Afraid to bring up possibility of ADD

Was he evaluated by an audiologist who specializes in CAPD? An auditory processing problem can cause symptoms similar to those of ADD.Another possibility is sensory integration disorder, which can exist on its own or as a result of an auditory processing problem. I would probably get him evaluated by an occupational therapist trained to assess sensory integration.These two eval’s wouldn’t do any harm, might be covered by your medical insurance, and would either rule out or identify problems that are often missed.Mary: Hi I have posted here before and found it very helpful. My son (8 yr)
: was diagnosed with a perceptual learning disability last July. We
: had him tested privately and through the school. Both did not find
: any evidence of ADD, rather they said they did not think it
: likely. It was at the end of the first grade, he had been in a
: very structured environment. Now in second grade, he has a more
: relaxed teacher and seems to me, not to be able to concentrate as
: well, especially at home. His tutor has made an occassional
: comment, saying he was having difficulty concentrating, but I just
: notice he can not have any distractions when doing homework, moves
: constantly unless I ask him to stop, and doesn’t focus as well.
: I’ve read the information on ADD and I believe his history just
: shows an active child, not overly active before the age of 7. Can
: this be Add, so late? Should I wait to mention this to his
: teacher, his last report card showed improvement in his ability to
: demonstrate self discipline (she said his behaviour was normal for
: a second grade boy), and I don’t want to give her any ideas. I
: don’t want to ignore the problem, but I don’t know if it is just
: the result of a long winter, that hasn’t enabled him to move his
: body and get “the Crazies” out, or am I trying to deny
: another problem? Thanks for any ideas or opionions.

Do you see this type of behavior ALL the time or can you establish a pattern?I had noticed my 7.5 year old was going thru this periodically this past year. When we tried to do reading or some of her other ‘cognitive’ program exercises - she just wouldn’t sit still. But other times, she was very focused.I’ve narrowed it down to when she was not feeling 100% that this happens. My hunch is that her ears are plugged or have lots of pressure and it’s hard to concentrate when feeling that way? We found that diet helps - we try to stay away from sugar/high frutose corn syrup and dairy and food items with lots of artificial chemicals and preservatives.We also would try to refocus her with deep pressure rubs and Sound Health Series music (we use the Thinking CD - it would calm her down).Before jumping into an ADD type diagnosis - I would rule out other possibilities.

: ADD or ADHD can present at any age. It isn’t always noticeable from a young age on. Getting a formal diagnosis of ADD or ADHD is another matter though. Many psychologists around my way will not comment on that aspect of a child unless specifically asked to prior to the testing. Teachers, including myself, can be reluctant to offer their opinions on whether a student manifests characteristics of ADD/ADHd. That diagnosis has become something of a “hot potato” and many are increasingly reluctant to touch it.If you found your son to be ADD or ADHD, would you consider medication? If so, you might want to pursue people’s opinions on the matter. If not, you might want to consider how the diagnosis would affect your son’s life in any way? What does his current teacher do with her students who are diagnosed ADD? Does she manage them differently or offer them any special services?Fortunately, this is something you can do “a wait and see” with as it does not seem to be adversely affecting your son’s life or school work in any significant way at present.

We had the same issues. Our daugter had CAPD (which does masquerade as ADD) which was treated. She also had upper airway resistance syndrome (sleep disorders cause hyperactivity in prepubertal children, and 20% of kids with ADD really have this. So if she snores, has big tonsils, sleeps with her head thrown back, kicks at night, sleepwalks, or falls asleep when a passenger on a 1 hour car trip, consider a sleep disorder (they improve with stimulants just like ADD, but treatment of the restless legs or the upper airway resistance syndrome will normalize function.Having said all that, when we found that there was still a little trouble focusing (no hyperactivity) we figured that we would just try Adderal and see what happened. We chose adderall because it needs to be given just once a day and therefore the school did not need to know. We found that all of a sudden homework started getting done in school and not at home, and her score on a circle the e’s vision exercise went from a chronic 6 errors per page to zero. We stopped the adderall, the symptoms came back. We restarted a placebo (multivitamins) symptoms persisted. We restarted the adderall, symptoms went away. So, I’d just try it and see. If he does improve I would check out interactive metronome. We were able to get our daughter off adderall after she went through the six week program.

Thanks for info. I will keep that in mind. I remember your posts months ago on the sleep disorder piece. I don’t think she has a problem with this - I’ve been watching her and have slept with her -she seems to sleep pretty soundly. This may not have been the case when she was younger - so I don’t know if you can grow out of or not? (She did not sleep thru the night until she was 2!)Presently, she is doing great in school. She is in a VERY noisy, poor acoustics classroom (out in a trailer this semester). She focuses and is less distracted than the majority of her class. She is always first one done with her work - it’s usually all correct(even when she gets pulled out on several days).I have really found keeping her healthy has been key for us this year - even tho I think there still may be something with her ears going on?I’m watching this type of behavior and will keep these thoughts in mind.

First and most important–there are many other issues that masquerade as an attention deficit disorder, and absolutely none of them should be ignored. The quicker you get a good diagnosis, the better off both your child and your family will be! One of the most common myths is “wait a year or two and this probably will take care of itself.”The most common confusion is between dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Often, they are co-morbid (exist simultaneously) and, many times dyslexia is misdiagnosed as an attention deficit disorder.Mentioning the possibility of ADD/ADHD to anyone @ school is inappropriate as they cannot diagnose ADD/ADHD anyway. Take your child to his/her pediatrician for a discussion and request a referral to someone (a multidisciplinary clinic is best) who is capable of making a differential diagnosis.If you don’t know what facilities are available in your area, and if your pediatrician is of no help, go to www.iser.com and look under your State.I hope this is helpful.Kay Harlan

Hi - We’ve gone through this same situation with our LD 11-yr-old (LDs diagnosed two years ago). I was going nuts. He would do the ones column of a math problem, then I’d have to spend a minute or two getting his mind back to the tens column, then again for the hundreds. Homework time was just unbearable. I thought this can’t possibly just be his dyslexia/writing problems but his teachers didn’t notice a hyperactivity problem. But I did some research (check link below for ADHD diagnostic criteria) and found the ADHD can be entirely inattentiveness with NO HYPERACTIVITY! The schools don’t diagnose ADHD - you have to go to a pediatrician or developmental/LD specialist. It was worth every penny of the $600 we paid. He’s on Ritalin now and life is still not perfect but it has made a world of difference in his schoolwork (it’s still not fun at homework time at night because he doesn’t take the Ritalin at night - but weekends are much better!). After you look at the diagnostic criteria, keep an eye out for what distracts your child - is it noises (auditory distractibility) or is it something in his field of vision (visual distractibility), or both? And above all, trust your gut instinct and don’t delay. If you are overstressed during your child’s homework time there is probably something that needs to be checked out. I should have researched this years ago, but no one thought our well-behaved extemely quiet child had a problem (because he wasn’t a problem to them) and his learning problems were ignored. But our older child got help as early as 2nd grade because he was a behavior problem. Teachers are not trained to recognize these problems; find a professional. One of our child’s teachers admitted that in her 20-year career including college she had had only 1 hour of general training on learning disabilities.

: Do you see this type of behavior ALL the time or can you establish a
: pattern?: I had noticed my 7.5 year old was going thru this periodically this
: past year. When we tried to do reading or some of her other
: ‘cognitive’ program exercises - she just wouldn’t sit still. But
: other times, she was very focused.: I’ve narrowed it down to when she was not feeling 100% that this
: happens. My hunch is that her ears are plugged or have lots of
: pressure and it’s hard to concentrate when feeling that way? We
: found that diet helps - we try to stay away from sugar/high
: frutose corn syrup and dairy and food items with lots of
: artificial chemicals and preservatives.: We also would try to refocus her with deep pressure rubs and Sound
: Health Series music (we use the Thinking CD - it would calm her
: down).: Before jumping into an ADD type diagnosis - I would rule out other
: possibilities.Thanks for the information, I do use a Baroque music tape to help calm him down, where do you find a Thinking CD? I will look into the food, maybe that will make a difference. Thanks

: Hi I have posted here before and found it very helpful. My son (8 yr)
: was diagnosed with a perceptual learning disability last July. We
: had him tested privately and through the school. Both did not find
: any evidence of ADD, rather they said they did not think it
: likely. It was at the end of the first grade, he had been in a
: very structured environment. Now in second grade, he has a more
: relaxed teacher and seems to me, not to be able to concentrate as
: well, especially at home. His tutor has made an occassional
: comment, saying he was having difficulty concentrating, but I just
: notice he can not have any distractions when doing homework, moves
: constantly unless I ask him to stop, and doesn’t focus as well.
: I’ve read the information on ADD and I believe his history just
: shows an active child, not overly active before the age of 7. Can
: this be Add, so late? Should I wait to mention this to his
: teacher, his last report card showed improvement in his ability to
: demonstrate self discipline (she said his behaviour was normal for
: a second grade boy), and I don’t want to give her any ideas. I
: don’t want to ignore the problem, but I don’t know if it is just
: the result of a long winter, that hasn’t enabled him to move his
: body and get “the Crazies” out, or am I trying to deny
: another problem? Thanks for any ideas or opionions.Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction. Darlene

: Thanks for the information, I do use a Baroque music tape to help
: calm him down, where do you find a Thinking CD? I will look into
: the food, maybe that will make a difference. ThanksI bought mine from our Neurophsyciatrist, but it’s made by AdvancedBrain.com. There are several different types - Thinking, Concentration, Relaxation, and ones to pep you up. It’s all classical - they use alot of Mozart.There are a number of books on food sensitivies/allergies - there is one I particularly liked by Doris Rapp (I can’t remember the name, but it’s on Amazon).I now read all food labels (it’s amazing to me the ‘junk’ and chemicals that are contained in our foods - never really noticed it before). We rotate food - so she doesn’t have to completely give up her favorites - she can still have her favorite treats on occaision. We try to stick to whole foods, with little amounts of ingredients as possible. Did you know that High Frutose Corn Syrup is worse for you than regular sugar? Those squeezits, Capri Suns, and pop are one of the worst foods you can feed your kids. I noticed on a trip, we let my thirsty DD have a pop because it was the only drink we could find - she was immediately much more ‘active’ than before. Look for foods that your kid craves - those are typically what they are sensitive too. My dd LOVES soda pop - so we make our own from natural fruit juice and sparkling water/club soda.Interestingly, whenever she has gotten sick this year, I see a pattern of it being right before/after holidays, where she gets alot of sweets. This year she has been 10x healthier than last year (before diet) and when she does get sick - she bounces back quick.

Hi, I just wanted to address your comment about homework. My son’s take a 5mg Ritalin in the afternoon if they have homework that requires sustained effort on their part to finish. My oldest was diagnosed ADD inattentive in 1st grade, homework was a nightmare(tears, tantrums,etc). With the afterschool dose he got right down to work, no arguments, tears. You might want to ask your dr about it. Also it needs to be given no later than about 4 or you might see sleep problems.Best wishes to y’all.Hi - We’ve gone through this same situation with our LD 11-yr-old
: (LDs diagnosed two years ago). I was going nuts. He would do the
: ones column of a math problem, then I’d have to spend a minute or
: two getting his mind back to the tens column, then again for the
: hundreds. Homework time was just unbearable. I thought this can’t
: possibly just be his dyslexia/writing problems but his teachers
: didn’t notice a hyperactivity problem. But I did some research
: (check link below for ADHD diagnostic criteria) and found the ADHD
: can be entirely inattentiveness with NO HYPERACTIVITY! The schools
: don’t diagnose ADHD - you have to go to a pediatrician or
: developmental/LD specialist. It was worth every penny of the $600
: we paid. He’s on Ritalin now and life is still not perfect but it
: has made a world of difference in his schoolwork (it’s still not
: fun at homework time at night because he doesn’t take the Ritalin
: at night - but weekends are much better!). After you look at the
: diagnostic criteria, keep an eye out for what distracts your child
: - is it noises (auditory distractibility) or is it something in
: his field of vision (visual distractibility), or both? And above
: all, trust your gut instinct and don’t delay. If you are
: overstressed during your child’s homework time there is probably
: something that needs to be checked out. I should have researched
: this years ago, but no one thought our well-behaved extemely quiet
: child had a problem (because he wasn’t a problem to them) and his
: learning problems were ignored. But our older child got help as
: early as 2nd grade because he was a behavior problem. Teachers are
: not trained to recognize these problems; find a professional. One
: of our child’s teachers admitted that in her 20-year career
: including college she had had only 1 hour of general training on
: learning disabilities.