ADD/ADHD

If your child has been diagnosed with this, what was it that made you seek out an evaluation, etc? What was their behavior like?

My son is 6.5 now. And even though he's had a great kindergarten year, and his teacher has had no real "complaints", nothing has been brought up... his behavior at home has DH and I EXHAUSTED, and has me wondering if its the way we're parenting him, or something else.

SOOO i'm just curious what kinds of things were happening that made you seek out help/ an evaluation. Thanks!

Re: ADD/ADHD

I am a teacher and have several (4) students with ADD/ADHD in my classroom (all diagnosed and only 2 are medicated). I can tell you that if your child truly has ADD/ADHD you would hear from the teacher almost constantly about behavior, lack of focus, impulsive actions, daydreaming, not completing work, and generally not performing at grade level because of these behaviors. (To give you an example, one of my unmedicated students cannot sit on the carpet for any kind of group activity without constantly spinning around, jumping up and down, getting up and wandering the room, picking at imaginary objects on his person or the floor, he will literally start pulling the hair of other students and has jumped on top of others during instructional time. There is NO controlling his behavior.)

If what you are witnessing is only happening at home, then perhaps its that he is being so well-behaved at school, that he needs to "let loose" once home. This happens a LOT especially with boys and especially in kindergarten where they are learning SO much at such a fast pace and they are expected to perform and work all day. Once at home, they act out, have crazy amounts of energy, and parents are exhausted.

If you are truly concerned though, bring it up at his pediatricians appointment. You know your child best

Message edited 6/2/2017 11:13:55 AM.

Re: ADD/ADHD

Posted by itsagoodlife


If what you are witnessing is only happening at home, then perhaps its that he is being so well-behaved at school, that he needs to "let loose" once home. This happens a LOT especially with boys and especially in kindergarten where they are learning SO much at such a fast pace and they are expected to perform and work all day. Once at home, they act out, have crazy amounts of energy, and parents are exhausted.

If you are truly concerned though, bring it up at his pediatricians appointment. You know your child best

Re: ADD/ADHD

My son just turned 6 and is in K. He's very much like the pp described as far as being in trouble in school, can't sit still at circle time etc. We are constantly hearing from his teacher that he doesn't pay attention to lessons, distracts the other kids, and acts out on the playground.

We're in the process of having him evaluated. While we are waiting for an appt with a developmental ped we are going to see a behavioral therapist at the suggestion of my ped. We see her for the first time next week, but she's told us over the phone that she will work with us as the parents to learn some techniques on how to manage him. She won't actually meet him until after a few visits. So perhaps this is something to explore.

I also wanted to say that my DS had a teacher change in the middle of the year. From Sept-Dec he had a very experienced teacher and we heard not a peep from her. During conferences she said he was doing great, but was fidgety sometimes. In Jan, she had to leave and he got a permanent sub who has never taught kindy. That's when the problems began. Since you said you haven't heard from the teacher it can't hurt to check in with them to see if they are noticing anything in class but maybe not telling you because it's not a "problem."

Re: ADD/ADHD

Posted by itsagoodlife

I am a teacher and have several (4) students with ADD/ADHD in my classroom (all diagnosed and only 2 are medicated). I can tell you that if your child truly has ADD/ADHD you would hear from the teacher almost constantly about behavior, lack of focus, impulsive actions, daydreaming, not completing work, and generally not performing at grade level because of these behaviors. (To give you an example, one of my unmedicated students cannot sit on the carpet for any kind of group activity without constantly spinning around, jumping up and down, getting up and wandering the room, picking at imaginary objects on his person or the floor, he will literally start pulling the hair of other students and has jumped on top of others during instructional time. There is NO controlling his behavior.)

If what you are witnessing is only happening at home, then perhaps its that he is being so well-behaved at school, that he needs to "let loose" once home. This happens a LOT especially with boys and especially in kindergarten where they are learning SO much at such a fast pace and they are expected to perform and work all day. Once at home, they act out, have crazy amounts of energy, and parents are exhausted.

If you are truly concerned though, bring it up at his pediatricians appointment. You know your child best

Message edited 6/2/2017 2:50:54 PM.

Re: ADD/ADHD

I would make an appointment with a developmental pediatrician and follow up anyway (I recommend Dr. Huang at Cohens). Appointments are probably 4 to 6 months down the line right now - and you can always cancel if there are any changes before then. My son has ADHD and keeps it more together at school - he rocks in his chair, calls out, very impulsive but does well academically. At home he is a lunatic - constantly running and jumping around, very hyper.

Re: ADD/ADHD

my son has adhd, he is 6. We knew from the time he was 3 and he could not follow the rules at all at preschool. He is so unfocused and implusive he is on meds to allow him to focus at school, he still stuggles... I believe most of us ADHD parents knew for a long time before diagnosis that something was different