Maybe not ADHD???

Hi, all.  as I've posted before on here, my son is 12, and although he's not been diagnosed ADD by the doctor (because he really can focus 110% if he's interested in something) he does have many of the symptoms, especially at school (can't sit still in his seat, talks constantly, plays with pencils, erasers anything at all around him, doesn't focus in on the lesson well, etc).    Coincidentally, he's also been having sleep problems.  I was on a message board for children with sleep disorders, and found this interesting post... thought it was worth sharing here:

The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released new recommendations to all doctors that sleep discussions should be a routine care and assessment should be part of the differential diagnosis especially for children presenting with ADHD-like symptoms or behaviour difficulties.

This is a newly 'sexy' area of pediatric research, so support and diagnosis is getting better and better. From the research being released, as a general rule of thumb, children with 'severe' ADHD/ADD generally have true ADHD\ADD (though remember some children can have both). It's children from the 'mid-range' severity of ADHD\ADD symptoms where they find approximately 25% of these children have sleep disorders (most often obstructed breathing/apnea or RLS). After treatment, most of these children no longer met the requirements for ADHD\ADD. The most important part is early intervention, which is why the AAP made the recommendations

What is RLS? 

 My son's sleep problems stem from his mind never turning off! LOL....he dreams, talks, walks, and tosses and turns most nights.  If we competely exhaust him during the day then he sleeps great at night.  He's had his tonsils and adenoids removed already so I don't think apnea would be his problem....no snoring or anything like that.

Interesting article...thanks

moving article up