early signs of ADHD | ADHD Information

Horrible temper tantrums! They started as an infant He would scream and cry and fling himself around. There was nothing you could do to calm him. He would wake up from a nap MAD - and cry and scream for the next hour. He was also one to touch everything and could not stay with his group and preform the activities in preschool. He could not stay in his chair or stay sitting in a circle during circle time. He didn't follow instructions or rules. He did not deal well with change at all. My daughter is just over 2 but has been very busy ever since she could get around. She rarely walks, always runs. She has been having tantrums but mostly the bad ones only occur on days that she wouldn't settle down for a nap. Her talking is a little slow but it's starting to pick up recently. She sounds a lot like what most of you described. Always touching things, doesn't play with toys, I'm always chasing and can hardly hold a conversation with someone because she's taking off. The one thing she does have an attention span for is the television. She'll sit still and watch whole children's movies and tv shows. I know tv isn't good for kids but right now it's all she's interested in and it keeps her out of trouble while I'm dealing with my 8 month old. We went to a speech pathologist about her speech because she's saying a lot of single words but not many two word combos and the speech path. said she thinks its her inattentiveness that is delaying her speech and suggested I work with her to try and stay with one activity for a longer period of time. I put her in nursery school also to try to help her to learn how to sit and listen. I stayed with her at school today for my duty day and was surprised to see she sat well for snack time. She was a little fidgity for circle time and got up and walked around a couple of times but didn't do too badly I think. I don't know, I'm just concerned that she will be diagnosed with ADHD in the future. People are always saying "does she ever stop running?" "she's a going concern isn't she" The constant comments about her energy level is starting to get to me.DD had terrible tantrums. She also was a late talker. And she didn't play with toys--she didn't have the attention span to do it. She seemed to be frustrated much of the time. Also, she was a wanderer. She would just take off without us and never look back. One time she let herself out of the house at dusk and we found her about a block away. Totally scary! In public places, she would just take off, also.cr12345mr39001.5535069444I KNEW DANIEL WAS DIFFERENT AT 4MONTHS. HE WAS A EARACHE KID BUT NO COLICK. OUR DAUGHTER WITH NO ADHD WAS COLICKY.BOTH OUR KIDS WERE UNHAPPY INFANTS. DIDN'T SIT TO LEARN LIKE TODDLERS USUALLY DO. HE HATED BEING CONFINED AT ALL. BOTH OUR KIDS OUT OF A BABY BED BEFORE A YEAR OLD. REMOVED SON CAUSE HE THRU HIMSELF A GAINST A WALL. DAUGHTER WALKED AT 9 MONTHS AND GOT OUT OF HER BED DAILY. My child had to touch everything and explore everything and was always on the go Age 2-3. Going to someones home was hard for I could never talk or sit down always on chase duty. My child did and still does at times goes from one activity to another and when you clean up one she tries to go back to it. My daughter likes to put everything in her mouth too. How old is your child? Young children are more active so that is a hard one, my child was screened at age 4 and diagosed and screened again age 5

Our first warning signs were over the top tantrums and oppositional behavior. Another big one was she never listened to us. Tuned us out big time. Didnt follow instructions etc. She was active but that wasnt the big clue that something wasnt quite right. This was all apparent just after she turned 3.

My son is three now and I am seeing the signs. He is very active, very in your face and sometimes aggressive with his friends. Has a hard time sitting still in circle. Not as much trouble with trouble with attention as my daughter though

In our case, my daughter was crawling out of her crib by 18 months, scaling the pantry shelves, wondering off (more so than a normal toddler) for example, once when she was two, she figured out to unlock our front door. I found her across the street, talking to a neighbor. (She'd taken off all her clothes, too!) She was always painting the dog or dumping out choc syrup or disasembling something or the like - just full of what we called "creative mischief."

My daugher also walked and talked early. She was also colicky as an infant. Don't know if this is a sign, really, but neither of her two older brothers were this way.
Oh yeah. My son touches everything. You have to right on top of him at stores and peoples houses. Very hard time waiting in line too.

When I look back to when M was little - up to age 2 and 3 - we didn't really have problems with him until he was 4 and in preschool - the way we always described him was that he was a "sprited" child. I even got the book - "Raising your spirited child" for the child who is always "more". More happy, more sad, more busy, more loud, more this, more that.

That was just a great description. He has a very dynamic personality, and people are just drawn to him - but it got to a point where his impulsivity and inability to relax and focus became problems.

He walked at 1 year, talked at a very early age, he is very coordinated, has a great memory, and is very smart. But, at about age 2 1/2 when the terrible twos set in for him, it became very difficult to take him places like out to eat - and it just never got better like you would expect it to!! And I find that we have a tendency to avoid activities that might overstimulate him - and stay away from certain events due to that. Didn't really realize that we were adjusting our lives so much to fit him for so long!!

My son sounds .alot like dmid's son. He started walking at 9 months, and I have always said he did not start walking, he started RUNNING! He climbed out of the baby bed at 17 months old so we had to put him in a toddler bed. To keep him in his room at night, we had to use 2 baby gates (one on top of the other). He would climb on top of the dining room table and pull on the lights. You get the picture.

People are always drawn to him, he has a vibrant personality, they would always say "Does he ever stop?". It would also be hard in public places because of his impulsiveness, if he thinks it, he HAS to say it, or he will explode. But he has always been a happy child, even as an infant.

I can remember looking at other kids and parents at playgroup and think "Why are they not chasing after their kids?" But my little guy always seemed to be having a good time, and mom always gets a good nights sleep!(lol)

For those of you with children diagnosed with ADHD, what were they like as toddlers, age 2 or 2.5? What were their typical behaviours? I know kids aren't diagnosed until 4 or beyond but I'm sure there are usually early signs of the disorder. I'm concerned my daughter is more then just a "busy" toddler.

Sherry

DANIEL HAS ALWAYS BEEN A LATEY. DARA WAS A EARLY BIRD. [QUOTE=sherry77]

Sherry

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My son was non stop....it's hard to explain but it definatly was beyond normal he didn't stop for a second not even to eat, what at the time I thought was being very advanced is what I see now as a kid just driven by a motor, he knew how to unlock doors and windows at age 2 climb a fence at 18 months etc.... he was just always running, he never walked he just ran. He also got into everything nothing in his path was safe my living room would look like a tornado ripped through it in 5 minutes after he woke up from a good nights sleep; he couldn't stick with one toy he'd jump from toy to toy to toy. If there was a group of kids in his path while at the park he'd run through them knocking them down not realizing he did it to get to the activity he wanted. Going in public took my husband and I playing "tag team" it literally took the two of us to keep him safe. He also never watched tv unless walking around I see the differnece with my little one who can sit with a toy for longer than 5 minutes or stand in one place for minutes at a time watching a show that interests her my son NEVER stayed still.

I've found this thread so interesting to read. I have three children with ds-adhd being second born. There were a number of behaviors from infancy through toddlerhood that made me stop and wonder if he was "hyperactive."

-his behavior would accelerate if he was tired/sleepy, never slow down
- he could only fall asleep if it was completely dark and left alone in the crib (didn't like rocking or singing etc to calm down)
-poor at maintaining eye contact
-hyper focused on some tasks during play
-seemed oblivious to pain (from a thorn in his foot to a raging ear infection, he didn't respond. After he started Ritalin in 2nd grade he started commenting on painful experiences)
-wandered so easily, never looking back for mom (it was only after a bowling ball smashed his finger at age four that he started sticking closer to me)
-seemed driven to move
-very noisy while playing
-extremely impulsive
-great sense of humor
When he was about 2-3 my mom announced she was tired of baby proofing her house every time we'd come over and decided she would visit us instead.

jfla239006.9465509259Hi, you guys are going to kill me but I have my dd who is 11 years old almost 12 and I have been struggling with her since she was 6, but I have spoken to Dr., her teacher and psicologist and no one heard me. Finally on the 25th of this month I'm taking her to the psiquiatrist because she is having more problems than ever at school and home, she is all around the classroom the teacher have told me that they don't know what to do, and I feel so guilty because I knew that something was wrong, she is always dancing and climbing the bed and furniture does not stay still for an hour, it is really difficult for her to concentrate, When she writes an essay she cant put in order her ideas and spelling is really bad even if she is copying right from a book, it is so frustararing. It is to the point that I can not take it anymore. IAnd at the same time I have 6 year old that is adhd mild, but now that I have been reading so much about it I don't have any thought that she is also adhd, lets she what the Dr. says.

I suspected that my daughter was ADHD even when I was pregnant with her, as she never stopped moving. The hospital staff commented on how alert she was, even while in the nursery. As an infant, she continued to be quite active. She crawled at about 8 months, walked at 91/2 months, then went directly to running! She could connect sentences at about 15 months old, and then she never stopped talking.

She would climb out of her crib when she was about 18 months old, and we had to get her a toddler bed. While still crawling, she would push out the bottoms of plastic baby gates, and escape from the room. She ruined a couple of these (they bent) in about a month's time. We tried the wooden ones. By this time she was walking, and would climb over them. We always had to use two (one on top of the other one) at the door to her room to keep her inside at night. She had a small plastic rocking horse that she used to love to rock frantically on. She flipped this over when she was about 20 months old, hitting her face at the corner of our living room wall. This left a small cut which required stitches. We replaced this with a larger rocking horse that was on a stand. She would rock very hard and fast on this, also. It did last until just after she turned 4, when she finally broke it after all of her abuse. She was a curious toddler, but could be rather destructive along with this. She was fascinated by doors, particularly glass ones. She removed the lower doors from our entertainment center, and also the glass door to our stereo. We finally tired of putting these back on, and just left them off. She tore up a number of books, and I finally had to give up on buying her the kind of books for toddlers with "pop-ups" on the pages. She could "trash out" a room quite rapidly, and still can. It seemed that certain items, such as cassette and VCR tapes could not be kept high enough to keep them out of her reach. She would always find them, and quickly pull the tape part out so far that it could not be fixed.

Like southernbelle mentioned about her son, my daughter has always been very outgoing, and has a vibrant personality. She was always a "clown" as a toddler, and was the center of attention wherever we went.

Wow! All of this sounds really familiar! DS used to throw terrible tantrums because he no longer wanted to ride in the basket when shopping, but wouldn't always "help me push the basket," which had always been a special treat for him. We got him a baby harness and got a lot of people upset with us, but we always knew where he was and could pull him back when he got too close to something breakable. Again, with having to touch everything! He also jumps and spins constantly. Because he's so active, he's always been at the low end of the spectrum on his weight, too. Took him to a check-up/med review recently, and he'd finally hit 60 pounds - he's 8 next month! He takes after SierraDad in height and now stands 4'4" (Dad's 6'3".)