Question for parents of children with ADHD

Jenelle101 · February 2014

I am concerned about my daughter's behavior. She is almost 4 years old. I know that it's a young age to start worrying about ADHD since most 4-year-olds are hyperactive and impulsive, but my daughter stands out from the rest of the kids. I have been reading a lot about the topic lately, and my child development and teaching background has given me opportunities to see ADHD first-hand. I have already emailed her pediatrician to talk more about this, but I'm curious... Tell me the symptoms your child with ADHD had from newborn-4 years old. Thanks!

EDIT: BTW, I realize that newborns/babies can't be diagnosed with ADHD, but studies show that children with ADHD have shown specific behaviors as young as newborns.

AvianaNmommy · February 2014

is your daughter really hyper? what are some of the things that stand out to you?

my daughter is super active too,more than other kids, so I am always curious if its just her....or normal toddler behavior!

yeah. · February 2014

I have a very high energy 3 year old. She cannot sit still and she never.shuts.up.

I don't think she has ADHD and no pedi should diagnose or medicate for it at 4.

Jenelle101 · February 2014

fredalina said:

My daughter has SPD and may have ADHD; her developmental pedi wanted to re-assess at 5 and also give OT a chance to maybe help. One reason I tend to think it is SPD more is that she has WAY more problems at school than at home, and also shows issues in sensory rich indoor environments, like malls. She ALWAYS has a lot of energy, but her energy and impulsivity get out of control in those environments. At this age SPD and ADHD can look really similar. With DD, she is VERY mature in some ways and very immature in others. She shows incredible judgment so much of the time; it's only when the impulsivity hits that it goes out the window. She acts like either a 2 year old or a 12 year old. They say kids with ADHD act 2/3 of their age; that is true of my DD sometimes but very untrue others. It's hard to figure out as a mom. As a newborn, LO was pretty determined. At 2 days old during tummy time she lifted her head up so her forehead was about an inch off the ground and turned her head to the other cheek. I didn't realize that wasn't typical until later. Even as a newborn and WAY before she could actually crawl or creep or even roll, she would always manage to wiggle off the blanket. I had to make a bunch of 1 yard flannel blankets because standard receiving blankets were never big enough. She reached for toys super early, smiled early, rolled early, pulled up, stood holding things at 2.5 months, etc etc etc. She was climbing before she was crawling (on toys). She was all about physical things. I remember one time when she was maybe 6 moths old being frustrated and squeezing her too tight and she just laughed. We started "wrestling" (gently obviously) about 9 months because she loved that kind of play. We joked at that age that she was "all boy". This early physical stuff just kept up with her. She was also verbal early but the gross motor skills really stood out, as well as risk taking. I will mention that my DD (who was adopted) was born addicted or exposed to several drugs. Cocaine in particular is known to increase hyperactivity, so it is possible that her issues are part of that. When she was an infant I joked that she was so ahead physically because of the "performance enhancing drugs", haha. It's hard to know where one issue ends and another begins.

I swear you just described my daughter... (minus the "performance enhancing drugs" part. LOL). My daughter was extremely active at an early age. She rolled early, crawled at 5 months, walked at 8 months, was running by 10 months. She has also been very verbal. (She never shuts up! haha) People often think she's older than she really is because she's so mature and has an incredible vocabulary for her age. And then all of a sudden, a switch goes off and she's back to being a 2-year-old... exactly how you described. When we ask her to sit still at the dinner table, she screams, "I can't control my body!" It's like she really cannot control herself. When she's having a conversation with me, she's pacing in circles as she's talking. I have even held her still, and she'll start tapping her foot or squirming away so that she can physically move her body while she's talking. She often says she's bored when she is "forced" to concentrate on a task, such as coloring. But I think she just can't sit still long enough to do it, and she gets easily frustrated. Even when she watches a 20-minute tv show, she is bouncing all over the couch or is playing with something in her hands. As a baby she had colic; she never napped more than 20 minutes at a time (until she was 2); she has always had extreme behaviors. When she has tantrums, they're not normal 20-minute tantrums. They're 2 HOURS. She'll bite herself, kick the door, bite whatever is in sight (not people, luckily), and pull her hair. Then she's as sweet as can be as soon as it's over. I joke that she's Bipolar. I know that a lot of this is typical behavior of a 3-year-old, but I guess it's how extreme is can be sometimes that makes me think she might have ADHD. Basically she has EVERY single symptom of hyperactivity and impulsivity (but not inattentiveness at all.) And I'm not talking once in a while.. I'm talking consistently--every day.

Jenelle101 · February 2014

fredalina said:

Does she show any other signs of sensory issues, or is it all hyperactivity? Like with my DD, she would wriggle to the edges of the blanket and then cry because she didn't like how the carpet felt. If I put her on grass, she cried like crazy. When I go through the checklists, I am amazed because so much of it applies to her, and yet she functions really well. Here's a checklist of sensory processing. It's obviously not diagnostic but could help you know whether to ask your pedi about it or focus more on ADHD. Like I said, they are very similar at this age and someone could have both. https://www.spdparentzone.org/resources/Sensory Processing Disorder Checklist.pdf In each of these areas, kids can be either hypersensitive or hypo sensitive. Hypersensitive means your body feels that thing too much; imagine if all noises sounded SUPER loud to you and it was overwhelming, or you could feel every thread in your clothes. Hyposensitive is the opposite, where your body has less reaction to that sensation and may crave or seek it. For example, proprioception is the sense of one's body in relation to the world around it. I always describe it like you're driving a car. Once you are familiar with that car, you have little problem parking it without hitting other cars, and you know where your wheels are so going through a drive through doesn't faze you. But when you first learn that car, you have to really think about it. Only proprioception is with your own body. Someone who is hypersensitive with proprioception may be more timid, seeming afraid to try new things. Someone who is hyposensitive with proprioception will always be bumping furniture, getting bruises they don't remember getting, and seem to enjoy crashing into things/people. My girl and I are both hyposensitive to proprioception. She LOVES to wrestle. Because one can be hyper- or hyposensitive to the same thing, and because there are the 5 senses you normally think about (sight, sound, touch, smell, taste) plus some more you normally don't think about (vestibular, or motion, and proprioception), SPD can look vey very different in different people. In fact you can be hyposensitive to some things and hypersensitive to others. DD is hypersensitive to sound and hyposensitive to most things. But sometimes people can be BOTH hyposensitive and hypersensitive to the same thing, at different times. So clearly that checklist will not present 100% of everything because some of them are opposites. I've heard from different people including my own pediatrician as well as developmental pediatrician and folks on the Special Needs board that they don't generally like to diagnose ADHD until at least age 5 or 6. There are some who have diagnoses at 4, but that's usually where there are safety concerns. SPD can be diagnosed at any age.

OH sorry, I guess I should have been more specific. She doesn't seem to have any sensory issues. Just the hyperactivity, impulsivity and some of the inattentiveness. My husband (her dad) was diagnosed with ADD at 6 years old too. So I guess there's that factor as well! Thanks for sharing your story. I'm not sure if I'll have her tested now or wait it out and see if the symptoms continue. I guess at this point I'll just look into some resources and suggestions as to how to deal with her behaviors (whether or not it's ADHD).

Jenelle101 · February 2014

Well I talked with a child psychologist and psychiatrist about her behavior. They said they normally don't test children under 6, but that her behaviors seem extreme and it seemed urgent enough for us to come in. I'm meeting with them by myself to give more information, and then they'll see her next. Ugh.. I'm a little scared about all this, but I'm looking forward to getting some advice and support!

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