Hello. My son is 5 and had his kindergarten physical a few days ago. His doctor suggested he get tested for ADHD. But I am not so sure. Yes I admit, he talks. ALOT. And he is very much a wiggle worm. Sitting still is not in his vocabulary. He is always on the go. I have always said he has 2 speeds. Super fast and off. I guess my question is.... ADHD or just a 5 year old kid being a kid. He just turned 5 in Febuary. He gets distracted very easily. Even if it is something he wants to do. But most kids I know are the same way. I want to do what is best for my son. I had problems in school for years because I couldn't stay focused. Finally I was moved into advanced classes and that helped. I don't know if he is just bored or if he has ADHD. Any advice or feedback I can get will help alot. Thanks.

It wouldn't hurt to have him evaluated. I think early diagnosis will save you a lot of frustration in the future. And if he doesn't have it what it lost?

Hi and Welcome. :)

That's a very good question. It's one all of us have asked ourselves about our children. I have a 6 y.o. daughter who was just diagnosed with ADHD.

We have gone through several assessments that started because she was very disruptive, impulsive, and distracted in school (Kinder) this past year. While she ws identified as a spirited child in pre-school, she didn't have the extreme behavioral issues that she had in K. I later learned that this is common because there is more structure and required tasks in K.

You can have your child evaluated for ADHD, but if you aren't sure, you can always wait and see how Kindergarten works out for him first.

For us personally, our initial evaluation was for dyslexia and general IQ to see if she was acting out due to frustration from school, she just needed discipling, or maybe she was acting out due to just bordom. We began with IQ tests and tests for dyslexia which revealed that she does show signs of dyslexia and had a high IQ. It explained why she was worse during writing exercises (behaviorally) but not the rest of the impulsivity and at this point the school suggested she should be evaluated for a physicological reason for all this (their way of saying ADHD), so she was evaluated for ADHD and scored very high on the DSM-IV for ADHD and ODD and one other thing I am not sure of. So we had the diagnosis of ADHD (which to me explains the ODD signs). BUT, we still questioned what was going to be best for her in the long run because she did evaluate as having a high IQ so we thought boredom still might be a factor. Soooo we had further evaluation for both IQ and achievement...which revealed that she had a high IQ (95%) but not so high that she would be totally bored and unchallenged and that her academic achievement is just slightly above grade level -- well within the realm of average ability for Kindergarteners. So, my conclusion? It's the ADHD, the dyslexia, and probably some amount of boredom. But it most certainly IS ADHD. Even the expert in giftedness said that she was extreme in her behavior and was very immature and said that the assessment tests may not have been entirely accurate due to her impatience and impulsive actions. She also said that she likely won't meet her academic potential (because the acheivement scores were low compared to her overall IQ) if she goes untreated..w/o medicine that is...because she just won't have the function to focus when she wants to. She could see her trying really hard to stay on task but just couldn't.

I tell you my story because I hope it shows that this is a journey of discovery about your child. And that it is an important journey to take because if he IS ADHD it can have a toll on so many aspects of his life. Trust me, as an ADHD adult (just diagnosed), boy can it take it's toll. Learning early can save a child from a lot of problems, like lack of academic achievement because of a physical disability.

My questions to you are -- is your son exhausting? Does he seem like he is just *more* than other children? You say all the children are the same, but are they really? Or is it just that they seem the same because they are active and playing with each other when you have moments to compare their behaviors? For us, a lot of people are like "oh, no...our dd is just like that, or we never have problems with her, etc.." but that is because of the situations they see her in - times when she needs to behave and do what she is told, sit quietly, not talk, do a task right away, etc. So, even though others, even her father, don't see what I see and what her teacher sees she still has ADHD.

It sounds like you still have questions, so take your time while you consider all the potential avenues. No matter what happens, you will end up with more information that will help you raise your son. That's what happened with us. We now have a better understanding of who she is and how her brain works and what discipline/motiviation will help her with self-control and in school.

Did your doctor tell you what the evaluation would entail? A good book is "Taking Conrol of ADHD" which has some great descriptions of what ADHD actually looks like.

-- Sea

I think you should follow up on this. If it turns out that he is just an active, bright kid, there is nothing lost but the time. If he does have adhd and it is not caught early on, it will be later and there may be more problems to deal with than if it were intercepted early. Early detection and intervention is best.

ME :D

Hello. My son is 5 and had his kindergarten physical a few days ago. His doctor suggested he get tested for ADHD. But I am not so sure. Yes I admit, he talks. ALOT. And he is very much a wiggle worm. Sitting still is not in his vocabulary. He is always on the go. I have always said he has 2 speeds. Super fast and off. I guess my question is.... ADHD or just a 5 year old kid being a kid. He just turned 5 in Febuary. He gets distracted very easily. Even if it is something he wants to do. But most kids I know are the same way. I want to do what is best for my son. I had problems in school for years because I couldn't stay focused. Finally I was moved into advanced classes and that helped. I don't know if he is just bored or if he has ADHD. Any advice or feedback I can get will help alot. Thanks.

I'm with Speedo! My child is inattentive yet bright and did not get a DX until she was 10 and in what is supposed to be a special school for the gifted. Nothing to lose by trying I say :).

Hi and Welcome. :)

My questions to you are -- is your son exhausting? Does he seem like he is just *more* than other children? You say all the children are the same, but are they really? Or is it just that they seem the same because they are active and playing with each other when you have moments to compare their behaviors? For us, a lot of people are like "oh, no...our dd is just like that, or we never have problems with her, etc.." but that is because of the situations they see her in - times when she needs to behave and do what she is told, sit quietly, not talk, do a task right away, etc. So, even though others, even her father, don't see what I see and what her teacher sees she still has ADHD.

-- SeaThanks for the advice. To answer your questions.... yes he is exausting. But i work in a daycare taking care of 2 year olds all day. So when I get home I just don't have much left to give him. In preschool they do work daily. At least once a week his worksheets are sent home because he didn't get them done in class. He was talking or playing. Something other than his work. When he gets on one of his talking sprees I will tell him that we are going to have quiet time. I shoot for about 5 minutes of no talking. After maybe 90 seconds he starts talking again. I will ask him what happened to quiet time and he will be like "Oh, I forgot". And he is for sure more than other kids.

And another thing I was wondering, how is bed time for an ADHD child? I can put my son to bed at 9:00 and he is still up at 11:00. I have tried all the bedtime routines and everyhting I can think of right down to threats to get him to go to bed. Nothing seems to work.

Yea, I know about working full-time, I can't imagine doing it with two year olds. I would definitely get that book -- it was really eye opening for me. I don't know about bed times for children..I only have one and we have always laid down with her while she goes to sleep.

I hope all goes well. It sure sounds like he has some indications...what about him made your doc make the recommendation? would he go see a psychiatrist? You most certainly want to have a through assessment, because this diagnosis affects so much about how you parent and then there are treatment decisions...that's a whole new thing. We're still working on that one.

Welcome to the forums!:) I have an 8 year old ADHD daughter and a rather bouncy 4 year old we're keeping our eye on. At the very least I would keep it in mind that it might be ADHD. Dr. Tom Brown of Yale said at a workshop I went to that some kids develop later than others and it may just be late blooming maturity. If it's not causing a problem yet you can probably afford to take that time and wait and see if it continues. If it's currently causing a problem, you might need to get a thorough evaluation done now. I would recommend a psychologist who specializes in ADHD as my first recommendation. They can ususally spend more time doing a through evaluation that a psychiatrist. A well loved poster and psychologist specializing in childhood ADHD here frequently has reminded us that if there is no impairment there is not diagnosis. So if your son's behavior isn't impairing or causing problems, it's not a diagnosisable condition at this point (that can change as life challenges, structure of school and such puts excessive demands on his executive functions). When my oldest was 4, her favorite activity was pulling away from me and running into the road -- that qualifies as an impairing condition! These days her impairment is in trying to sit still long enough to do her school work or in trying to remember her addition tables in math (they don't want to stick).

Take care!
Scattered

LOL, your account of his "talking sprees" sounds a lot like me (I have ADHD combined type). I go on monologues too and I don't know when to quit. Telling me to stop does no help, I am right back at it very soon. I mean well, and I am sure he does too, It is more hard-wired than behavioral, so don't slam him too hard on it, because he can't help it. You might have better luck distracting him to something else than trying to get him to stop.... he can't stop because his mind is in high gear and he is hyperfocused on whatever he is chattering endlessly about. A distraction sometimes stops it. Try giving him something constructive and interesting to do. When I am very focoused on something interesting to do, I can sit and do it all day long.


ME :D




Thanks for the advice. To answer your questions.... yes he is exausting. But i work in a daycare taking care of 2 year olds all day. So when I get home I just don't have much left to give him. In preschool they do work daily. At least once a week his worksheets are sent home because he didn't get them done in class. He was talking or playing. Something other than his work. When he gets on one of his talking sprees I will tell him that we are going to have quiet time. I shoot for about 5 minutes of no talking. After maybe 90 seconds he starts talking again. I will ask him what happened to quiet time and he will be like "Oh, I forgot". And he is for sure more than other kids.

And another thing I was wondering, how is bed time for an ADHD child? I can put my son to bed at 9:00 and he is still up at 11:00. I have tried all the bedtime routines and everyhting I can think of right down to threats to get him to go to bed. Nothing seems to work.

And another thing I was wondering, how is bed time for an ADHD child? I can put my son to bed at 9:00 and he is still up at 11:00. I have tried all the bedtime routines and everyhting I can think of right down to threats to get him to go to bed. Nothing seems to work.
We had the same trouble with my son for bedtime. I thought a 9:00 bedtime seemed reasonable to that is what we went with. I would go upstairs around 11:00 or midnight to get myself ready for bed and he would hear me and say hi mom.

He just did not need as much sleep as other kids, so we allowed him to have an hour of quiet time in his room from 9-10. We said he could read or sit at his desk and draw, we got hime some color pencils and paper and an area for this. We said as long as he could get up in time for school and as long as he was quiet in his room, he could have this time. It worked out well for us.

I should add it just seemed silly to have him laying in bed for 2-3 hours. Now that he is older and approaching those teen years, he still have a 10:00 bedtime, but falls asleep much better.