Okay, let me preference this with I have no idea what is normal for two year olds really behaviorally and my expectations may just be to high, i don't know.

Is it possible for DD 2.8 to be exhibiting signs of ADD or ADHD or is this gifted overexitabilities or just normal. I know some of it is normal, but it is absolutly impossible for DD to be still at all or quite. I mean at all.

Take for exaple...right now she is totally engrossed in a jigaw puzzle, however she is singing a random made up song and standing up and moving and wiggling all over the place. She does this with anything she does. I have yet to find an activity where she does not move or is quite. She can be very very engrossed in somthing but she is still so fidgety.

It drives me nuts. Even when she is sitting still her fingers wil be wigging.

She also has always been an awful sleeper and needs very little sleep. I sed to not be able to get her down till midnight everynight....once she dropped her nap 5 months ago she now goes to bed at 9:30, but this means she is up from 7:30am-9:30pm going non stop, no break, and it is still hard for her to stay still enough and stop fidgiting to go to sleep.

Now I know most 2 year olds have a short attention span, and actually DD seems to have a longer then average attention span, it's just the movemen and the fidgeting that really seems more then average. Things that old her attention, mazes, puzles, building with blocks, etc she will stay at for at least 20-30 mins....but during this time she is in constant motion and constant talking.

IS this normal? If it is.....fine....good, if not is this omething I should have evaluated. I have had other people comment on it...my mom especially has asked me if I think DD is ADHD...and she is around kids DD age and older in her work. I just don't know if this is something I should bring up to the ped and maybe have her evaluated for.

Thoughts Please.

She's only two so I really wouldn't even start thinking about ADD right now. It's probably partly her age, partly her personality and partly her giftedness. My DS was a lot the same at that age.

My DS is 5 and I was pushed by his teachers to have him evaluated for it. I still think that he's too young to really know if he has it or to even consider it. I realize that some kids have it so bad that it affects every part of their lives but that's not the case here. He does do his best learning when he's standing up at the table dancing though

It's not the amount of wiggling that defines ADD/ADHD as I understand it. (And I'm no expert!) It's whether the attention issues are a problem for the child.

It doesn't sound like they are.

A well-known psychlogist and GT/2E expert succinctly summed it up this way at a talk I once attended: an ADHD kid wants to sit still but can't. A GT or kinesthetic-learner kid likes how it feels to move.

Obviously these down-and-dirty thoughts are NOT intended as a diagnosis, but IMHO, your DD sounds like she's 2, probably an extrovert and a kinesthetic learner, and nothing more troubling.

Worth about what you paid for it...

Mine dropped naps at about 27 months and gets up between 6:30 and 6:45am no matter what time she goes to bed! Normally we put her to bed at 8:30pm but sometimes she'll want to work in her workbooks until 9pm-ish.

She doesn't sit still...hardly either and goes all day long! Add a one year old who is just as active into the mix (she does take two short naps during the day) and I am one tired mama!

So you are not alone!

ETA: I do put her in front of the TV to "settle down" and she does when I need her to. She likes Wow Wow Wubbzy and that seems to work! LOL

Hi, Amanda,

I think your kid is very normal.
Try to keep her busy.
My son just slept more when he turned 4.

My son sleeps almost as little as your kid.

Kids speak to themselves while playing games. It is not a surprise. It is normal.

I wonder what you will do is what I seek to do. Try to enrich the activities or join or prepare more activities.

Good luck!

Thank you all! It is nice to know I am not alone. Today I had a migraine and the non stop moving was even more grating LOL.

Kriston- What you said "an ADHD kid wants to sit still but can't. A GT or kinesthetic-learner kid likes how it feels to move."OMG, this totally connected with me....and is definitly her.

She definitly is a mover, and her brain is always going. She has a hard time turning it off so to speak. It is hard because of we do not have constant activities that stimulate her mind she is bored. It ispretty tiring to me because se seems to need me engaged in it all with her constantly which wears my brain out LOL. Most of my friends kids will play, but DD's type of play is totally different....she's not that into doll houses, her play kitchen, or anything like that. She want to instead be doing pules, maze, building incredibly detailed block cities, and having me sit with her and answer questions while she looks at her globe...plus she has been asking me to teach her to read and we have been doing that. I need more activities! LOL

Thanks again

Yes, it definitely sounds to me as if she thinks better while moving and talking, not that the moving and talking interfere with her ability to think or to concentrate. Two very different things.

This is one of my problems with the heavy focus on ADD/ADHD these days. ADD/ADHD is a real thing, and kids and adults who are frustrated by their own bodies and brains need help, certainly. It's good that they can get it. But then again, not every squirmy, chatty kid is ADD/ADHD--especially at 2yo!

The diagnosis is supposed to help the *child* in question, NOT to make easier the lives of the adults who care for the child. If the child is perfectly content and able to focus and learns without problem, then the child doesn't need a diagnosis, no matter how tired the parent/grandparent/sitter/teacher is at the end of the day.

All IMHO, of course...

Oh that is nice to hear that at least some sleep longer later on. My DS2.6 went to bed tonight around 10 pm and he'll be up without fail at 6:15, maybe 6:16. He does take a good size mid-day nap though. Tonight he had to make a hour long paper glue-fest of the entire story line of The Little Red Hen, including cutting and threshing the wheat -- which brought on a couple melt-downs because glued down bits of paper don't cut or thresh easily and the plants were falling over (this turned into a 3D thing). He's so intense. Amazedmom I'm with you if you're wishing for maybe just one day now and then of a kid who just sits there sometimes. We joke about exposing DS on purpose to colds because we find that when he has a cold he's just about 10% less.

Polly

Hooray for no napping, horrible sleeping, non-stop moving kiddos!!!

Both of my guys never stop moving and light up EVERY option on Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities chart for the physical section at least. They can also concentrate on what they are interested in for much longer than they are 'supposed to' at their age. The movement thing can also be related to sensory integration issues, but unless she is showing other signs of that I wouldn't worry about it.

My DD is like that and I also worried about ADHD but she has settled in a little bit. FISH OIL has helped. Check into it! She is still a highly spirited, chatty, wiggly child, BUT she does seem to have calmed a bit once we started the supplements. Her chatter made my head throb and the movement drove me nuts at times. Fortunately, she has always slept well. We connected in another thread and our DDs seem similar so for us it is normal, her 21 month old sister is the same way, but other kids her age that we know are not as animated, active, and chatty so I don't know what is typical. She is HIGHLY excitable, but at 3.5 she has started to show more containment at times. Like your DD, she has excellent focus and learning, so it is just that some of her settings are stuck on HIGH. She never gets drowsy or quiet all day long so I feel for you. I actually have two like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think that she has ADHD, but you do have your hands full. At age 2 there is so little that they can physically do, it's hard to get them hard enough material to interact with on their limited physical abilities. I'm thinking that you might try bringing home some workbooks aimed at much older kids and see what happens if you leave them around the house. Have you looked at http://www.leapfrog.com/en/shop/tag_library.html
http://www.leapfrog.com/en/families/leapster/leapster_bundles/disney_magical_fun.html


Seems like getting her brain worn out is the first step.

Now the second step. You will have to train her to be content without you - slowly, with lots of support and planning, but it 'must be done.' You can start by praising her for watching TV while you shower, or some other equally small babystep. Maybe even teach her to run in place for 10 seconds while she has to wait for you?

It will get easier!
Smiles,
Grinity

I love this! This is actually how my ds6 describes his constant movement. He says it feels good and that he thinks better when moving. He was concentrating on a computer program very intently yesterday, and I just had to laugh because his mouth and body did not stop moving the entire time. If I'd made him be quiet and still, he would have had a harder time learning/completing the assigment, and it would have taken 5 times longer!

I have to say my ds6 is still exactly like your dd. He always has been. I always thought he didn't need as much sleep as other kids, but for him I've come to learn that he does need the sleep-it's just harder for him to get it because his mind won't shut off long enough for him to fall asleep. The sleep thing is much better now and has been for about a year.

He is much calmer, less fidgety, and sleeps better when he has a lot of physical and mental stimulation throughout the day. It's exhausting as a parent, I know. Good luck; she sounds like a normal, gifted little girl to me.

Alright i turned 45 today and I exhibit all the behaviours of this 2 year old. wiggling check, constant movement, check talking /sing to self check My 8 yr old son is getting into trouble for all of these same things in his classroom. I know its not normal its just who we are.

I just want to say thank you all so much again! It is amazing how much better I feel hearing others speak of the same thing. DD is like no other child I have ever met, and definitly not like my friends children, who will sit and play, and who sleep LOL.

Twinkletoes- our DDs do sound alike. I think I will have to look into that fish oil. I can not imagine having 2 like her. I told my mom that DD is the best form of birth control LOL. I love her, but I could not imagine how I could handle having 2 like her. LOL

Grinity- TY! She definitly loves the advanced workbooks we have. She loves doing K ones and 1st grade ones that challange her. I bought her a leappad off ebay for Christmas along with about 30 books. So I am hoping that will help. I have been trying to get her to do things without me which is definitly a struggle. Keep plowing away on it though.

JenSMP- Makes me hopeful that one day the sleep will be easier for her. Thank you for sharing

Vicam- you made me smile

Hi Amanda,

Well my DD was had just turned one when I became pregnant and she had't really "exploded" into her dynamic personality yet so I didn't know what I was in for at that time. My younger one is so busy that it makes my head spin. NEITHER child is like any of the children we know. Both are theatrical, outgoing, highly verbal, and friendly, so on the surface it looks great, and they can be delightful, but they can really wear me out. Believe me, I am so done with childbearing after this LOL I see a pregnant woman and I shudder.

Fish oils help ADHD kids and while my DD isn't diagnosed with that and I am not saying she has it, I swear it has helped. For example, she used to be unable to stop kicking and twisting at night while I read her books while sitting on the couch, or tapping her hands etc. Now I swear she has kept her legs still longer. Maybe it is just getting older, but it happened after we started adding fish oil. The EPA content is even more important than the DHA.

Hi,

As long as we're talking supplements I have put in my plug for vitamin E, one of the least consumed vitamins by young kids... I'm naturally skeptic but saw a little bit calmer DS after a week or so with a daily cup of chocolate almond milk (lots of E in almonds). I do appreciate him however he is but he seems to get more enjoyment from things when he's in a (relatively) calm mood.

Polly

Melatonin - but I don't know the dosages for a child of that age! It is a favorite at our house! A gamechanger when it comes to unwinding and allowing needed sleep to arrive!

Grinity

My DS(16) fidgets, fidgets, fidgets... he has always been like this. When he was school captain in year 6 and had to sit on the stage at assemblies he would scratch his head, arms and legs and shift around in his chair, it was almost painful to watch. Thank goodness it stopped whenever he had to address the audience!

It was all I could do not to burst out laughing when we were having a meeting with the principal last year and we were going through the typical scratching only this time looking at his watch was thrown into the mix. It got to the point that she ended up asking him if he had to be somewhere else. He replied no, but said it in such a surprised way that you could tell he was thinking "why would she be asking me that". LOL.