worried about my daughter | ADHD Information

That is what I thought too.  I was just worried that i was being overprotected or just looking behind things because of my other kids.  She will be starting first grade soon I thought maybe I should wait and see what her teachers have to say about how she is doing in school.  That way I know for sure that its not just the boys at home that make her act the way she does here.  Thanks for the advice.I have two boys who one has bipolar and the other has adhd and somethign else that they are investaging now.  My concerns is for my little girl.  She is in between them.  Boys are 5 and 8 and then she is 6 going on 7.  She of course appears to be the good child.  But yet seems to struggle with concentrating.  She had to repeat kindergarten twice because her concentration was not there.  I know they say boys are different from girls when they have adhd but I am worried that either she has some form of it or am I just being an overprotected mom who fears the worst. Please help

Have her tested. If she is having problems concentrating, she could have ADD inattentive. Girls with ADHD often don't show the extreme behavior that you see in boys even when they are hyperactive. For your peace of mind, you should have her tested.

Being a middle child and the "good" one sandwiched between two who have problems is bad enough but if she goes undiagnosed due to seeming perfect next to the other two, that would be really tragic.

.IMac38944.5291087963If you are worried, why not have her tested? It would alleviate your worries & if she is adhd then you'll know & can get her the help she needs. My daughter has inattentive add & we never knew. Only when we had her tested for learning disabilities towards the end of  2nd grade, did we find out. I wish I had known earlier.  You can wait and see but I would not wait too long.  I am surprised the school did not call you to have her screened by the school psychologist while she was in kindergarden.  Our school did the first screening and we took her to a specialist ourselves for the school one was not as thorogh.

It is possible that she has 'ADHD - inattentive type' (formerly known as ADD). This is attention deficit without the wiggle factor. ADD is much more common in girls than in boys, and is frequently not diagnosed until they hit the upper grades (5,6,7) when focus and attention become important. Since ADD kids are usually not a disciplinary problem, and stay in their seats, it is usually not caught until later.

I would definitely have her evaulated.

Exactly why did she have to repeat Kindergarten?  And repeating Kindergarten isn't as rare as people may think.  Sometimes maturity is the issue, sometimes reading readiness. Some children aren't ready socially for first grade.  Sometimes parents send children with late-summer birthdays to Kindergarten to avoid another year's worth of full-time daycare costs, when really they should have held them for another year. Here in Wisconsin, kindergarten isn't required and in our particular school district the parents have to agree to having them held. Many children go from a five-year-old daycare room to first grade in the fall, as long as they can show readiness, especially in the larger cities where there are larger corporate daycares. Did you have input on her status?  If she doesn't have adhd, dare I suggest that it may be learned behavior from watching her brothers?  Don't worry about over-reacting as long as you feel that you have done all that you need to do for her welfare.

I second "nekochan" with the idea that it could be ADD without the hyperactivity.  There is nothing lost to get her tested and see what is going on.  There are a number of other things that could cause this....hearing loss, learning disability, immaturity, etc.  If you question, I would definitely test, just to set your mind at ease!  A lot of girls with ADHD exhibit inattentiveness or seem daydreamy instead of alert.  My daughter has full blown ADHD....hyper since the womb!  hee hee!     

The book "Driven to Distraction" has been a huge help to me with identifying what behaviors are actually related to her ADHD and what is just childishness.  Since you have another with ADHD....you may already know most of this stuff, but just thought I would mention!