I am on this board everyday and it has help me to understand adhd by reading all you guys post and by doing additional reading on the web. I had a session with the Educational Psychologist beacuse my option for a dx on the island is very limited. From my session with her I think she help kids with more of a learn diabilities even though she said she has experience with adhd. I then when to see my son ped and from her interview with me she think my son might have the inattetion form of adhd. I do not think so, if he have inattention ploblems would he still have good grades mostly A's and a few B's?
ADHD can exist with good grades, especially early in school with a bright child. As the school demands increase the child can become less able to deal with the demands and the grades, self esteem, etc start to drop as well. You have time to work on organizational and other skills to help your son keep up as the school demands increase. If he does have ADHD, you can also watch for potential isssues and act before they become a crisis, because you have become knowlegable about this disorder.
My oldest has the inattentive form and has alsways been scattered and poorly organized. She typically had great grades until the last trimester of each year, when she fell apart (not completing, or losing assignments). This pattern started much earlier this year and she started showing signs of anxiety, so we had her evaluated and started treatment. She has not missed an assignment and says she can better "hear" the teacher's instructions in class. We would not have been so pro-active had we not gone through some pretty rough spots with the youngest daughter previously (we had no idea what was gonig on and were in crisis with her prior to diagnosis and treatment).
vickie39209.3764699074I agree wholeheartedly with Vickie. It is much easier in the early grades. Partly because everything is done in short increments, due to short attention spans in a typical 5, 6, 7 year old. As they get older there is more time required to sit at a desk and longer assignments, fewer breaks, the push for mmore independance (especailly in 2nd-3rd grade). An inattentive type ADHD child will find it very difficult to follow along. My daughter also has inattentive type. She has extremely poor organizational skills. We have a very sturcutred system between myself and school just to get papers to and from and information to and from. It's a LOT of work, but worth itl Good for you for learning as much as you can even "pre eval". It will give you a solid foundation of infomration to bring to the table at evaluation time.My son has the inattentive form as did my daughter. Their grades were fine until the end of the third grade, when they started to fall. In the 4th grade, they struggled to maintain C's. Sometimes the child can compensate for the inattention and maintain the decent grades even in the upper elementary grades, as vickies daughter seems to have been able to do. but the anxiety from the compensating can be very hard on the child as well.I agree with Vikkie. My son has the innatentive too. He did fine in school up until middle school. He gets C, D, and F's not because he doesn't know the material or test well, (his tests and quizes are A's and B's) but the extreme dissorganization, forgetfullness and co-existing emotional problems and ODD.
I can't give you any more insight because, unfortunately, we are still in the stages of trying to get him treated.
Thanks again guys I do appericate all the imput.