LD and ADHD

ADHD was the biggest missing piece of the LD puzzle that prevented our child from making progress. Meds have been a blessing in addition to intensive educational therapy. We were able to catch up to grade level in about 2 years.

It is definitely worth looking into your son’s ADHD symptoms. I was the one that figured out our daughter was also ADHD besides being hearing impaired and dyslexic.

My situation is similar to Pattim’s. We knew our son had LDs (dyslexia, dysgraphia) since 4th grade but we were making no progress in bringing up his academic skills, even with private tutoring.

At night, I would want to cry when doing homework with him (and he often did cry.) He would do the one’s column and then stop and have a chat. Then the tens column and sing a song. Then the hundreds column and stop and do pencil acrobatics. Great. One down, 24 more problems to go. Before we start Spelling. And Reading. Disciplinary tactics didn’t help. Just made it worse, and longer, and more tearful. I didn’t know about ADHD-Inattentive then and I just thought it was the LDs and a severe case of avoidance. His grades were mediocre at best.

Finally, more than a year later, I ran across the diagnostic criteria for ADHD which includes a distinct category for ADHD-Inattentive and started to put all the pieces together. We went to for a private assessment and got the diagnosis. Ritalin (and now Concerta) turned this child’s life around. Now his grades are amazing! And he is much happier with himself. (But it’s not a cure-all; we still have the scenario I described above if we wait until after dinner to do homework and the medication is out of his system.)

So, it is possible to have an LD child with undiagnosed ADHD that is holding them back from their real potential. Search for “DSIM-IV Diagnostic Criteria” on the web and that will give you some basis for deciding whether you should pursue it.

I hate to sound like I’m pushing the medication. It isn’t right for everyone. I hope you find an approach that helps your child.

Greetings Pam,

My 14yo dd has also been diagnosed with learning problems (memory issues, APD, VPD) as well as ADD. I would encourage you to checkout the following website and complete the checklist developed by Dr. Amen, a nationally recognized ADD expert. This checklist/questionnaire is not meant to provide a diagnosis but it serves as a guide to identify problems and help determine if ADD exists and, if so, which type (there are 6 types of ADD). If there is a possibility or probability that ADD exists, it would then be necessary to get a thorough evaluation by a doctor who specializes in ADD.

http://www.brainplace.com/bp/checklist/default.asp

Blessings, momo

… that LDs — especially in bright kids — really can produce many of exactly the same symptoms as ADHD. A learning disability canmake one part of learning that’s easy and automatic for everybody else. So for any given school task — listening to instruction, doing independent seatwork, whatever — if your LD means you’ve got to really focus on the reading or listening, then you just don’t have any attention *left* to give to the actual learning. Basically you’ve got to try to do two (or three or four) things at once, when other kids really only have to focus on one. So you look like you’re “not paying attention” — and you’re frazzled, quickly! (Ever try to drive in a snowstorm and talk on the phone at the same time?)

There are a lot of kids who have both, and there are a lot who have one or the other. As an adult I found out I have ADHD, but I am not LD. LD can cause ADHD symtoms due to frustrations and overload. Overload would cause a child to tune out and is not necessarily ADHD. I would first look into something called Sensory Integration Dysfunction. There s a very good book out called “The Out of Sync Child” which explains it well. Most LD kids I work with have some component of this and it mimics ADHD although the relationship is more complicated. Truth be told, ADHD and ADD are global catch alls for a lot of things with slightly different causes most relating to dopamine deficiency. A trial of meds can’t hurt much, Ritalin clears your system pretty much completely fter 5 hours if its not extended release.

I know more about auditory processing disorder than visual, but to reiterate something said earlier, APD kids exhaust themselves at school because they have to exert more effort to attend to the mostly auditory instruction all day. My child also cries during homework and procrastinates, but I honestly think it is due to fatigue. At her IEP meeting, I did suggest that some of her homework be completed at school with the teacher assistant, or better yet, the whole class could do some of it. I think and hour of homework is too much for a first grader. Our school is in session from 8-3 which is a long day already for little children.

But I agree, try Ritalin. It’s so easy to see if it helps. Be aware that Ritalin can have a little positive effect on alertness for anyone, but it will certainly not fix APD symptoms. If his problem really is ADHD/ADD, then Ritalin (or whatever) should really help once the dosage is regulated. But I do think there are a lot of APD kids out there taking Ritalin when they really have processing problems and not true ADHD.

On a personal note, my oldest child, a son, was diagnosed ADD-inattentive in high school. Ritalin really helps him survive college.

Janis