkansas Children's Hospital. By this I mean he said "she displayed hyperkinetic behavior styles" and that we needed to watch her. He would NEVER recommend medicating her at that age. My daughter has just had a complete workup at St. Louis University.
Dina

My son was dx at 4 for the 1st time. I don't know how much I believed that dr though, he only saw him for about 5-10 min before he made his dx. I chose not to put him on meds then, he wasn't in school, but I wanted some statigies for "controling" his behavior.

When I was told that he was "outgrowing the program" at his preschool I began to suspect that maybe that dr was right.

Last year he was again dx ADHD, this time it WAS posing a problem in school (1st gr). We put him on meds but it was really ,really hard to get him to even take them. So much so that I decided the benifits weren't woth it ,for us. that's not to say that this boy wouldn't benifit from them.

My son is now in 2nd gr, doing great in school, has an IEP, & is still not on meds. At home he still has a hard time, could be that he thrives more on a schedule & we don't have a "set in stone" type of one. I figure if he misbehaves at home it's better than at school.

The earliest I have seen it dx'd is at age 3. According to Barkley, hyperactivity manifests itself usually between 3 and 5 yrs old. Inattention alone may take quite some time to develop to the point of showing an impairment. A bright Inattentive child may be able to get through the early grades okay but then "hit the wall" later on.

The clinical threshold (the line ) between "normal ( developmentally on track ) " dimensional (every kid does this to a certain extent) behavior and a true brain based disorder is Impairment (problems).No impairment. No disorder.:)

My son, who is now 12, was diagnosed adhd at the age of 3. He too was kicked out of every daycare and preschool in town. Since he was so off the chart hyper, he was not one of those kids to fall through the cracks. The add kids do sometimes fall through the cracks because they are able to sit quietly and are able to go unnoticed by the teachers. The adhd kids are the hyper ones causing havoc in the classroom and making all the other kids cry. I also dreaded the daily phone calls from daycare or school. We were never able to go on vacation because he was so out of control. We went the Homepathic route first then went to traditional medications. The doctor gave us tons of forms to fill out. One for the parents, one for the teacher, one for the daycare. The teachers are usually more than willing to fill it out as they are the ones that are having to deal with the unmedicated child. We had to try different medications and different doses. It is imperative that you work with the teachers and get their feedback on certain times of the day that your child may be not doing so well. This is how we were able to adjust his dosages times. The school nurse will become your best friend. I always make sure I give her a special Christmas gift. We tried Ritalin, Dexetrine, Ritalin again and he is now on Metadate. (In addition, he takes Respirdal and Clonidine for behavior and Zoloft for Obsession Compulsive Disorder.) Prior to his taking Clonidine, he would be up all hours of the night watching videos. The Clonidine helps him relax for bed (also used for blood pressure.) He also takes DAAVP

Sorry...I accidentally hit the send button. He takes the DAAVP and Imprimine for bedwetting. It is disheartening to have a 12 year old still wet the bed but I did also as a child. Atleast now they have pullups. I can't tell you how many times my sister tells the story how we shared a bed and she always woke up wet. Every year has been a challenge. He was given to me for a reason. Hope this helps....

I wet the bed too at his age _ my parents went the route of a "shrink" who had them set up this machine in my room with this really, REALLY REALLY loud buzzer on it. If I went, it went off, I hated them for that!! how embarassing for me when my friends (what few I had) would come over & ask me what that machine was... hated it so much!! :C

The earliest I have seen it dx'd is at age 3. According to Barkley, hyperactivity manifests itself usually between 3 and 5 yrs old. Inattention alone may take quite some time to develop to the point of showing an impairment. A bright Inattentive child may be able to get through the early grades okay but then "hit the wall" later on.

The clinical threshold (the line ) between "normal ( developmentally on track ) " dimensional (every kid does this to a certain extent) behavior and a true brain based disorder is Impairment (problems).No impairment. No disorder.:)
I agree that an official diagnosis can't be done until they are old enough to particiapate a bit in the process.

However, awareness of the probability can really help parents with even younger children and a lot of the behavioral mod. techniques can be used at a much earlier age.

My son was difficult in th womb, difficult in the hospital, difficult from day 1, and by the age of 2 (he was speaking in full sentences of more than 7 words) we were working with our pediatrician on coping mechanisms and understanding...actual diagnosis and therapy started at around 4-4 1/2.

My recommendation for any parent struggling with a baby or really small child is GET HELP if you need it. Find a pediatrician who is willing to take the time to get to know you and your child. I also have to say that the breastfeeding support group "La Leche" has wonderful suggestions even if you aren't breast feeding.

Kim