DD's teacher says, "I feel that what I'm seeing in class is an attention issue."
Our experience has been that teachers may be quick to think that behavior they don't understand in class may be ADHD simply because there are quite a few kids in our school district who have (genuinely have) ADHD diagnoses so the teachers have seen ADHD before. Things like CAPD and some of the other challenges our 2e kids on this board have may have behaviors associated with them that look like ADHD, but the teachers aren't familiar with those challenges and also are not in palace to make a diagnosis. Our 2e ds' second grade teacher was quick to think ds had ADHD - and suggested it to us without using the term "ADHD".. but it was clear what she thought was up. DS does not have ADHD, but his 2nd grade teacher was absolutely correct in that *something* was up and he desperately needed help and support in the classroom.
I think it's also impossible for us as parents to fully tease out what's up with our kids when they are having challenges like this - we see the child we know at home, we read about intellectually gifted children and their associated quirks, we have knowledge from other parents and from reading and from our general impressions about things like ADHD but we're not trained experts who know who to diagnosis it any more than teachers are, and we find hints of things like CAPD by researching that may fit some of our children's symptoms so we check them out. Following our gut feeling and checking out things that seem to make sense is really important, and you're on the right track with that. The thing is, though, as you said, even if your dd has CAPD it's possible it isn't going to be "the" one thing that explains everything. I apologize for losing track of who's child has had what testing, but this is where I've found that a broad look by a private professional really really helps - either a neuropsych or in your dd's case possibly a developmental pediatrician familiar with ASD and ADHD.
Best wishes,
polarbear
