Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Updated again: no CAPD

As mentioned, you also should get a real hearing test from n audiologist in the sound proof room.

Okay, we're just waiting for the scheduling call from the university folks for CAPD and hearing testing.

DD's teacher says, "I feel that what I'm seeing in class is an attention issue."

It's not the first time it's been hinted at. But I look at inattentive ADD and I just don't see it. I mean, I see a few things, but this is not a child with trouble focusing. She also doesn't lose things much anymore (we had a brief problem with this at the beginning of last year but I can't recall our last lost item) and isn't particularly disorganized. She does, by her own admission, daydream in class, but I think this is her way of compensating for boredom. She has a very active inner fantasy life. I asked her if she ever feels like she has more trouble paying attention than other kids and she looked at me like I had two heads. IMO, she can definitely pay attention quite well. However, it's true that it can be hard to GET her attention if she is absorbed.

Hearing loss looks alot like ADD. If you can't hear what is going on, obviously you will tune out and create your own little fantasy world. My hearing impaired son always played alone and had a vivid fantasy/imaginary friend world in preschool. Gradually, after he got a hearing aid, he became more engaged with other children and school.
He always had a great attention span at home when it was quiet. He could sit for hours and build blocks, or legos, etc.
This year so far (knock wood!) has been great. We shut off his FM system, which linked the teacher's mike into his hearing aid. He said he likes not hearing her keys clinking- I guess sometimes teachers wear their keys around their neck, it would hit the mike,a nd amplify into his head!
They started fourth grade with the 5th grade mathbook, which has been easy for him, but alot of kids are struggling. He does basically all of the work in class but most kids have 30 minutes at home to do. Attention is a skill that can be improved with practice also. He's been doing weekly private piano lessons for 3 years, and that has helped alot too.

Couple of thoughts, Ultra--

1) Glad you are ruling out (or in) the hearing and CAPD issues.

2) ADD and ASD can be confounding. The "lost in own head" or "active fantasy life" elements can be characteristic of ASD; that failure to tune in, or "what?" kind of kid can just have such nice things going on the inner screen that they don't check in with the world. If the hearing/CAPD are ruled out, I would still say to take your DD to a neuropsych who has seen lots of girls with autism and get a really serious workup to figure out the attention and anxiety issues, and parse out what you're dealing with. Knowing can really help.

DeeDee

I'd be far more inclined to believe ASD than ADD, although honestly she is socially so well-liked these days that it doesn't seem a good fit either. Really, I know teachers see things I don't, and I know inattentive ADD is different from ADHD, but I don't see this as an ADD kid. In fact, other people's kids have always seemed unfocused and short on attention compared to her. It took me a while to realize she was the outlier. I mean, she's always been very able to sit and listen to people speaking, or sit and complete things. She sat through a lecture on water pollution issues with me recently that went over an hour--she was the only child present and listened with complete attention, asking me a lot of questions later (actually, she also cried about it later).

Sigh. I'd like to think we're going to get a CAPD dx and that it may help with some things, but even if so, it isn't going to solve everything with this kid.

Yes, if this doesn't turn anything up, we'll go on to more evals. She had a major school-related meltdown this afternoon. She is not meshing well with this teacher and I'd like to rule ADD OUT if we can, because the hinting about it is aggravating me.

Hi Ultra,

Yes, IMO teachers really have NO BUSINESS hinting around about ADD. They should fill out the diagnostic checklists that qualified evaluators ask of them, but they should not snidely tell anybody that their child "should be medicated" or anything of the sort. They are simply not equipped to make that kind of professional judgment; it is not in their training, and they should not take on that role.

I really do listen to teachers, because if they are telling me something is off, it invariably IS-- but the solution is not always what they think it is, and I really want my school team to listen to my private experts to learn about that, as well as deploying their own professional skills.

It may help to tell the hinty teacher in a serious tone, "We are working through these questions with our medical professionals." In a "this is the end of this conversation, thank you" kind of tone.

Long attention can indeed be related to ASD or ADD-- failure to transition from one thing to another. And it can be an asset, not just a liability. Very complex stuff.

Sorry about the school meltdown. I hope things get better soon.

DeeDee

Yes, I did send her an email that basically said something along those lines.

I know there is the "hyperfocus" thing with ADD, but it's not like she has hyperfocus on a few areas of interest. She's just focused. On whatever. Well, homework...homework can be a struggle. But classwork has always been completed on time, for instance. She isn't THE quickest to finish--but her work is superior.

Frankly, I think DD and her teacher are not hitting it off. It happens. DD can be prickly and can start off giving a bad impression, though she is not poorly behaved, per se. She isn't a cute pleaser, although she actually has a huge heart and means well. It sometimes takes adults a while to "get" her and understand how she ticks. Some adults immediately love her, but unfortunately they don't tend to be elementary school teachers. All her past teachers have eventually become fond of her, but this isn't our first rocky start, and with adults who only deal with her superficially, sometimes it never gets better.

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

I could have written this paragraph, Polar! Except that the teacher told us point blank that our kid had ADHD and should be medicated (teacher herself had a child with ADHD). In reality, DS did not have ADHD, he had ASD, which often includes unusual behaviors around attention (both long and short attention span).

Her adamance did help us get more support, so it was in the end worth something, however frustrating her misreading of DS's diagnostic situation was at the time. Ultra, I hope you can leverage your teacher's intuition into some support from the school that means something?

DeeDee

I'm sorry your dd is not having an easy fit with her new teacher. That stinks.

Something I have not seen mentioned on this board before is an easy little online 'test' you can do to help see if attention/brain flexibility are causing an issue with learning. Google "Stroop Test" and you will see a lot of versions online. The basic idea of the "Stroop Effect" is that our brain has to draw upon different areas to distinguish different information: words in one area, colors in a different area, OR visual locations or shapes in a different area.

You may get an idea of how well your dd does with this task which requires her to ignore cetain information (the printed color name) vs the requested information (the color of the PRINT of the word).

There are standardized versions of this test pyschologist's use...but when a layperson is trying to find a direction to look such as your dd who doesn't seem inattentive, you may find it's insightful.