Misdiagnosed ADHD? Apologize for the length...

Trying to find answers regarding our 8 year old daughter. We recognized learning issues after 2 years of preschool when she couldn’t remember the alphabet. One day she could count to 20, the next day day she couldn’t count to 3. She loves art and her drawings are very detailed. At age 5 she drew her first picture upside down at the same speed as she would a picture right side up…(hope that makes sense.) The majority of her numbers and letters are usually backwards.

We found an advocate with the school district. She began testing for phonological deficits for which my daughter tested negative. As our daugther started kindergarten and was having difficulty retaining her alphabet and numbers, the school district advocate worked with the school and our daughter was put on a 504.

She also did a program called Brain Gym which involved using major muscles to form the letters of the alphabet. It was eventually through this method that she learned her letters. It was at the beginning of kindergarten that she received the diagnosis of ADHD. She was put on Concerta which 2 years later was discontinued because of ineffectiveness.

For first grade, we moved her to an Arts Charter school where she has thrived. She is not on a 504. She continues to write most of her numbers backwards. While her math is usually correct, you have to hold it up a mirror to correct it. Many of her letters are also backwards. Her memory is awful, she is constantly forgetting. We only give her one task at a time. Her number one saying is “I forgot”.

She often has problems processing a simple sentence. “Hand - me - the - scissors.” Sometimes will need to be repeated 3 times for her to understand and then respond.

She has no “social filter” and this can interfere with friendships at school and church. If she has had an accident and wet her pants, she doesn’t realize that sharing this at school will have the kids make fun of her. She will often tell a girl her dress isn’t pretty, etc. The first time she saw her brother in a life jacket at the lake and he fell in, she was in a position to help him and she did nothing. After little brother was rescued, and she was asked why she didn’t help she simply replied that she wanted to see if “he would float”. When I furiously said he could’ve died, she simply replied that Jesus would bring him back to life.

She extremely clumsy and any space that is hers even temporarily becomes a disaster zone. Yet, her organization skills are amazing. She loves to organize the pantry, kitchen cupboards, etc. She does an amazing job.

One proffesional is suggesting she doesn’t have ADHD but a processing disorder. That it sounds like Fetal Alcohol Syndrome but I am LDS and do not drink.

Another has suggested the alcohol in cough syrups and perhaps she was susceptible like certain kids were in the past were to Aspirin and developed Reyes Syndrome…

We are at a loss…she is a darling girl who at first, one would be surprised to learn of her issues. But the older she gets, the tougher these issues are becoming. Any suggestions would be most appreciated…