Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional ADHD-inattentive type.

Hi!
My dd has not been doing well in math this year. She is placed one year ahead and has been since first grade. (This is the dreaded Everyday Math.) We got her a math tutor (the tutor is a dream come true, a cheerleader who is in calc and loves children and need community service hours.) and we've been working with dd on her math facts.
DD is also doing poorly in organization skills, keeping her spaces tidy, and in just sitting still.
I took her in for an assessment for ADHD thinking it couldn't hurt and it might give us some answers. Sure enough, they diagnosed her as ADHD- inattentive type I sent the paperwork into her school for the teachers to answer about her behaviors and performance. We got the paperwork back yesterday and she was mostly scored 0's which means not an issue. One of the 3 teachers who scored her said that she would benefit from being placed in grade level math.
I feel frustrated. It almost feels like the school is just trying to prove that dd is perfectly fine except that we are pushing her too hard in math.
Does anyone else have a girl who is compliant and a people pleaser who also has ADHD and can't focus?

I wouldn't worry over-much about the teachers forms. The doctor isn't going to alter a diagnosis over that. If she meets the criteria and the doctor believes she has it, that's all you need, really.

Regardless of what the teacher wants, you can more forward with treatments - be that meds, or therapy or what-have-you.

Mine is obviously combined type (although it seems like she is actually more hyper now than she was before she was diagnosed at age 6). I think diagnosis is an issue with ADHD girls who are just inattentive. When teachers think ADHD they think hyper, impulsive, etc. Not sweet girls who are compliant and cooperative. It took us a while to get a diagnosis, partly because she was young but also because she held herself together pretty well in school and looked basically like the other kindergartners (now they have matured and she hasn't).

If your DD is wiggly or has trouble sitting still that sounds more like "combined type" than "inattentive type" although I guess it depends on degree.

Thanks! I was just getting this vibe of the school feeling like we need dd to be ahead in math and that we are refusing to face facts that she needs to be put back a year.

DD does hold herself together pretty well. Her teachers all really enjoy her but I see academics becoming more problematic for her. The dev. ped. we saw recommended using a supplement called "Attend," which we started giving to her last week. No change in behaviors as of yet. Maybe soon? Maybe never?
Our follow up appointment is not until next month but I might try to get it bumped up a bit.

It is very common for a 2e to be perceived as average, when he or she is anything but average.

Can you get detailed documentation and recommendations from the dev. ped and maybe approach the school about a 504? Having it all in writing helps everyone to see the same picture.


In what way? Because of boredom, inattention, both? Some kids with ADHD-i literally can't pay attention if they are not challenged.

I think it is inattention. I feel like her school is a good academic fit for her. It is a TAG school with multi-age classrooms. Lots of differentiation going on. She's a dreamer for sure!

I would talk to the dev. ped. about both meds and behavioral teaching strategies for improving attention. (That combination is proven to be better than either/or.)

Uhm-- if it's JUST in math?

Maybe it's not really ADHD at all-- maybe it's EDMS (EveryDay Math Syndrome).

Just throwing that out as a possibility-- some of this could be because the math curriculum is just that bad. Have you looked carefully at precisely what it is she is doing in math?

Excellent point. It is a truly idiotic curriculum.