ADHD and LD

Interesting question. A full evaluation done by an educational psychologist wouldn’t be likely to produce a misdiagnosis of ADHD. In a full evalutation the learning differences would be too apparent.

If a physcian alone made the diagnosis of ADHD, hwoever, I could see a misdiagnosis happening as then the full evalutation wouldn’t have been done and there might well be learning disabilities present that can’t be ascertained by a physician alone.

If you know of a child who’s been diagnosed ADHD and you’re skeptical of that, encourage the parents to consider having a full evaluation of the child done by an educational psychologist. That evaluation will uncover the any learning differences the child has.

I doubt there’s much research on this interesting topic, though.

Good luck with your search.

I’ve tried finding research on this myself on a broader sense. I’ve only been teaching for 3 years (all 3 in special ed), but I’ve found that this is a common occurrence (students being misdiagnosed). I’ve seen it the other way around though - the student being labelled LD when in fact they are ADHD, or LD when really intellectually disabled.
Usually being diagnosed with a learning disability is done after testing from a pyschologist from the school, where as ADHD is a medical diagnosis. I’d love to hear if you find any additional info on this!

I am just a mom but this is my son’s story.
My son was diagnosed ADD way before I ever found out that he had a learning disability.
His teacher suggested ADD in 3rd grade so we took him to both a psychiatrist and his pediatrician.He of course was diagnosed ADD.
Much later we found that he had a significant eyesight impairment, despite school and Ped. testing.
Next we found that he had a significant hearing loss and needed surgery, despite school and Ped. testing.
Finally we found that he had a learning disability, only because I ran into a very informative parent who told me to insist that my child be tested by the school. She also told me to be very assertive.I was.
I was then confused as to if I should let them test my child on the medication or not . I insisted unmedicated, but they tested him mostly medicated despite my wishes.
The school and Ped. still insist that he has ADD but I wonder if it isn’t an Ego thing.
He is mainstreamed, struggling to keep up with his peers, gets a half hour of tutoring and modifications,and I can’t a darn thing out of the school district in the way of true remediation. I couldn’t even get an extra set of books for home or proper communication from the teachers/Resource teacher..
What I have learned too late………
As soon as there is a sign of a child having difficulties….
FIRST Have the childs ears and eyes tested by SPECIALISTS.
SECOND Insist that the child be tested for a learning disibility by the school.
LASTLY Consult physicians for ADD.
Mo

Mo,

Sometimes ADHD goes right along with dyslexia. I would
highly recommend to you the following:

THE GIFT OF DYSLEXIA by Ronald D. Davis
www.dyslexia.com
www.dyslexiatalk.com

RIGHT-BRAINED CHILDREN IN A LEFT-BRAINED WORLD by Jeffrey Freed

READING REFLEX by Carmen and Geoffrey McGuinness
www.readamerica.net

Reading Reflex is my main reading program. Dyslexics learn from it because it teaches “the whole picture”, and that is the
way they learn best.RR was developed for parents to teach their children to read. I use the school version, PHONO-GRAPHIX.

Mr. Davis in THE GIFT explains what a dyslexic sees when reading. He does give several solutions, which have helped my students learn to better focus in the classroom. They learn how to control themselves. His websites are VERY supportive.

I am now reading RIGHT-BRAINED CHILDREN by Mr. Freed. It is
full of suggestions, many of which I will be using when school
starts in about 2 and 1/2 wks.

Wishing you the best!
Bonnie Edes
Dyslexia/Reading teacher
[email protected]

Great advise! And I applaud you for your persistance. I’m just a mom too, but I have noticed that ADD and or ADHD are being quickly diagnosed or “assumed,” often times by teachers, who do not have medical or psychiatric knowledge/expertise, yet are quick to recommend a child be put on medications. I found it very surprising that three children (including my son) out of an 18 children classroom (that is 16%) where pressumed, by THE TEACHER, to have ADD. And the parents were asked to have these children evaluated for ADD.
I have taken my child to the Pediatrician and Neurologist. His vision and hearing seem to be fine but has not been tested by an speciallist. So that is a great point. Also I have to find about what the testing by the school for learning disability entails and how to go about it.
Again, thanks for your advise. And good luck!
Pat.

My son is both. Do not leave that out as a major possibility also. I work for a school district and a very high number of children do have coexistent conditions. In my son’s 3rd grade class of 22 last year (teacher and aide due to 2 SpEd students) there was one other girl with ADHD and she also had a coexistent LD and ALSO like him has a very high IQ.

I suspected that my son had ADHD when he was only 18 months old, after he had snuck out of the house at 5am 2 mornings in a row and gone to my neighbors house for breakfast and had at 6am tried to vacuum the carpet with an iron that was kept on a shelf 6 feet off the floor!!!! I heard so many times that he was “just a boy” until his preschool techer echoed my own suspicions. It was only after the ADHD had been treated and under control (halfway through 1st grade) that we were able to verify (at the end of 2nd grade) that he had a LD as well.

Sometimes learning problems can be caused by inattentiveness. When my son could not read at the end of 1st grade, it was assumed that he had not caught up since starting meds. It was not until after a year of corrective reading that it was discovered that he had eye teaming and tracking problems and also visual processing problems. If I had continued to be hard headed and listen to my family and not medicate him, it may have been assumed all along that his problems were being caused by the ADHD.

Give it some time and see where things go. My son was able to “read” (meaning decode) after he started meds where he could not before. And if you still feel something else is going on, trust your instincts.

Think its more likely the other way around, however, LD students are more likely to also have ADHD than non-LD students. About 15 to 26% of LD students also have ADHD. These research articles might be helpful to you:

Willcutt, E.G. and Pennington, B. F. (2000). Comorbidity of Reading Disability and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33, 179-189.

Gilger, J.W., Pennington, B.F., and DeFries, J.C. (1992). A twin study of teh etiology of comorbidity: Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder and dyslexia. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 31, 343-348.

There are several other relevant studies, the references of which can be found in the Willcutt and Pennington study.

My daughter is ADHD (definitely) and depending on which specialist you talk to, labeled dyslexic (her school doesn’t use the term, her Orton reading tutor does). She is only moderately, not severely dyslexic. The way it was explained to me by the neuropsycholgist was that if she had just the ADHD or just the mild/moderate learning differences, she’d probably be OK - but both is a double whammy for her. So, she continues to struggle with school and I continue to advocate (fight) for her with the school.

Per the above e-mail, I also know it to be not uncommon for ADHD’ers to have both.

The best advice I can give you is - follow your instincts. No one knows your kid betther than you do. If you think he may have a LD and is hidden behind the ADHD dx, than seek some professionals for help.

Our son was first dx with ADHD in 1st grade and started on meds (against our instincts). They didn’t work and in 2nd grade he went from a bubbly, happy-go-lucky kid, to a dangerously depressed one - (talked abour killing himself at age 7 - can you believe it!). We stopped the meds and seeked further help. Luckly we had heard of a special program by our local hospital (Boston’s Children Hospital), called “The School Function Program”. He was thoroughly examined by a battery of doctors, that included a Child Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Neurologist, Medical Doctor, Hearing and Speech and Language Specialist, and a Dr. in Education. It cost us about $1,000.00 but was well worth it. From the tests, they found out that our son has a Processing Disorder, that prevents him from fully understanding or grasping the key points of things. In other words, his prossecing speed is too fast and he jumps from subject to subject so quickly, he missed the entire point of the topic. Because he couldn’t keep his mind “in check” sort of speak, he couldn’t really fully follow what was going on and often got distracted. And that is why they thought he had ADHD.

With those results in hand, we marched right to his pediatrition and school, to discuss and implement an interention plan. That was 5 years ago. Now, our son is starting 7th grade this year, and was an Honnor Role for 2 terms last year (A’s and B’s). Don’t get me wrong, he still struggles everyday to get things accomplished and we still have to remind him a lot to apply his “slow down” strategies. But, we are extremmely proud of him and what he has accomplished, and more than never we are confident that he will be a successful individuo in life.

So, again listen to yourselves and seek more specialized help. Readings and books help too, but nothing works better than a loving parent instinct.

Best of luck!!

[email protected]

My son has had several evaluations all leading to different diagnosis. The one thing that has been a common thread for me to be told though is that it is hard to seperate out ADHD and LD. They futher go on to say that the educational implications are the same and that they require some of the same interventions. I was told by one specialist to look at it as a continuim of syptoms and some can be worse then others and not all need be present. She stated this is what makes it difficult to seperate what is going on. She said they try and determine which patients would benefit from medications based on the severity of the symptoms and the number present. She also went on to say that the parent knows the child best and should be listened to. I hope this has helped.

Lisa

Addional information in respond to another person.

Hello AP,

Thank you for your kind words. I am glad to see our experiences have helped someone. Also, let me first apologize in advance for any grammar / spelling mistakes I will sure be making, as I was not educated in this country.

I am originally from Brazil and for the longest time I even thought the reason our son “couldn’t get it” was because of my mixed up English. As I said at ldonline.com thread, he is finally doing much better now compared to what he has been through in the past. These successes are due to a lot of trial and errors, but always with a lot of POSITIVE THINKING! This may become too long, but it lists in more details what we’ve been through and what has helped.

After Boston Children’s Hospital dx him with a processing disorder, we talked with his pediatrician and school to come up with a plan. Now, even though the cause of his “spiciness” was finally figured out, he still needed the added support of the right medication to “slow him down” and allow him to think. So, since 3rd grade we’ve been trying different meds, at different doses, to see what would work. We tried a form of Dexedrine, Aderall, Ritalin and last year he started on Concerta. Of all of them Concerta seemed to work better, with less side effects and no embarrassment of having to go to the nurse’s office in the middle of the day.

He did great on Concerta until this last term. He was an Honor Roll student on 1st and 2nd term, and started getting C’s after that. We think that any of these must have happened: a) He outgrew the dosage (36 mg), b) He had Track and Field on the 1st term, joined a Skiing program on the 2nd, and no other sports after that. We think that the lack of exercise didn’t help, or c) Both. We kept him on Concerta anyway until the end of the year, to avoid another change. He’s been off it for the entire summer.

In parallel and because he was dx with an LD, the school had him tested and an IEP (Individual Educational Plan) was designed for him. You should consider speaking with your son’s school as well, and see if they will test him (if you have not yet). Over the years our son has been getting additional help on several areas, as part of his IEP: Speech and Language, Reading, and OT (Occupational Therapy). He also receives an occasional counseling session, to help him with “social” issues in school. The social problems arise mainly because he is the youngest in his class (his birth date is the school cut off date) and gets picked on a lot (surprise, surprise - most kids with LD do).

Needless to say a good rapport/communication with your son’s school and Special Ed team is absolutely critical. I generally “speak” (email) with our son’s teacher at least once a day. When things are going well, then once a week is usually enough. See, they “forget” a lot and that way we keep on top of things ( and they know it).

Another strategy that has helped us immensely is the 1-2-3 Magic, including to our other son who does not have a LD. Have you heard of this book/tape, by Dr Thomas W. Phelan? I am telling you it saved our lives, sort of speak. If you have not read of heard about it, check out your local library. The strategies he suggests are so simple, it is hard to believe it works. But it is truly amazing how it does. Before 1-2-3, we used our own version of 1-2-3 and simply did not work. We (parents) were always feeling frustrated and guilty any time we had to discipline the kids. We adopted this strategy when he was in 4th grade and along with meds, our power struggles were over. So, check it out.

Other strategy that has been helping a lot is to get “outside” or “neutral” tutoring for your son, if you can. It can be a bit costly but we found that we were emotionally “too close” and was really hard to keep our patience. Some parents are more patient than others, I suppose, but we didn’t want the homework struggles be the such a sour point between us and him. We enlisted the help of a wonderful high school student in our neighborhood, who helps him once a week with his lessons. It is better that way, since kids tend to work harder for others (than their parents). Over the summer we also hire a ‘ “special” teacher for 1-2 hours a week, that focus on Reading skills. Since our son “races” through his thoughts so much, this special ed professional teaches reading strategies that forces him to break the information down and take things slower. IT REALLY HELPS! So, check with your son’s teacher is she knows anyone in the school that tutors on the side. That is how we got a hold of ours.

So, to summarize what has helped us:

- Persistence - don’t give up even if somebody tells you to do so.
- Right diagnoses
- Right meds
- Good discipline program at home
- Lots, LOTS of exercise - a consistent program works best
- Additional (neutral) help
- A lot of faith in your kid. Let him know and feel that you don’t doubt for a minute in his success.

I hope all of this will help. Sorry if I rambled on too much or was too confusing. Feel free to contact me if any more questions.

Sincerely.

mlwmc