Does this sound like ADHD to y’all?
Hi--I'm new here....my name's Michelle. I have a 5 year old (who will turn 6 in January) son who is giving DH and I trouble w/ making noises (some high-pitched voices he uses out of the blue, repeating what he's just heard, gasping, etc.). He's gotten into some trouble at school for this as well.
I just don't know what to think. A friend mentioned Tourettes Syndrome which I believe is ADHD related.
If he's busy doing something he likes, there are usually no problems, but if he's in an inbetween time, that's when the trouble starts. If this is something he can't control, I don't want to be punishing him for it.
Please help. Thanks for any advice! 
Welcome! Unfortunately, it's impossible for anyone to diagnose your son over the internet (plus we don't have the medical degree), but I can offer you this advice: If you have any concerns at all about your son and his behavior, please have him evaluated by a neuropsychologist, who can do lots of tests to assess the psychological and cognitive functioning of your child. Once a diagnosis is reached, you will be able to put the proper interventions into place.
He could have Tourettes, but when you mention that he says what he hears, does he echo? Does he tend to memorize his television shows and taok with them? My son, age 12, still does the latter although the echolalia stopped after he broke into speech. He makes high pitched noises. Onto the repeating: My son, for example, would answer questjions this way: "WHere's your coat?" He's say, "coat." What's your name? He'd say "name." He was a very strange child with lots of sensory issues and rages in public and, after NINE (count them NINE) yers of misdiagnosis, tons of heavy duty meds that he didn't need, and, fortunately (the lifesaver) lots of school itnervention, in spite of being diagnosed wrongly, he was finally correctly identified as having PDD-NOS, a moderate to high functioning form of autimn. Duh! He had the traits. He still makes high pitched annoying noises, but he now only does it in his room. He's allowed to do it--autistic kids need to "stim"--but he has become "aware" enough to not want others to hear it. He does NOT appear autitistic to others, but at home he has obsessions, hates routine changes, and still covers his ears when we see a loud movie. He's improved 100% though. This kid is far from where we thought he'd be and is NEVER in trouble at school--his teachers love hm. He is is a Special Ed class for half the day, but not for behavior problems. This was a kid who raged, bit himself, bit me, broke a few doors with his head, made me chase him through the mall on several occaissions and threw fits in public as a young child. We see NONE of that now. You may want to see a good NeuroPsych to see if he has Autistic Spectrum Disorder as well as a Neurologist for Tourettes. Sadly, YES, they are different and will catch different things. Neurologists look for things they can see, and often miss autism. NeuroPsychs do specific performance tests for autism. It took my son twelve hours of testing. Psychiatrists may mistake autism for mental illness. A Psychiatrist diagnosed my son with bipolar and he spent three years on heavy duty meds, although I kept telling him that my son did not rage or seem to have moodswings. Autistic kids are very literal. When my son was asked if he hears voices he said, "Yes," which caused his bipolar diagnosis. If you ask him about his answer now, he will say, "Of course I hear voices. You just spoke to me and I heard your voice!" Grrrrrrrr. Here I thought the kid was hallucniating, although he never talked to himself. You could say we've seen every professional that exists, but, really, it was tiresome but worth it. Trust your Mom Gut too. My Mom Gut told me something to do with autism, and I should have stuck to it. These professionals don't live with our kids; we do.
I have a link for you that has some stuff on ADHD, some on Tic Disorders including Tourtettes and some on PDDAutism, which including blurbs on all types of autistic spectrum disorder. I also included a link that goes straight to a test for autism/PDD. Be sure to look at "different types of autism" and check kout Aspergers and PDD-NOS. However, NOT all autistic kids have language regression. Mine did not. He had a delay, not a regression, and Aspergers kids don't have ANY speech probelms. All have social problems, some that aren't evident clearly until the kids are 8-12. And it doesn't metnion the high pitched "squeaks" that many of these kids make! It's very basic information.The PDD Assessment test is fairly decent. Good luck.
www.childbrain.com/pddassess.html
Here is a summary of some medical information which may help you in consulting with physicians in trying to sort out your son's movements ... it summarizes the similarities and differences between several different childhood movement disorders (tics, stereotypies and stims) ...
http://tourette-syndrome-now-what.blogspot.com/2005/12/tics- stims-and-stereotypies-tourettes.html
Also, if they turn out to be tics, the prognosis is good for most !
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Tourette Syndrome - Now What?
http://tourettenowwhat.tripod.com
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