I recently got a new 2nd grade student with a pretty severe speech problem. He had a speech IEP already in place. He has been with us for 2 1/2 weeks now and I have noticed many ADHD like behaviors. His speech is very babyish which makes it extremely difficult to understand. He has frequent outbursts like talking over me, not raising hand, etc. He has difficultly answering my direct questions and will answer with something completely unrelated. He asks questions that are just outright silly, but he asks them with a seriousness that I can’t tell whether he is trying to be funny or really has a question like this. Do these behaviors sound like ADHD or could it be more? Academically, he does okay. He is very low in writing and reading, but does okay in math and other areas.
babyish behaviors can come from many things
Children young enough to be in second grade aren’t sophisticated enough to ask funny questions with a straight face. Even teenagers have trouble doing that. However unrelated or off target this child’s questions are, they’re real to him. You can always respond to his unrelated questions with a kind, “John, that’s an interesting question but let’s save it for a little later because what we’re really talking about now is something different than that.”
And it sounds like more than ADHD to me. If this were my student, I’d want to have him tested and certainly he should be seeing a speech therapist/speech pathologist on a regular basis.
Good luck.
hi… I cannot pretend to know more that what a qualified teacher would know, but I am in my second year of university study majoring in special needs. I am particularly interested in ADHD since it is so frequent in today’s classrooms. Have you spoken to the child’s parents and previous teachers? They are undoubtedly the best people to get further information from before consulting a professional OT. How frequent are his outbursts? Observe him and take records in every learning environment, including his interaction with his classmates in the playground. goodluck with everything.
keep me posted.