New To This Site Need Advice.

I highly recommend looking beyond ADHD. With his speech problems (my son had them too and outgrew them) and serious social problems and strange "deficits" such as inability to tell time, I would put my neck out and  say he has a lot of symptoms of Aspergers Syndrome or High Functioning Autism, which a Psycologist would likely diagnose as ADHD because they don't test for it. These kids are "odd ducks" and suffer social humiliation because they don't have a clue how to act appropriately and it becomes more apparent that they are "different" from their peers as they get older. THe kissing someone may be "iffy" at age 7, but he should realize how inappropriate it is by now, and he's not "getting it." At his age, he is more likely to get diagnosed. I suggest seeing a NeuroPsycologist (not a regular Psycologists) as they run hours of performance tests and can get to the nitty gritty of ADHD and beyond. It sounds very much like it could be a form of higher functioning autism and these kids want to have friends, but don't know how, far beyond ADHD kids and their sometimes pestiness. "Leave no stone unturned" and don't trust a Psycologist alone for this one. Whatever you decide to do, good luck. I have a site for you about Aspergers Syndrome. I recommend you read it to see if it fits. However, speech delays usually mean high functioning autism or PDD-NOS. He's doing well in school so I'm guessing Aspergers--I wouldn't let the diagnosis stand as it is, if this were my son. And it WAS my son. His first diagnosis was ADHD, but he's on the autism spectrum. He wasn't dxd. until 11.

www.udel.edu/bkirby/asperger/frame2.html

Good morning,

My son, like oldermom's is on the Autism spectrum with PDD-NOS. I would just like to put a "ditto" behind her comments - they are good ones.

Dylan, like yours, had significant speech delays, and was "cured" through speech therapy. However, his social skills and peer interaction still are very poor. He just doesn't "get it" when it comes to associating with the children in his school, or any children for that matter LOL.

The neuropsychologist is a good idea. For what it's worth, no psychologist in 6 years has ever given Dylan an accurate dx. It's ALWAYS been ADHD/ODD, and the sad part about that is, he's not ODD at all, and the ADHD is questionable (because hyperactivity and lack of attention can also come from PDD-NOS).

Here's another site: www.childbrain.com

They have a PDD questionnaire there you can fill out, print, and take to your psychiatrist or neuropsych.

Janna

Hmmmm. Sounds an awful lot like my son, who was just diagnosed 3 weeks ago by his pediatrician as adhd. Now I am wondering. He also had the significant speech delay, not saying his first word until 3 1/2. But was out of special ed by 6, due to his speech improved greatly. He has no friends, he wants them but doesn't know how. He is very acedemically ahead of his first grade peers, but has major behavior problems in school and home. I wonder...

I just ordered a book from amazon about how to teach your child to make friends. I plan on reading it asap, I will let you know if it helps. Good luck, Donna

welcome.

my som has one very good friend at the time.he doesn't invade their space but he gets really obssessive and has meltdowns if he doesn't caome home after nursery with us and he can be quite aggressive towards oyher kids who try to play with this friend.

i have explained to his parents that jude has  ADHD and also to his friend.they are only 4 so it is easier i guess.

there was a lady a few weeks back with the same problem,she wrote back saying that her daughter finally got a friend don't despair it will happen.

i will try to find that post for you

My son started having problems first with speech. I had him in speech therapy prior to kindergarten and on an iep to enter school. I thought his inability to communicate and be disincluded by his peers was soley due to his speech problems. When in first and second grade the teachers suggested him to be tested for adhd due to inability to pay attention in school. We had him tested for adhd by a phsycologist and they confirmed adhd. With him already on an iep it was easy to get him the extra help needed for schoolwork and he does pretty well with the special help. He is 12 now and although most areas of school are fine he still struggles with math and telling time. He has progressed with speech therapy to the point that the schools speech pathologist says it is no longer needed. He has always had trouble finding friends and at his age I worry because he would love to have a good friend but at times is so into their space that they push him away and consider him weird. What I mean is he may run up and really hug you and plant a big kiss on your cheek and while I understand he is just being sweet at his age he shouldn't do this but he does not understand. There are many other things and teachers are now suggesting being tested for OCD. Any suggestions?

Oldtimer,

I had a heck of a time getting Dylan's dx'es correct too. At 3, he was ADHD. The next pdoc at 4, he was ADHD/ODD (both psychologists said the same thing). At 5, the new pdoc said ADHD/ODD. I KNEW this wasn't right, he was raging terribly (rages are not part of the ADHD DSM IV criteria), was severely lacking in the social skills/peer interaction department, and had very strange behaviors, like obsessions with things such as tires (he had to touch EVERY SINGLE TIRE) and would "spin" them as he was touching them. The speech delay (also not in the DSM criteria for ADHD) was another big trigger.

At 6, the pdoc said he had ADHD/ODD, and did not disclose to me that on his Axis I he also stated "possible Bipolar Disorder". I didn't find THAT part out until 4 months ago  He treated him with mood disorder MEDS, but never a mood stabilizer, all with disasterous results. Why didn't he ever tell me Bipolar? Beats me.

At 7, he was dx'ed PDD-NOS. No mention of Bipolar. The rages continued (as there are rages with PDD-NOS), but the severity, IMO, was way beyond PDD-NOS.

So, finally, at 9, the newest pdoc wasn't too scared to say, "hey, this kid is Bipolar". He's got the PDD, too, and maybe the ADHD.

The problem, to me, is that so many of these diagnosis share alot of the same symptoms. For example, with Dylan, he has a hyperactivity problem. Well, that could be the PDD-NOS. That could be the ADHD. How do we know? We don't. We just know stimulants don't work, and that's because of the Bipolar. *sigh* Such a road.

In Dylan's case, he qualifies for Child Disability. So, he gets state insurance. I don't know HOW I would have funded any of this without that. Truthfully, I wouldn't have been able to. I don't know what these parents can do if they don't have insurance to cover these children....it's so very sad, though.

I just know it seems like so many kids get slapped with ADHD from a psychologist or therapist so early, and the parents don't know, so they stick with that. They don't know they should see a psychiatrist with an MD - they think these people are the right ones to see, and unfortunately, they aren't. Just my .02.

Janna