My daughter just started kidnergrarden, she turns six next week. She has been struggling to stay focused in school. I realized when she was about 3 or 4 that it may be an issue. She constantly talks, can not sit still and is not retaining much of the acedemic subjects that we do with her at home. Her teacher has recommended a physician visit, to start the diagnosis process, which is Oct 6. Her teacher has started her first referral, but I am not sure what this means. Called and explained that she just isn't functioning well, the littlest thing distracts her and she doesn't focus at all. All things I have noticed at home. Where did you start and what can I excpect in the process of diagnosis? How long does it take?.I fear she will fall behind. Can anyone shed some light on what to expect from here?
I think I am headed to where you are going. Please keep posting. My son is five and also has just begun kindergarten. Has her teacher said she is off in her own world. My son's teacher says in the morning when all the children are in a circle and the teacher is reading a story or singing is just stares out or looks at the carpet as if he were in his own world. Anyone-does this sound familiar?It means the teacher is trying to get a special education evaluation--Educational Evaluation (testing) and Behavioral Evaluation (school psychologist observes). You need to get a private eval before you authorize this (from a behavioral ped, neuropsyche or psychologist trained in educational testing --- not a family pediatrician).
Hi. Welcome to the boards. You will learn a lot here!
Melchris..... your son sounds just like my son was in K (he is now 13). For the record....his dx is ADHD Primary Inattentive. He has some of the H, but it is not predominant. He was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder (APD)during Kindergarten and we also suspected ADHD Inattentive, however, the formal ADHD dx came quite a few years later. For the longest time, with thought we were only dealing with APD, but in actuality, we were dealing with both.
Back when he was in K and preK.....here are the red flags that we saw.
1. Could not maintain eye contact and interest during story or circle time. Appeared zoned out and/or bored.
2. Had a very difficult time following multi step instructions. Ex. Put your crayons up, sit down, and open your book.
3. Appeared "disengaged" with peers in class. Didn't mix well and was somewhat of a loner.
4. Had difficulty with transitions. One subject to another, finishing a project and moving on to the next, etc. Very slow processing. Last to finish everything.
5. Had trouble at home sitting down with Mom and listening to a book being read to him. Got bored easily.
6. During group gatherings....like show and tell, demonstrations at scout meetings, etc.... he always seemed to not pay attention and maintain interest. He wouldn't maintain eye contact much with speaker.
7. He had significant separation anxiety in pre K and K. During K, I could never drop him off in drop off car line. I had to walk him in daily.
8. Low frustration tolerance. Cried easily when things didn't work out his way or upset him. Inflexible.
9. Significant sleep problems. Night terrors, frequent waking.
10. Mild speech articulation and language processing deficits. He was very literal in his interpretation of language. Poor expressive skills. He had difficulties with word retrieval and vocabulary, sentence syntax and morphology. He mixed up present and past tenses.....way more than the average K kid.
Our son's PreK teacher suggested we start testing, which we did start. We started with a speech language screen and hearing tests first. We also went to an ENT to rule out any adenoid problems. I requested our pediatrician order a EEG to rule out any mini seizures. We chose to do most of our testing private in order to speed things up and get really objective information.
As the years went by....the distractibility and attention issues worsened. Peer and social problems set in. Anxiety and depression set in. We still at this point thought we were only dealing with APD. In 3rd grade we tried a trial of Adderall. Disaster. Scared us away from meds for 2 more years.
Good luck. Your child is young so you can intervene early. Get really good testing done and keep your mind open to any and all input from teachers. Don't dismiss major flags they point out. Early acceptance and proactive intervention can make a huge difference for you child.
Okiemom