Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional What to expect with ADD?

I want to get DD5 evaluated soon for ADD. She's fits into almost every check list that I've seen for ADD (although, she also fits into many for SPD too so I'm not sure there...). I really don't think it's a boredom issue either because it occurs at home and her previous teachers have said many times that she had a hard time concentrating even on activities that were challenging for her at an appropriate level (her last school was a Montessori school and they did make a point to work at her pace).

I've read that many gifted children tend to hide it and that just doesn't ring true for her. She's very disorganized, gets distracted almost immediately, when she's hyperfocused you almost have to scream at her to get her attention, poor handwriting, constantly touching things, constant talking/interrupting, extremely picky with clothes, forgetful, stubborn etc.

I'm mostly looking for resources, other parent's experiences, questions to ask her teacher etc.

I have wondered for a couple of years about ADHD with regard to DS6. But, some prominent experts in the field of gifted education are of the perspective that overexcitabilities and asynchronous development can account for ADD-type behaviors. They caution that there is overdiagnosis of ADD (http://www.sengifted.org/programs/seng-misdiagnosis-initiative)

What we are doing now is getting a full neuropsych eval (per advice I got on this forum) with experienced testers knowledgable about gifted traits. It will cost a significant amount of money, but at least I'll finally have an answer that I can rely upon, and hopefully some information on how to help my son with the issues, regardless of cause.

Good luck to you - I hope you find what you're looking for.

Is there a school psych? You could ask if she/he can do an observation to see what percentage of time she is on task. I'm not sure what is normal for a 5 year old (kindergarten?). I was told that for first grade they should be on-task 80 percent of the time. There are also inventories for ADHD (like Conners) that you can fill out as well as teacher versions. They can't diagnose ADHD but you can take the results to her doctor.

Ask the teacher if there are significant focus issues compared to the other kids. If the answer is "yes"...she probably has ADHD in my opinion. They probably won't come right out and tell you if they think she has ADHD or not. They will talk about "focus issues" and hope you figure it out.

Yes to what blackcat said. Also, it helps to do the observation in conjunction with a parallel observation of a non-identified (as ADHD or any other need) same-sex peer in the classroom, so that you can reduce teacher and task effects.

Freely downloadable checklists that most pediatricians recognize: (Vanderbilt)

http://www.uwmedicine.org/neighborhood-clinics/Documents/03VanAssesScaleParent%20Infor.pdf
http://www.nspeds.com/_files/Vanderbilt-Teacher-Initial.pdf

A nice practical book on ADHD interventions:

"How to Reach and Teach ADD/ADHD Children." Sandra Rief.

Books on executive functions:

"Smart but Scattered". Peg Dawson
"Late, Lost, and Unprepared." Joyce Cooper-Kahn.

I disagree. There is a HUGE overlap between SPD and "ADHD". We have just filled in the checklist forms for a 5th time, and yet again, the symptoms that are the same as SPD symptoms are in the red flag columns, nothing else is.

I also read a study about a year ago that proved that sensory integration strategies were just as effective for ADHD kids as for SPD kids. That made me wonder. Also, the less compatible the school environment is with her level of giftedness, the more "ADHD" she is going to *seem*.

From what you mention above it seems there are definitely sensory issues. Personally I would work on those before testing for ADHD as it may cause a false positive. JMO.

Spend 1 day with my DD and you will be convinced that ADHD is a real disorder and that there is no way sensory integration strategies would help in any significant way. Everyone can tell immediately if she is medicated or not. Her focus is 0-1 out of 10 unmedicated and 8-9 medicated. You can tell almost exactly when the medication kicks in and wears off. If sensory issues were causing all of her focus issues, that would not happen. A lot of people don't see SPD as a distinct disorder. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends it not be diagnosed at all, unless it is in conjunction with certain disorders like autism, ADHD, developmental coordination disorder, etc.

Thanks for all the responses. She's a very young 1st grader (she was too young from her birthday but they made an exception for her). Her previous school definitely talked a lot about focus issue and like I said it was a Montessori school that made a point to work ahead with her on math (she was doing multiplication there, for instance). Her teacher remarked that even when she was doing subjects that she enjoyed (typically math/science) that she was easily distracted.

Her school does have a psychologist, so would that be the best route to go through for an evaluation? We were initially thinking of talking to her teacher directly after she was there for a few more weeks so she had known DD longer.

Honestly the line between SPD/ADD is confusing for me since there's a lot of overlap on the checklists and DD seems to hit most of them on both sides. Even as a young child we suspected she might have SPD but couldn't get it evaluated due to where we were living. It was only last semester after talking to her K teacher that we thought more in the ADD line.

I don't think many people doubt that ADHD is real. They just doubt that it is as prevalent as it has become. Also I think one of the diagnoses points is certain behavoirs persisting past the age of 7? As far as I know diagnosing a 5 year old with ADHD is a bit of a dubious practice.

Normally kids aren't medicated until around age 6, although I've heard of it happening earlier. The youngest age that a diagnosis is reliable--I don't know. I think it would be a good idea to keep your eye on it, collect information, and be prepared to evaluate when she is 6.

We're not hoping to medicate her. Rather, we'd like to seek out strategies to help her concentrate more and be less forgetful. It's quite often we'll ask her to do a very simple task (like grab a tissue) and the second she leaves to do it she forgets and gets distracted. She's also had issues with forgetting her homework at school too.